The Time I Met Jimmy Stewart

By Scott Michael

I had just attended an Alfred Hitchcock film festival at the Vista Theater in Hollywood. Within 48 hours I had seen at least three films with Stewart that were completely new to me. I was overwhelmed, just floored by his performances, but mostly by his amazing persona. It was a transcendent experience, and I felt at that time that I had - HAD - to meet him. This feeling was quite acute because I had recently seen him either give or receive a lifetime award with (or from) Cary Grant, so I thought I had better act quickly (Stewart was sturdier than I imagined, and would go on to live another decade, passing away at 89 in 1997).

So, in my youthful naivete, I embarked on the adventure of meeting him, and I was pretty sure I knew how to do it. I hit up one of those people who used to sit around Sunset Boulevard selling maps to the stars' homes. It was disturbingly easy to find his house, and moments later I was parked in front of his two-story Beverly Hills home. Unbelievable.

I realized I'd come unprepared with a picture for him to sign, but in my glove compartment had a novelty postcard with Alfred Hitchcock sporting a cigar in his mouth with a crow sitting at the end of the cigar. Typical of him, right? Perhaps a little strange to hand to Mr. Stewart, but maybe it would make for a conversation piece.

So I marched up his walk and knocked on the front door. Waited. Then the little wooden "security" door opened and a housekeeper peered out at me. I asked if he was there, she said no (she didn't speak much English) but I understood that he would be back soon. I slipped the postcard through the mini door, saying I hoped he could sign it - do you see what I was doing there? I said I'd be back.

Forty minutes later I returned, knocked, and he himself opened the little door this time. I quickly mentioned I was the one who dropped off the postcard, and he said, "Oh, okay, come in" in that familiar drawl. He swung open the door and was already walking toward a small table where my postcard was. I then walked into Jimmy Stewart's house.

I could see straight through the house to the back glass doors and see a lot of green grass beyond. It was one of those older, quite spacious houses in Beverly Hills with ample land. But I didn't notice much more, not with the legend standing in front of me.

Just to recap: I first saw his fairly luminous visage through the small opening when he casually opened the door. I then saw his crooked body casually walk over to the table. He was so matter-of-fact it was disquieting. I was so unprepared for how smooth and casual he was that I mentally kicked myself for not being better prepared with more stimulating conversation.

He looked up from the card to ask my name, signed it and handed it to me. All I could think to ask at that point to prolong the encounter was that old hoary standby, "So what advice would you give writers trying to break into the business?"

"Well, what I always tell actors is just work at your craft. You keep doing that and you'll get in." Or something very close to that.

Then I asked if I could use the restroom. I know, it's horrible, I was young and dumb and I thought it would be part of a good story later... I don't know. Anyway, he was gracious, and pointed to a door in the foyer (which we never left) that I hadn't noticed: a small bathroom was inside with nothing anyone would find value in stealing. Obviously I was not the only one who made this pilgrimage and asked the same rude question. He'd had the bathroom installed for folks like me, enabling him to be the eternal gentlemen without unnecessarily disturbing his life. I think I just washed my hands, came out. He was still there, so I thanked him profusely, we shook hands, and he saw me out.

He was frail, but there was no denying his spirit or his familiar charming manner. This was Jimmy Stewart, and he made me feel that my visit that day was okay by him. I'm glad to have the chance to reminisce about it, because it's great remembering such a special person. And of course, he keeps giving, in his immortal films that will live forever.

This article with written by guest Kid In The Front Row writer SCOTT MICHAEL, from LA.

Care to share?

Tweet

Gender, Male Privilege & The Movies

Women tend to care about issues of gender in film, and the men don't. As men, we get the privilege of doing blog posts with titles like 'The Best Breasts In Hollywood' without really thinking of what we're contributing to, or how we're objectifying women, or how we could be making the most talented smaller breasted/no breasted/three breasted upcoming actress feel completely marginalized. Worse yet, it's incredible to think that we would be talking about breasts at all. After all - when writing about Robert De Niro, I never mention his genitalia.

Having the privilege of being male, it's easy for me to ignore the fact that women don't direct many films. It's even easier for me to cleverly list hundreds of films directed by women to prove that gender inequality is a myth. The hardest thing is to listen, to care, to consider the mere fluke of being born male actually gives me an unearned privilege in this industry.

It's hard for anyone to achieve anything in the movie biz. I know hundreds of men who are struggling to get their 'foot in the door' so to speak, so why should I care that women, also, are struggling to succeed? A fact that us men rarely consider is that nobody will ever compliment us for being the 'first' male to win any kind of directing award. There will never be articles about how many men were lucky enough to be working screenwriters. There will never be a debate about whether or not men can direct action films. When you consider these things, you begin to see the wider problem. It's not that women can't do anything or aren't allowed to do anything-- luckily society has moved forward. But the structure of the film industry, the inner beliefs of most people (men and women) and the way films are marketed all make the problem worse.

I watched Juno today; and whilst many, many people love it and think it was an inspired piece of magic, not many people realize that a lot of it is down to wonderfully talented women. Diablo Cody's razor sharp dialogue and cliche-breaking scenes were proof of her an incredible talent. The characters were something we rarely get to see; a pregnant teenage girl with bundles of intelligence who decides against abortion, a step-Mother who is instantly supportive; who is on the one hand a typical homely woman who loves dogs--- yet who also is fiercely principled and strong.
Character development like this is rare with female roles. Too often, female characters are used to help the male protagonist's story along. It becomes such a default, so ingrained; that young screenwriters unconsciously and consistently write male leads; with women being love interests, or parents, or cute neighbors. That's why it was so refreshing and freeing to see Ellen Page as Juno. She was a woman, but she didn't fall into any stereotype. She was as unique and as interesting a character as you could find-- and she was beautiful and compelling without looking like a model or being made to throw her breasts into a close-up.

The film industry has silently marginalized women in a variety of ways. It has become so normalized that nobody ever seems to notice. It is also very easy for us men to say "the audience don't want loads of Sex & The City's," without seeing how that statement is wrong and prejudice and ignorant on a heap of different levels. As I've said before, there is a missing voice in film, and it's the voice of women.

A problem that occurs when these types of articles are written; is that men get very defensive. We say, 'well actually, there are lots of studio heads who are female,' and 'look, Angelina Jolie just starred in Salt,' but these facts prove the problem, nobody could ever say 'men aren't discriminated against or given less opportunities,' because it would sound ridiculous. This industry is harder for women than for men. We need to start by taking accountability for that. We need to start by being aware of it. That awareness could go a long way.

As men - we can start to look at how we are a part of the problem, and how we can begin to make positive changes. As screenwriters, are the women in our scripts as unique, complex, disturbing, as 'cool' as the male characters? As directors, will we be open to working with a female director of photography? Are we aware that the female make-up artist is an artist and not just someone who throws make-up on a face? As producers, are we aware of the variety of outstanding female directors who have unique talent and vision? As viewers, would we be more interested in seeing more complex, truthful and diverse females on a more consistent basis?

Care to share?

Tweet

LONDON SCREENWRITERS' FESTIVAL - 29-31 October 2010 - Buy Tickets Here

The London Screenwriters Festival is a brand new festival for screenwriters. Whether you're an experienced writer or just starting out, it promises to be a weekend full of inspiring speakers, innovative workshops and, of course, a great chance to network.

The most exciting speaker is TIM BEVAN, co-chairman and co-founder of Working Title Films, the company behind films such as 'Notting Hill,' 'Green Zone' and 'Frost/Nixon.'

As a rule, I don't recommend things without trying them. The London Screenwriters Festival 2010 is an exception, simply because; it's brand new. I can only go on instinct. With a variety of speakers; including Producers, Hollywood screenwriters, and British TV writers; there's going to be an incredible amount of knowledge, experience, and resources - all under one roof. Not only that, but writing can be lonely; getting out to rare events like these are wonderful opportunities to meet people like you.

Tickets to the event are £299, but if you order through this link and use the password 'frontrow' you will get a £37 discount. The organizers have been kind enough to make this offer to readers of KITFR.

http://www.eventbrite.com/event/730369555/scriptplusaffiliates/5457800027

Care to share?

Tweet

The Touching End Of 'Katyń'

'Katyń' is a film about the Katyń disaster; the mass murder of thousands of Polish nationals by the Russian Secret Police, the NKVD, between April & May, 1940. Russia did not take any form of accountability for what happened until as late as 1990, and even now relationships are still strained. I previously wrote 'There are still things to be answered about Katyn. Bodies to be found, acts to be accounted for and compensation sought, more than 70 years later." It still cuts deep with the Polish people. Even more so after the heartbreaking death of the Polish Prime Minister, Lech Kaczynski, and many other politicians and military personnel, who died in a tragic plane accident when en route to Katyn, to commemorate the seventy years since their fellow countrymen were killed, in April this year. That event, and the investigation about the accident, has caused even more stress on the relationship between the two nations.

The truth about what happened in 1940, the magnitude of the cover-up by numerous nations in the years that followed, and the complexity of the event politically, and even more so for thousands of people, personally, could never be taken care of in one feature film. In fact; an event like this makes you realize the extreme limitations of the medium. 'Katyń' (the film) was an important film, it had to be made, and it has to be seen, but it is still just a small spec of dust in the vast sea of multi-layered complexity; that we will never know about.

We don't see the mass execution until the very end of the film. When it finally arrives on screen it is harrowing, fast-paced, and deeply upsetting.

'Katyń' ended in a way I've not seen in a film before. It faded to black, and then stayed on black, for exactly one minute - and then the credits rolled. The blackness was accompanied by a beautiful piece of music. Whether you'd call it a minute's silence, a minute's reflection, or a minute to recover yourself--- it was definitely needed.

When I say the touching end of Katyń, I'm just talking about the movie. Because for Poland, it looks like Katyń will never end. It is with them, and with us in the rest of the world, forever. And unfortunately, all that most of us can really do, is watch movies about it.

Care to share?

Tweet

Film Watching Guilt

The key to this business, aside from having a rich Uncle with a Jewish surname who lives in LA, is to watch a lot of movies. The more you watch, the more you understand storytelling. The more you watch, the more you get what it truly is to be a truthful actor. The more you watch, the more you understand what makes a truly great scene great. There is no end to this --- literally, if you watch three films today instead of two, you're going to learn more. We should be clambering to watch films all the time... waking up early to watch a DVD, glancing down at videos on your iPhone during long train journeys, and staying up two hours late to watch 'Shawshank Redemption' for the 9th time in two months. In fact, there was a time we were like this. But then, we started listening to this.

UNCLE FRED
Is that all you do, sit around watching movies all day?

GIRLFRIEND JENNY
Couldn't you do something more productive instead? Like WORK?

JED
You've seen that already.

MICHAEL THE FLORIST
How's it going sitting at home watching your little movies?

BERT WHO HATES HIS JOB
Stop watching movies and actually do something with your life.

Before you know it -- every time you watch a film, you hear a voice saying "get up! do something! write a script! earn some money! be productive!" Despite all of your youth being incredibly enlightening and productive and inspiring and driving you towards your SOLE GOAL in life - to CREATE, instead; you start smashing up against it--- building a giant wall the size of a giant wall which stops you from ever settling. You start to sneak past the wall late at night, when it's late enough to not be 'the time people do productive things' but not so late that you look like 'someone who can stay up late because they're a waster' and you sneakily watch a film. But even then, you struggle, because this voice in your head is saying "is that all you do, watch movies? you waster!"

So now your Uncle and the florist and the guy who hates his job and his life and his wife; they all are in your head and they're telling you to stop watching movies. So you have this big giant wall the size of a big giant wall and you keep climbing over it onto both sides... every time you're watching a movie the voice says "BE PRODUCTIVE! DO SOMETHING!" so you climb over to the other side. And every time you're on that side there's a part of you that says "I love movies! I need movies! Movies are my everything!" -- so you climb to the other side. But you keep climbing and you keep feeling TIRED because somehow you've got caught between who you are, where you're going, and where everyone thinks you need to be.

If you write, or direct, or produce, or act, or dream, or design, or want to take a different route in life; then watching movies is absolutely essential. We are here, precisely, to WATCH movies, LEARN from movies and then CREATE movies. That's why we're here. Stop denying it, celebrate it. To watch movies is to be productive. To watch movies is to jump fifty steps towards your ultimate goal in life. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

"It enters through a different opening in your body. For instance, in order to be a jazz musician, you have to listen and listen and listen to a lot of Jazz. And that's an act of love. You don't think, I'm listening to study it. You just listen because you love it. And you love it, and love it... and gradually you learn. You really learn everything valuable through osmosis. It's the same with play-writing or movie-directing or acting. You love either reading or watching films or plays or listening to music. And in some way, over the years, without making any attempt, it gets into your blood, into the fibre of your body or something. If you want to teach someone film-directing, you could almost say, 'just keep going to the movies, and it will pass into your body."

-Woody Allen
Writer/Director
Three Time Academy Award Winner.

Care to share?

Tweet