Why Is This Man Smiling?

Mike Nichols, the director, had a read-thru of Charlie Wilson's War. A read-thru is where the cast sits at a large table and reads the script. And you wanted to be a fly on the wall. The cast is surreal. Tom Hanks, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Julia Roberts. There were emissaries at the gate flagging the celeb vehicles and ushering them to the location. The read thru was catered with fine food, not food from the lot. Large glass vases full of fresh flowers were brought in. There was a cappuccino cart with a server so friendly that I could have asked for a latte and gotten it. There was "foamy" soap in the bathrooms. It's possible I used Hanks foamy soap. I don't know. There wasn't a label specifying who's foamy soap it was but it was gone at the end of the day. I'd like to think it was Hanks foamy soap. I'd like to think I washed my hands with the foamy soap used by Hanks or Hoffman. Either way those guys are incredible actors. Incredible! I heard an extremely credible story that when Hanks did the film "Punchline" he hung out and studied with Seinfeld, Rock, and other comedians for six months. The story goes that, after studying, Hanks stand-up routine was as good as anyone out there. You gotta hand it to an actor with that much passion. (Maybe it's the foamy soap.)

There's a palpable BUZZ surrounding a film this size. Everybody is happy. Who wouldn't want to work on a Mike Nichols film? My office was in the proximity of the read-thru. (Near enough to use the same bathrooms) Here comes the Arron Sorkin part. The production company has a transportation trailer outside the stage. So when you step out onto the Paramount 'street' you have to be careful. I stepped out and was nearly clipped by Sorkin's golfcart. It wasn't Sorkin's fault. It was his assistant. (Those women golf cart drivers, what are you gonna do?) It was a very near miss. I googled "Golf Cart Accidents" and the results aren't pretty. Sorkin was on his cell phone, loudly, and saying something like this" Yeah, yeah, I changed those names. It's not Bimbo One and Bimbo Two" It was much better dialogue than that but I was dwelling on the end flashes of my life. You know, death by golfcart. He was pretty absorbed in the call. They say he's a genius writer. I say he talks loudly on the cell. Loud with articulate authority. Maybe he was late for the read-thru and ordered his assistant to step on it. I'm not saying it will affect how I feel about him one way or another. There's a lot of net buzz about Studio 60. I think I'll give it a TiVo. I know this story is kinda anticlimactic. It would really get some hits if I were dead. So I'll yak a little about Tom Hanks.

I met Hanks on Forrest Gump. We shot the breeze for a few minutes. He was as gentlemen as they get. Everybody says Hanks is a great guy. I thought so when I met him. At the read-thru I spoke to Hanks driver who was one cool dude. Charlie Wilson's War is part of Hanks production company. Maybe Hanks was paying for all the amenities. The driver said that Hanks brings a masseuse (or masseur according to the parlance of our times) in on a regular basis. And a reliable source (I really mean it) says that Hanks buys lotto tickets for the crew once a week. But with the stipulation that if you win you can't quit the movie. And I say, who would want to?

Technorati Tags:
Paramount Studios, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mike Nichols, Charlie Wilson's War, Arron Sorkin, Studio 60, Forrest Gump, Foamy Soap