Pamela McKay
Pamela McKay | |||
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ph: B Kaighan | ph: L Houghan | ph: P McKay | ph: A Deutsch |
When the premiere of 13 Days was postponed, Bruce was terribly upset for all of us who expected to meet him and get inside -- but he was particularly concerned over the 3 people who were flying in from afar (Ann from Cary, NC; Barb from St. Louis, MO; and Lisa from just ouside Chicago, IL). So, he arranged a private screening for all 6 of us who had indicated we were going to be there - it was in New Line's private screening room in the Beverly Hills area - and then, as the movie ended, he arrived to "hang out" with us. He brought along his wife Susan, 3 huge pizzas, and tons of bottled water. He also brought along the greatest sense of humor and generous good cheer imagineable. I cannot place the superlatives high enough. He was just incredibly nice, gracious and benevolent. He "hung around" for over an hour, answered all our questions, teased us unmercifully, posed for pictures with all of us (and with Susan, too, though he made me promise not to put the photo on the webpage), and signed all of our programs. (We all got 13 Days press kits, so thank goodness I was outbid for all 3 that I was trying for on eBay.)
It would be impossible to remember or go over everything here, so I'll leave comments about the film alone for now and just talk about Bruce.
General impressions: he's absolutely gorgeous! His eyes are huge and blue and he looks right straight at you as he speaks. His hair is short but very curly and not as dark as in 13 Days, his nose is perfect, his mouth decidedly sexy and he's outrageously funny with a really impish grin. He's just under 6 ft, but stoops and uses lots of body movement, so appears a bit shorter. Susan is surpisingly tiny -- hardly 5 ft and much thinner than photos indicate. She's extremely nice with a natural soft giggle, which makes her seem almost girlish. She's a very real person, wore wire-rim glasses and very little make-up. She's also -- and I was not expecting this after 15 years of marriage -- enormously proud of Bruce. She just beamed all over at our attentions and spoke (with a broad Canadian accent) very easily with each of us, encouraging us to take photos and ask for autographs. She seemed to love it all as much as he did. As they were leaving someone remarked what a cute couple they are. And it's true; they are.
When he first came into the screening room, he was bombarded by other guests at the screening that he already knew. They applauded him and then swarmed all over him. But he extricated himself as quickly as possible to come over and find me. I introduced myself and we shook hands, and then he immediately turned to whomever was nearest me, asked who they were and where they were from and continued to do that till he'd met and shook hands with each of us. He learned all our names and addressed each of us personally througout the little party. He then herded us out to where he had pizza and water waiting, encouraged all of us to dig in and settled in for the mad question and answer period.
We talked a lot about 13 Days, but not exclusively. We all asked about the accent and he said he's really p***ed that so many reviews don't think he was using an accent, 'cause he work his b*** off to perfect it. :-) He also explained why he uses the deeper voice in the film -- all the tapes he saw or heard of the private Kennedy WERE deep voiced. The higher more familiar voice was actually a stage voice, which Bruce used in one scene where he's addressing a rally, but the scene (much to his chagrin) was cut out. (The cuts all came from a desire to keep the film under 2 hrs 15 mins BTW, so it could run one more time in theatres -- always money, eh?) He also performed both versions of the Kennedy voice for us and showed us how he played around with the sound that would re-create JFK best.
We talked about reviews, which he's trying not to read or think about, but methinks he knew an awful lot of them! He told me to read the EW one, for sure. (I have now, and he's absolutely right - they give the film and him raves!) He refuses to even think about a possible oscar, so we let that one go. He's also concerned that the movie may not make enough money, since the budget pushed upwards to 200,000. But he's mightily pleased with the quality of it.
We also went over the press tour quite thoroughly -- including a screening for The Santa Fe Film Festival. He thought most the stuff would air later, so he was surprized someone had already seen the Mike Bullard Show. The tour also took him to NYC, where he auditioned for something mysterious along with giving about 200 interviews. (Apparently they sat him in a seat and just had one reporter after another come in and question him about the film.)
I asked him some music questions and he's got a CD he wants me to feature on the page. More on that, of course, when he's firmed up the deal and gets the CD to me, but it's some cuts he made with Gregg Henry's band (the actor w/ whom he co-starred in Great Pretender). He also told me he was going to a party after he left us and he was planning on staying till midnight! Since I know he hates parties I quizzed him and it turns out he was going to jam with some of the "best guitarists in the business". Very hush hush on who, but he said HE'D be asking for autographs at that party.
Barb started him on audio tapes and he said lots of interesting things; I encouraged him to do another Kevin Kearney one (the mystery series by Michael McGarrity) and he said he thought that had been a good story. He also said he wouldn't be doing any more Clive Cussler. He felt the last one had stereotypical villains that come across too racially insulting - fun to do but not very sensible, since it makes him come across in an offensive way.
Ann asked him about the red socks he wore on The Wil Shriner Show and it got him and Susan reminiscing about them --- apparently he loved them, but they ruined every load of laundry they hit for years. Oh, and he said he actually appeared in two Wil Shriner Shows -- he crashed in on one where Norm Foote was the guest!
Lisa was fairly quiet, but when I said she was near Chicago, Bruce began to tease her "I know! I know!" he said "Who could miss the accent?" and he began to do his version of her Chicago area accent. She's also left handed, another trait they commiserated on together.
I talked to him a lot about the new photos for the site and he got all upset with me when I told him all the chess shots were cute. (BTW, he DOES play chess and his chess partner -- an actor named David Andrews, who co-starred with him in The Color of Courage -- was also at the screening and hung around for half of the party.) "Cute, huh?" he said, "That's what I really want to be at this age, Pam, cute." Too bad, Bruce. That's what you are. :-)
There's more, but let me close up for now with three final bon bons.
I talked to Susan about the premiere (we compared dress ideas) and Bruce said he'd email me later with those details. So it looks like Barb and I will going to the premiere next week!
I asked Bruce if he could talk about anything new coming up and he said, yes, he's doing Atom Egoyan's new film for Universal and had just talked with him about it again yesterday! I can't imagine more wonderful news. We now know he has another quality film on the horizon.
And lastly, as he was leaving, he went around the group and gave each of us a good bye hug, starting with me. But then, just as he was about to take off, he came back to me and gave me a second hug with a kiss on the cheek. I just about lost it then.
Bruce's Private Screening
Thirteen Days
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