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SingOutAnnie Registered User
Registered: 8/23/2003
From: Bradenton/Sarasota, FLA | posted: 8/27/2003 at 1:28:17 PM ET Have you all seen this before?
from a film criticism Web site.
It quotes Kipp Marcus, who wrote and starred in "Let It Snow." His faxing and meeting with BP is a hoot...
"The miracle that is Bernadette Peters!"
"I wanted Ms. Peters for the part of my mom as soon as I finished writing the script, but being a hyper-low-budget indie, my brother Adam and I never thought we would have a chance at nabbing her. We tried the traditional method of giving the script to her agent in the hopes that money would not be that important in this case or more specifically that the merits of the script would somehow outweigh the downside of the salary we could offer. Much to our amazement and utter despair, her agents declined to pass the script on to Bernadette citing "She's booked through next year". Translation: Buh bye.
What's an independent filmmaker to do? As the writer/producer, I did what any good ole fashioned desperate and starving filmmaker would do… I panicked. Then I started playing the Kevin Bacon game: Who do I know who has worked with Bernadette, eaten with Bernadette, done yoga with…? You get the point. The cut to the chase: I knew a guy who had heard a reading of Let It Snow and was a fan. He had worked with Bernadette and gave me her fax number saying 'I trust you to use your judgement.' Note to reader: Never tell an indie filmmaker to use their judgement. So, in my "judgement" it seemed totally reasonable to fax her the entire script. 120 pages to be exact. I later learned that as my script rolled out of her fax, and I do mean rolled. Note 2: Bernadette has an ancient fax machine(1994, I believe). She was sprawled out on the floor uncoiling and reading the script as if it were the "Dead Sea Scrolls". The miracle is that she called me the next day and told me that she wanted to meet me. I was invited to her apartment to talk about the project. I went to her penthouse with a tremendous amount of anxiety and was welcomed by a huge dog who ran up to me and began humping my leg. As the dog was mauling me my eyes darted to the hallway walls covered in Broadway and movie posters. It was then that I heard the voice of the woman that I knew only from childhood movies like The Jerk and Pennies From Heaven. 'My dog likes you, that's a good sign' she exclaimed with glee.
It is safe to say that Ms. Peters was one of my first crushes which of course was giving me all sorts of Freudian and Oedipal complexes in my current situation i.e. dog humping leg and accepting that the very hot and incredibly talented Bernadette Peters, who I fantasized about as a kid, was now going to play my mother. It was all just a little bit weird. Oh, and if this wasn't complicated enough, she is more beautiful in person, was wearing a silk robe and was dewy, fresh out of a shower. I kept feeling like John Cusack in Bullets Over Broadway 'Don't speak. Don't speak.' Anyway, she yanked the dog off my leg and we went in and discussed the project.
Instead of being given the third degree, Bernadette spent the time in a poised and studious research mode. We talked about my family, independent film and the difference between being Jewish and Italian of which we both agreed, there is none.
The long and short: Ms. Peters guaranteed me she would do the film, took me to her roof garden, plucked a green apple from her apple tree, handed it to me and sent me on my way. We started rehearsal with Bernadette later that week.
Incidentally, I still have the apple. It sits in my freezer for luck. Looks like a shrunken head. -- As told by Kipp Marcus (Writer/ Producer/Lead Actor)"
| Jenny_loves_ bernadette Registered User
Registered: 6/6/2002
From: London | posted: 8/27/2003 at 6:22:58 PM ET wow, what a dream for him - God I wish I could encounter her by some amazing coincidence or something. i'd love her to play my mum in something.
they say bernadette's wonderful..........and she is
xx Jenny xx
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