The 42nd Chicago International Film Festival
 

I know this should be in "Events and Happenings", but I'm too excited to let nobody to see this.

On October 5th, I'll be at the Chicago Theatre witnessing the presentation of the Career Achievement Award to my favorite person in the world: Dustin Hoffman.

Just knowing I'll be in his presense blows my mind, and I couldn't be more excited.

Oh yah, and as a bonus, we get to see a screening of Stranger Than Fiction a full month before its wide release.

I just got back.

I exchanged greetings with Dustin Hoffman, and had a 3 minute conversation with Will Ferrell, followed by a hug. Nicest guy in the world.

Dustin was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award, made a beautiful speech, and then the lights were dimmed and we saw the U.S. premiere of his upcoming film Stranger Than Fiction, which was spectacular.

I was so touched to meet Mr. Hoffman; he's been an inspiration and an idol to me. This has been one of the happiest nights of my life.

Awesome! Your horror fest gets real stars!

Did you get pics?

I didn't, and it's a huge regret.

We didn't bring a camera because technically we weren't supposed to meet anyone...it was just an award ceremony. We were just in the right place at the right time.

I'll always have the memory, though.

So... .When Will hugged ya.... Was it likely a tough split second macho kinda guy hug? Or do you think he might have had alterior motives?


I had a buddy that ran in to Jack Nicholson at a bar in Colorado once. He said Jack was just hanging & drinking by himself at the bar so he went up and started talking to him and Jack turned out to be a really nice guy. He told me a bunch of the stuff that he asked him about, but the one piece of their conversation that I remember quite profoundly was this...


Curt (My friend) : Hey I heard you guys smoked like a 100 joints on the set of Easy Rider. Is that true?

Jack Nicholson: ....It was a lot more than that man....



For whatever reason, I've always just been able to totally picture & hear Nicholson saying that phrase just how one would think he'd talk.


Hmm... Not sure what that had to do with your post other than it being an unexpected celebrity siting, but for whatever reason, your story reminded me of it.

cool beans. always exciting to make that contact with the folks who's work you've been enjoying.





but ..



IS he an excellent driver ?

Haha, you're damn straight he is! Well...his driver is excellent, at least...

Urge, I know you know the feeling, it seems like you get to meet a lot of people. What was the most exciting meeting for you?

Bwind, I would love to meet Jack. I could see him saying that, too, and I can totally picture him having a conversation in the bar with your buddy. He seems like a laid back, cool kind of guy.

And it wasn;t really a hug, actually, it was more like he put his arm around my shoulder in a buddy kind of way. It was mega cool.

Thanks for the interest and responses you two. I can't even explain how magical this was...

as far as the people at the cons go ... i think margot kidder and karen black were the 2 that had me feeling light headed.

when margot kidder did superman, she was americas sweetheart.

karen black - despite her numerous appearances in junk films - has a fine body of class work behind her as well .. sort of like a female Klaus Kinski ... she'll act in anything - and no matter the role always does a good job.

i've been a big fan of both of these women for many years and they have both made major contributions to the horror film scene as well.


those were exciting ... others were fun in different ways. Linda blair was very nice - and cute - and funny
herchel gordon Lewis was really funny....Ben Chapman ..

I've enjoyed meeting all of them so far ..

Awesome. I hope to start going to a lot more conventions and such like you do, it's such a thrill.

Lemme know when you meet people, I like to hear about it.

everybody will hear about it .. i'll post the pictures :)


yeah they are a lot of fun ..

even more fun now that my kid comes with me ..

he's 5 (well, just turned 6 last week) and got his picture taken with nimoy and shatner.

he has no idea who they are but someday - the realization will blow his mind...


it'll be that way with a lot of the people he gets his pic taken with ... very cool thing i sure never got to do when i was a kid