CELEBRITY: Eric Stoltz
WHERE: Fotokem, film and video lab (1994)
WHAT: Entering the client lounge.
OBSERVATIONS: Mr. Stoltz has piercing blue eyes.
PERSONAL CONTACT: Literally bumped into him in the halls of a film lab in Burbank. Our eyes met. At the time, I had long, red hair and little round glasses and so did he. It was as if I was his evil doppleganger! Only I wasn't famous, or dating Bridget Fonda, or fighting off a 40' anaconda. Disappointed in my pitiful existence, he sighed and went on about his business.
(Aw, I'm sure he would have liked you.)
If you haven't seen any movies with Eric Stoltz in them, you're missing
something major. One of the most prolific actors of our generation, he
started his film career with a small part as a stoner compatriot to
Sean Penn in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High,". Stoltz first came to
attention with his lead role in "Mask," as the young man stricken with a
disfiguring disease. Since then, he has been a mainstay of the independent
cinema world in such movies as "Pulp Fiction," "The Waterdance," and
"Mr. Jealousy." Stoltz also produced "Mr. Jealousy" as well as the film
"Sleep With Me." The films that drew him mostly to the acting world were
the classics made by Elia Kazan in the 1950s, like "Babydoll" and "A
Face in the Crowd." He calls them "performance films, the ones that were
really actor-centric." But then another filmmaker had a profound effect
on him. "I remember taking six pals to see 'A Clockwork Orange' on my
16th birthday," he said. "It didn't sit too well with my parents, as you
can imagine." By college, he was branching out in his film taste. "I
went to USC, but I was desperately unhappy there," he said. "I took to
going to local revival houses, the New Beverly Theater in particular, and
seeing films there. Any film that was playing. I didn't bother to see
what the title was, I'd just go and be swept up in it." Here he found
the classics: Fellini, Welles, Ford, Sturges, the list that any young
film buff could rattle off. "I still get a good feeling about these
filmmakers," he said. "To see them for the first time on the big screen was
heaven for me." Currently working on a radio play of Noel Coward's "Hay
Fever," Stoltz's next film is "The House of Mirth," directed by
Terrance Davies who also directed "Distant Voices, Still Lives." "We spent all
summer in the wilds of Scotland recreating New York City in 1905. It
was a blast." But Stoltz's real concern for the coming millenium is the
state of independent cinema as numbers tend to crunch the chances of the
small movie breaking out. He wants us to care whether a movie is "good
rather than just popular." "Those things don't always go together
despite what we're told," he said. "I try to throw my little nine bucks
towards the underdogs. If enough of us do that, imagine how the lists that
are reeled off on the morning news shows will change. I'd like to see
that happen."
- Charlie Brown
http://www.mediatrip.com/per/Eric_Stoltz/index.html (but link doesn't work)
"Vegetarian - that's an old Indian word meaning 'lousy hunter.'"
2. Andy Rooney On Fabric Softener:
My wife uses fabric softener. I never knew what that stuff was for. Then I noticed women coming up to me, sniffing, then saying under their breath, "Married!" and walking away. Fabric softeners are how our wives mark their territory. We can take off the ring, but it's hard to get that April fresh scent out of your clothes.
3. Andy Rooney On Answering Machines:
Did you ever hear one of these corny, positive messages on someone's answering machine? "Hi, it's a great day and I'm out enjoying it right now. I hope you are too. The thought for the day is: "Share the love." Beep.
"Uh, yeah...this is the VD clinic calling....Speaking of being positive, your test results are back. Stop sharing the love."
Yes. This is because, according to Tim, that's the best way they can communicate with each other with their busy lives. Some history: In a magazine interview, Gary Oldman was asked to name certain people who he found to be attractive, Tim Roth being one of them. Tim must have read this, because Tim wrote something on his arm (or his head?) that read something along the lines of "G.O. I think you're sexy." Oldman then on the cover of the May 1994 UK edition of Premiere wrote on his arm, "Tim Roth I think you are sexy too!" Then in the April 1995 issue of Detour, Tim wrote on his forehead, "Gary Oldman Let's Do It." In the September 1995 issue of Bikini magazine, Eric Stoltz can be found covering a woman's breasts that read, "Tim Roth -- Stop Writing On Your Face" The next page of this article has Eric Stoltz smoking a cigar, frowning, with "Tim Roth?" written on his forehead. Many of these pictures can be seen on this web site.
