As I said last time, I have been accused of being a name dropper. I don't mean to be. I have just been rather fortunate to have met some people, whose names you might know.
One of those was Dennis Hopper. We met on the set of the film "Chattahoochee" in 1988. Now, I know that there are stories about his drug and alcohol use, which was extreme, but by then he was clean and sober. Dennis was a very interesting guy. We were standing in a line together waiting for a scene. He turned to me and asked if I knew anything about Charleston. He said he wanted to go there for his off weekend from shooting. It just so happened that I knew a lot about Charleston. I asked him what he was interested in, and he said he wanted to see the history of the city. So, I told him about the Battery, the Market, Charles Town Landing, Fort Moultrie, Fort Sumter, and Patriots Point. The following year, he directed a movie called "Chasers" which was mostly filmed in Charleston. All of the sites I told him about were in the movie. I really should have gotten a credit for Location Scouting in that film, but I didn't. Another guy heard us talking and asked Dennis if he wanted to go to a bar after filming. Dennis was polite and told the guy that he just wanted to go back to his hotel room at Embassy Suites and watch ESPN. He told me that he really liked to watch college sports. He was a cool guy,
Another was Gary Oldman who had the lead in "Chattahoochee". Most everybody has a list of the best actors in the world. Gary is on my list. He emersed himself in any role he would play. Gary has a Cockney accent in real life, but he was playing a guy from Florida and had to have a Southern accent. The director had told us not to say anything to Gary, because he was concentrating on his accent. We were standing around in a cramped space, waiting on a scene to begin. I was next to Gary. He turned to me and asked me what my name was. I told him. He then asked me if I was from Columbia. I said yes. So, he then asked me to tell him about the South. He wanted to get an idea what someone from the South would do within his character. We were chatting about that, when the director saw me talking to Gary. The director wanted to fire me, but Gary spoke up and told the director that he had initiated the conversation. I was allowed to stay. Gary and I talked at lunch about the South. He also wanted me in a scene with him behind a fence along with some other actors. That made the front of the DVD cover. I am on the far left in the artwork, even though I was right behind him in the shot.
By the way, who is on my list of great actors? Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Tom Hanks, Gary Oldman, and me. That's the way it is.
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