David Strathairn shows up when you least expect him to.
This was another Marilyn Monroe day. It’s funny that one client is bringing me so many opportunities to work with celebrities. Pretty cool, really.
David Strathairn is that actor that you see everywhere but you just can’t quite remember his name or what the last movie you saw him in was. . .
You know what I’m talking about it.
He is “that guy”.
Which I guess is both great and terrible.
I arrived on set early, which is good, since our big monitor went down. Some kind of power problem. Luckily there was very little traffic that day, and I rushed to storage to get another power supply AND the Ultra Bright monitor.
Turns out it was the monitor, not the supply, and I swapped out quickly, and got back to my computer. Unfortunately that gave me very little time to get the script ready and I was rushing to be set, as David Strathairn was walking to his mark. I got it up right on time, and we started rolling.
David didn’t have much time, he was catching a flight in a few hours. He did his takes. Read very nicely. And I felt privileged to get to work with him.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have the time or inclination to chat with the crew. I’m not sure which, he was a quiet person. I was really hoping to ask him about his work prepping for Goodnight, Goodluck. To no avail.
My position is strange. I post on Facebook about what I’m working on, or with whom. My friends back in the South always comment about how cool it is, or how lucky I am, but it’s not what you think.
I just do a job. And I don’t usually get good interaction with the talent.
Every gig with a celebrity just makes me want to work with them in a creative way. To be more of who I am, vs just another nameless crew member.
For now I’m just taking their money, but I do dream of one day the actors I admire and have worked with remembering me teleprompting for them and being astonished that I am now Acting with/Directing/Writing for them.
That’s going to be a good day.
Another fun prompter gig!
David Strathairn is currently working with Steven Spielberg on LINCOLN
