Loony for Clooney: Starry-eyed, but no stars

January 9, 2009 by admin
Filed under Movies, News

I searched the clusters of men with salt and pepper hair. This one could pass for his famed mop. See me with the back of George Clooney’s head? One guy even was wearing an “Oceans 13 Film Crew” T-shirt. But that was too easy. Movie stars don’t walk around wearing T-shirts of films they were in, do they?

I’d love to tell you how I smiled for the camera and forever etched on a memory card that I brushed elbows with Clooney, shook Ewan McGregor’s hand, said something witty to Kevin Spacey and made a reluctant Jeff Bridges say, “The Dude abides.”

But as quickly as the Imperial Valley Press confirmed that Clooney was indeed filming a movie, he vanished into the air like a ghost. My imagination would have to conjure what it would have been like: the Day I Met George Clooney.

When the opportunity arose to meet Clooney, my thoughts soared. I drew the envy of friends and my mother, a longtime Clooney fanatic from way back in the “E.R.” days.

Then reality settled in. What could I say to these stars that hasn’t already been said? My prospective questions were lame. Name your top five. … This was going to play out like a bad regurgitated version of “High Fidelity.”

The story was over before it started.

The Blue Angels tried to entice the stars and upped the ante with a proposed thrill ride. Would you rather be glued to the seat of a F/A-18 Hornet or answer “top five list” questions from a local reporter?

Even if I were Clooney I wouldn’t want to take my interview.

Then I had to take calls from the Blue Angels asking if I was still “hanging out with Clooney.”

Rub it in, why don’t you. No, I am not still hanging out with Clooney.

Walking out into the bustle of crew men assembling cameras against the backdrop of the Valley’s spectacular assets was nothing compared to the 24 hours after I got the assignment.

For 24 hours I had the best conversation starter at dinner and the heart-pounding minutes of speculation with the Press entourage as we drove to the set.

You know that whole journey versus the destination controversy? This experience completely settled it.

As the revelation was made that I would not get to meet the stars nor even admire them at a distance, blank stares passed between me and the photographer.

So it goes.

I plucked a banana from the perfectly ripe bunch and took a sip from the photographer’s pricey pomegranate juice from the catering cart. Our brush with the famed catering cart was our consolation prize.

The “set” was a lone winding desert road and a director’s crew huddled around a camera on the bluff overlooking the dunes.

It was beautiful. The wind whipped stands of hair in my face and the sun shone down but wasn’t blinding.

Months from now when this movie never makes it to our select local theaters I can say I saw that take being filmed. That car driving down the road? I was there.

Oh, um, stars? Did I see stars? Well, it’s funny you should ask. The thing about Clooney is he skips out as soon as he’s done. But the camera-shy heartthrob did let me take a picture with the back of his head before he left. See that signature mix of black and grey?

It was perfect. Yeah, he really does wear that T-shirt from “Oceans 13.” I know, he’s so down to earth.

So 24 hours later, I’ll still be dealing with the straggling questions of the star-studded experience that wasn’t.

It’s a collective disappointed sigh for the Imperial Valley.

Meanwhile, I’ll have to settle for the day that I got to eat a banana off the same catering truck that the likes of Clooney, McGregor, Spacey and Bridges once touched.

And hope that one day I’ll have another moment, when I least expect it, that makes me look up and say, “Hey, isn’t that …?”
Source By BRIANNA LUSK,

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