Today I was reminded that everyone in LA is apart of their own (and sometimes someone else’s) “E True Hollywood Story”. Meaning that everyone in this town, while chasing their dreams, get exposed to the darker side of what Hollywood has to offer… Over my last 25 years in this town, sadly I’ve had a few.
I was reminded today by waking up to a phone call from a reporter from New Yorker magazine doing an article on a director I worked with over a decade ago. This is a film that I had shot over a decade ago… matter a fact, I shot this particular film twice due to the madness of the director. Just how mad I didn’t know until I got this phone call this morning.
Turns out this man is on trial for 11 counts of rape of actresses he lured into his apartment on the grounds of casting them in his next film. Beyond that, his son is on trial for the murder of his girlfriend. What a wild way to wake up and searching to remember all these things that happened over a decade ago.
My memories of this film bordered on ludicrous… The script was a bit crazy to begin with, yet that is par for the course in this town and yes, I knew of the crazy director making advances toward the lead actress, but again, that is nothing new in Hollywood. On top of the crazy script and the crazy director, the director had a strong stutter and would take a bit of time to communicate to us… I’m telling you, this could have been a comical SNL skit… not so funny now as I find out how horrible it all has ended up.
I don’t really want to talk about the facts of the whole thing as its still in trial and I’m sure any of you interested can find the case online and of course in New Yorker Magazine in an upcoming issue. I just want to comment on the fact, that as an actor in this town, you can come across some of the darkest sides of humanity and the path of chasing your dreams…
And like I said before, sadly, it’s not the only dark experience I’ve had in my “E True Hollywood Story”.
