Folks, there are places to bump into people... moments to be stunned that you are you and this is your life. For "Shaft" the moment and place was Paris... Truffaut's Grave and the director of Silence of the Lambs... Not too much movie news, but a slice of life in this world of ours and the people that make our films... Tres Cool....
Harry,
This may surprise you, but I am a long time reader who has never posted anything beyond the chatroom until now (I know you've heard rumours about guys like me...). So anyhoo, my girlfriend and I are in Paris on vacation last week and we stayed in Monmartre for the last couple of days. So after choking on our croissants at the prices to get into the Moulin Rouge (about $110 Cndn to stand at the bar, FYI) we decide to take a look at the Monmartre cemetery. Looking at the guide I see that François Truffaut is buried there and man, I just got to pay my respects. I had some trouble finding him at first because these four guys are hunched around his grave putting flowers on it. I then notice the equipment truck about a hundred feet away and think, Hey, I guess these guys aren't family. There's one guy crouched down with his back to me and he's speaking English so I ask him if they're shooting a documentary on Truffaut. Dude turns around and it's Jonathan Demme. I managed to somehow not shout out "Dude, you're totally Jonathan Demme!" and was able to talk to him for a couple of minutes. He said there was a scene in the film involving the grave. I told him I thought hey, if you've got to have a grave in the movie it was a nice touch to use Truffaut's even if you can't show the name. He replied "Oh no, you know it's his. There is definitely a 'Truffaut Grave Moment' in the film." Now you can make of that what you will. So I wished him luck and walked away wondering why that title sounded familiar. Now that I've looked it up I see that Mark Walbergh and Thandie Newton are in it but unfortunately, no star sightings when they were dressing the set. Nice anecdote though, and a nice guy. This definitely blows my "standing next to Jane Seymour at a charity event" story out of the water. I tell you, given the people involved and the story (remake of Charade) I'm really looking forward to this one.
Hope you find this interesting, and just sign me Shaft!
