So, Joe Pantoliano came to campus last Friday to talk about his new documentary and how it is working in the entertainment business as a clinically depressed dyslexic.
The moderator for the discussion was Kevin Bright, who's been hanging around Emerson for the past two years. When he first got here to produce some kind of pilot, everyone was saying stuff like, "Oh! Kevin Bright!" Now they're mostly saying stuff like, "Oh. Kevin Bright."
The Greene was packed with film and theatre students. I think most of us were expecting a big Q&A thing where we tried to figure out how to break into the biz. The discussion turned out to be more weirdly intimate, as Joey, obscuring his T-zone with a Red Sox hat, told us more about his hardships and how they've influenced his craft. He talked about Christopher Nolan, The Sopranos, how Cypher is the most fully-realized character in The Matrix, and how he was able to gain the mutual respect of the Wachowskis.
"So," Kevin started with a smirk, "What's it like now that the Wachowski Bros. are the Wachowski Siblings? Is it weird to think of Larry on-set wearing a dress?"
Some of us shifted in our seats. Some sighed, shook their heads and softly murmured, "Kevin... Didn't you used to live here? Don't you know how big Emerson College's GLBT population is - both on campus and in this room? Don't you know that joke wouldn't have been funny three years ago?"
Joey looked at Kevin from beneath the shade of his hat. "Let's see you laugh when your good friend tells you that he's thinking of being a woman from now on."
"But then," Joey said, "They're not even sure they're going to continue directing. Their favorite project that they ever worked on was Speed Racer, and that was a box office failure."
I was already sitting straight up on the words "Speed Racer". I felt a rush of adrenalin, and I was sitting between two strangers and I wasn't sure what to do with myself. I soundlessly pumped my fists into the air. I didn't want to make any assumptions. Did Joey understand Speed Racer? Were he and I the only ones?
"Nobody liked it?" asked Kevin.
"Nobody liked it," said Joey.
Like a reflex, I leaned forward in my seat and opened my mouth. "I FUCKING LIKED IT!"
Heads turned. There was scattered laughter, a few claps. I broke the wall well before the question-and-answer segment. I instantly felt like an asshole.
I didn't notice that Kevin Bright had already turned to look up at me from the stage, apparently very interested in finding out who could be dumb enough to make so bold a statement. "Well, uh, could you tell us what you liked about it? In a sentence?"
I looked down at the back of the seat in front of me, and then to the far seat at the end of the row. What was there to say? How can I succinctly, effectively describe the way that I feel watching Speed Racer?
I raised my head. "It's a vibrant... honest story."
"Huh," he said. "That sounds more like The Reader to me."
Joey turned to Kevin. "The Reader was a boring piece of shit."
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