Eventually Mike and Maria gathered us all together to go over the scene. Mega-author Mike Noonan (Pierce Brosnan) is making a special appearance at bookstore in New York City to sign copies of his latest best-seller. By the time I rushed out there I found myself towards the back of the lineup. The down side was that I'd be too far away from the table to watch Pierce signing autographs. The upshot was that I met two fantastic people. I got to know them pretty well since, for the sake of continuity, we were asked to stick pretty close together.
They'd even gone through the trouble of coming up with a plot synopsis, inside flap notes, author's bio, and a photo of Pierce as Mike on the back cover. Brilliant!
The guest of honor himself soon arrived. Pierce Brosnan came on set and walked all the way down the line, bidding us all an individual 'Good Morning' as he went. As he passed by me, I held up the back cover of the prop book with his picture and said:
"Good morning! Great book by the way!"
He paused for a second, cocked an eyebrow and said in his best deadpan manner:
"Yes! It's just as good as King's!"
We had a good chuckle as Pierce made his way to the back of the lineup and said 'Hello' to the other extras who were placed strategically all around the story as casual patrons. He then proceeded to putter around for a little bit, examining the odd book before drifting back to the table where the "signing" would take place.
A rehearsal of the action then followed. A few people at the head of the lineup got to "meet" Mike, had their book's signed and then turned to leave, miming excited conversation as they went. Then the "Superfan" showed up, bearing a massive stack of first editions in his arms which he then dropped in front of Mike with a tremendous crash. Although I couldn't see the exchange from where I was standing, I could certainly hear it.
"Hello, Mr. Noonan," the Superfan said, his voice sounding monotone, yet assertive. "I'm your biggest fan."
This cracked me up, since it was clearly an homage to that other King-spun tale of obsessive fandom gone horribly awry: Misery.
"So...," Mike/Pierce replied, "I suppose you want me to sign...all...of these?"
"Yes, all of them," came the insistent reply.
"Right, then," Mike heaved a sigh as he resigned himself to a bout of carpel tunnel syndrome. "And how should I make these out to you?"
"To my BEST FRIEND," the Superfan replied.
"Best...best friend, huh?"
"BEST friend, yes."
I could also detect Pierce Brosnan's blatant wince of pain as the stack of books got plunked down in front of him as well as his look of stark amazement as the fan made his series of nutty requests. I'm was also delighted to watch Annabeth look on with bemused surprise as the avalanche of books came slamming down onto the table.
In addition, the staff of the store and some of the real-life customers were becoming star-struck, even attempting to take a photograph of Pierce at one point in time. Adam the A.D. had to step in at one point and put the kibosh on that.
*Whoof!* We're almost there! How long have we been waiting in this lineup, anyway? Three, four weeks?"
"Man, if I don't get Pierce Brosnan's autograph today, I'm gonna hunt you down and murder you in your sleep!"
"Have any of you guys actually read They All Fall Down yet? It actually kinda sucks."
"What are the odds that the ten people standing in front of us in the lineup will suddenly get hit by lightning? Wouldn't that be great?"
"He signed it! Pierce Brosnan signed your book! Why did he...how did you do that!?!?"
"Hold on now, just wait a minute!" I protested. "We don't know if that's his signature. I can barely read it, fer Crissakes!"
"I'm pretty sure it says 'Pierce'," Shannon jumped in, gleefully pouring kerosene on the fire.
"How...how did you get his autograph?!" Ashley demanded, practically grabbing me by the lapels, which, in retrospect, would have been really bad 'cuz I wasn't wearing any lapels.
"I...I didn't," I sputtered back, now totally flummoxed. "I was just standing over there and that intense-looking German dude just asked me if I wanted to have my book signed so I just gave it to him!"
My fellow extra moved in closer. I backed away, fearing that I had only seconds to live before I was beaten to death with a woefully un-customized stunt-book.
"I came here with one goal and one goal only: get Pierce Brosnan's autograph. You're gonna give me that book when your done."
"What?!" I shouted, holding the hardcover to my chest. "No way! They're just gonna make me give it back anyway!"
"Why?" she persisted. "Why would that guy go through the bother of getting the damned thing signed if you weren't supposed to keep it?"
I had to admit that it really didn't make much sense. After all, we were still standing mid-way in the lineup and the next scene would most certainly be Pierce running towards the door, leaving the rest of us forever waiting for his "autograph". Our reaction to the ruckus outside was filmed again a few more times. Then the steady-cam operator reversed his original angle by running backwards down the aisle, first capturing our quizzical reactions to the imaginary noise and then halting as a horror-stricken Pierce got up and ran towards the front of the store. Several variations of this scene were shot, including a request by director Mick Garris to have us break out of the line up and run after Pierce as he flew past us.
They'd even gone through the trouble of coming up with a plot synopsis, inside flap notes, author's bio, and a photo of Pierce as Mike on the back cover. Brilliant!
The guest of honor himself soon arrived. Pierce Brosnan came on set and walked all the way down the line, bidding us all an individual 'Good Morning' as he went. As he passed by me, I held up the back cover of the prop book with his picture and said:
"Good morning! Great book by the way!"
He paused for a second, cocked an eyebrow and said in his best deadpan manner:
"Yes! It's just as good as King's!"
We had a good chuckle as Pierce made his way to the back of the lineup and said 'Hello' to the other extras who were placed strategically all around the story as casual patrons. He then proceeded to putter around for a little bit, examining the odd book before drifting back to the table where the "signing" would take place.
A rehearsal of the action then followed. A few people at the head of the lineup got to "meet" Mike, had their book's signed and then turned to leave, miming excited conversation as they went. Then the "Superfan" showed up, bearing a massive stack of first editions in his arms which he then dropped in front of Mike with a tremendous crash. Although I couldn't see the exchange from where I was standing, I could certainly hear it.
"Hello, Mr. Noonan," the Superfan said, his voice sounding monotone, yet assertive. "I'm your biggest fan."
This cracked me up, since it was clearly an homage to that other King-spun tale of obsessive fandom gone horribly awry: Misery.
"So...," Mike/Pierce replied, "I suppose you want me to sign...all...of these?"
"Yes, all of them," came the insistent reply.
"Right, then," Mike heaved a sigh as he resigned himself to a bout of carpel tunnel syndrome. "And how should I make these out to you?"
"To my BEST FRIEND," the Superfan replied.
"Best...best friend, huh?"
"BEST friend, yes."
I could also detect Pierce Brosnan's blatant wince of pain as the stack of books got plunked down in front of him as well as his look of stark amazement as the fan made his series of nutty requests. I'm was also delighted to watch Annabeth look on with bemused surprise as the avalanche of books came slamming down onto the table.
In addition, the staff of the store and some of the real-life customers were becoming star-struck, even attempting to take a photograph of Pierce at one point in time. Adam the A.D. had to step in at one point and put the kibosh on that.
*Whoof!* We're almost there! How long have we been waiting in this lineup, anyway? Three, four weeks?"
"Man, if I don't get Pierce Brosnan's autograph today, I'm gonna hunt you down and murder you in your sleep!"
"Have any of you guys actually read They All Fall Down yet? It actually kinda sucks."
"What are the odds that the ten people standing in front of us in the lineup will suddenly get hit by lightning? Wouldn't that be great?"
"He signed it! Pierce Brosnan signed your book! Why did he...how did you do that!?!?"
"Hold on now, just wait a minute!" I protested. "We don't know if that's his signature. I can barely read it, fer Crissakes!"
"I'm pretty sure it says 'Pierce'," Shannon jumped in, gleefully pouring kerosene on the fire.
"How...how did you get his autograph?!" Ashley demanded, practically grabbing me by the lapels, which, in retrospect, would have been really bad 'cuz I wasn't wearing any lapels.
"I...I didn't," I sputtered back, now totally flummoxed. "I was just standing over there and that intense-looking German dude just asked me if I wanted to have my book signed so I just gave it to him!"
My fellow extra moved in closer. I backed away, fearing that I had only seconds to live before I was beaten to death with a woefully un-customized stunt-book.
"I came here with one goal and one goal only: get Pierce Brosnan's autograph. You're gonna give me that book when your done."
"What?!" I shouted, holding the hardcover to my chest. "No way! They're just gonna make me give it back anyway!"
"Why?" she persisted. "Why would that guy go through the bother of getting the damned thing signed if you weren't supposed to keep it?"
I had to admit that it really didn't make much sense. After all, we were still standing mid-way in the lineup and the next scene would most certainly be Pierce running towards the door, leaving the rest of us forever waiting for his "autograph". Our reaction to the ruckus outside was filmed again a few more times. Then the steady-cam operator reversed his original angle by running backwards down the aisle, first capturing our quizzical reactions to the imaginary noise and then halting as a horror-stricken Pierce got up and ran towards the front of the store. Several variations of this scene were shot, including a request by director Mick Garris to have us break out of the line up and run after Pierce as he flew past us.
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