Dancing with The Devil

I need to preface this blog with the simple fact that I don’t get star struck. Well, hardly ever. After quite a few years of working on films and television shows, and now being relegated to bumping into the network news anchor in the hallway (my certain networks big guy almost wore my Lean Cuisine dinner once…that would have been fabulous), I’ve learned that famous people are nothing more than really popular regular people. They’re all pretty cool and down to earth and of all of them I’ve ever worked with, there’s only one who was actually a bitch to the point of me despising her…but, I’ll never tell who she is. Anyway…there’s not too many people I can say that I would get overly excited about seeing. I could name a few, but they’d all be girls and it would be for purely sexual reasons…

Ok…so now you know, I don’t get star struck. But, back in the spring of 2006 I was working on the show Hope & Faith. And Hope & Faith just so happened to film at Silvercup Studios in Queens. And at the very same time I was working there, the film The Devil Wears Prada was shooting there as well. You know, the one with my idol…Meryl Streep.

TDWP was a gigantic production and I didn’t know their schedule, like when they’d actually be in the studio or out on location. And after weeks of not having seen Meryl, I’d given up all hope of seeing my hero. I absolutely love her. I think I can trace it back to when I was a kid and saw her in She-Devil. I loved that movie…and obviously, I know that’s not her best work and my taste in film has gotten significantly better since then as well. So having been a fan of hers for almost twenty years, I suppose it’s understandable that I’d love the chance to bump into her. And it would have to be by chance, because I would never go searching her out or asking for her autograph…I’m not like that.

Sometimes things happen when you least expect them. And that’s how it went with Meryl. It was the end of a very long Friday. We had been shooting H&F all day. The crew had just started wrapping and I brought a cart down to the set green room to get the leftover food and wine that was there for the actors and their guests. I loaded the cart like every other Friday night and wheeled it from the stage to the hall that lead to the elevator. And as I was doing this, I wasn’t even thinking about TDWP. In fact, I didn’t even think they were in studio.

So off I go, carting down the hallway, oblivious to everything. The hallway is pretty wide too, but it gets narrow in certain spots where staircases come down from the dressing rooms. And just as I was about to walk past a staircase, somebody comes down the steps and spins into the hallway. And they’re bearing down on me. That’s when I look up and see, of all people, Meryl Streep. In full Devil wardrobe. Apparently, she was in full Devil character too, because she wasn’t stopping. She just kept charging towards me, with an evil glare…and no words were necessary for her to say, “Get the fuck out of the way. Now.”

So now, of course, I’m scared. And star struck all at the same time. So I stop pushing the cart and start backing up, pulling the cart towards me until I clear the stairwell. I quick pull the cart over to the side and wait, way out of her way, under the stairs for her to pass. And as she passed me, she turned towards me and narrowed her eyes into an even more evil looking stare and shot me one of the nastiest looks I’ve ever received. Then she snapped her head back and marched to a stage door and stopped. And turned her head to the two people who were following behind her. She never said a word to them…but they knew what she wanted. They told her it was the wrong door, so she spun on her heel and went to the next door and entered onto their stage.

That was the last I saw of her. But I have to say, it was one of the coolest moments of my life. Bumping into her anywhere would have been great, but seeing her in full character like that, and being scrutinized by the Devil herself, even if it was for just a moment was amazing.