A Celebrity Story

This is a story that begins with a dilemma, ends with a simple act of kindness and has a little magic in the middle. It’s a story about a famous actor on a commercial shoot but it is not one of those horror stories that you’ve no doubt heard. This is a positive story and it’s one I’ll never forget.

Today, it seems that every commercial on the air is about car insurance. But years ago, there were what seemed like endless ads for long-distance service. In the one in this story, the famous actor’s grandmother comes to visit him. When he shows her to her room, he tells her that because he has (whatever long distance company it happened to be), she can make all the long distance calls she wants.

The famous actor was John Lithgow. The dilemma came while casting for the role of the grandmother. After looking at countless actresses on tape and then bringing in the best of them for callbacks, we’d finally narrowed it down to two choices. The director, it should be noted, would have been happy to use either woman, and said so. It was then left up to the advertising agency and the client to decide which one they preferred. And for some reason, they simply could not agree. Casting issues are not uncommon but they obviously need to be worked out before shooting can begin. Unfortunately on this occasion, they weren’t.

On the eve of the shoot, it was finally decided we would have to bring both women to the set, which is really no decision at all. In the morning, we arrived at the location we’d rented and began lighting the set. Both of the women came, and with still no decision made, they both went into their trailer to wait. Mr. Lithgow arrived as well and went into his trailer for make-up, blissfully unaware that his costar had still not been selected.

As the morning wore on and with still no decision in sight, the ad agency came up with a plan. They wanted to watch each actress read with Mr. Lithgow to see if the chemistry was better with either woman. Of course this meant telling Mr. Lithgow the embarrassing truth about our inability to cast a simple commercial and it fell on the director to break the news. There was some concern that this would not fill the Oscar nominated actor with confidence about how the rest of the day would be but not only did Mr. Lithgow take it well, he readily agreed to read with both actresses.

While all of this was going on, the two women had been bonding in their trailer. Despite knowing they were in competition for a role that only one of them would ultimately get, they’d become fast friends. At the same time, the rest of us (except possibly the agency and the client) felt terrible about the whole situation. Mr. Lithgow came to the set and then each woman took a turn working with him while the agency watched. For his part, Mr. Lithgow made the best of a terribly awkward situation. He could not have been more gracious and professional.

Afterward, Mr. Lithgow and the two women returned to their respective trailers. While the agency and the client continued to haggle over their casting dilemma, the crew was now at a standstill. The set was lit and we were ready to shoot, if we only had a cast. This is where the magic comes into the story. As it turned out, the Director of Photography (DP) was not only an excellent DP, but he was also quite a skilled magician. The camera assistant handed him a deck of cards and in no time he had the entire crew and the director enthralled with the most amazing card tricks. The magic was so good that I was almost disappointed to eventually hear that at long last a casting decision had been made and we would finally be able to shoot.

We sent word to the women and also to Mr. Lithgow that a choice had been made. Upon hearing this, Mr. Lithgow, on his own accord, left his trailer to speak with the woman who did not get chosen. He spent some time telling her how much he enjoyed meeting her, and that he hoped they had another opportunity to work together sometime. It was a simple thing and he didn’t have to do it. This wasn’t his mess and he was under no obligation to help clean it up. But he did it anyway; he went out of his way to make that woman feel better.

These days, when there are endless stories of celebrities behaving badly, it’s important to remember that not all of them are jerks. Perhaps I’ve been lucky, but most of the celebrities I’ve worked with have been nice. But none have exhibited the class and professionalism that John Lithgow did on that day.