It's Friday night at eleven o'clock, and me, my producer
Scott Mosier and my wife Jen are sitting around the patio bar
of the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles with Cruel
Intentions actress Selma Blair. What started as a routine
meet-and-greet has now become a five-hour gab session, during
which Selma has just let slip that she knows where Greasy
Reese Witherspoon lives.
"You must tell me where," I
gravely say.
"Why?" Selma asks, a little
uncomfortable, due to the sudden change in my demeanor,
brought on by the mere mention of Greasy Reese Witherspoon.
"Because I want to egg her house."
Yes. I
so want to egg Greasy's house. Granted, I know she's
married to Ryan Philipe, and they have a baby daughter now.
But none of that matters to me. We're not talking about a
drive-by shooting. We're talking about a drive-by
egging. I mean, fuck it; it's Friday night, we're in
L.A., and we've got nothing else to do. What could be better
than whipping eggs at the home of a couple B-listers?
Now I've got nothing against Ryan Philipe, mind you.
And their baby's in the clear with me too (so far). But Greasy
Reese herself? Man, I don't like her. And I'm not talking
about her work here (because, like any sane human being with a
modicum of taste, I'm a big fan of Election; even - as
much as I hate to admit it - Greasy's peformance in said
picture); I'm talking about the person Greasy Reese
Witherspoon is. I'm talking a personal gripe here -
more personal than the shark's beef with the Brodys in Jaws
4: The Revenge (or did that infamous tag-line refer to the
Brodys' beef with the shark? I could never
tell). The reasons for this beef are sundry, and don't warrant
getting into here.
Ah, fuck it. Yes, they do.
Waaaaay back when we were casting on Mallrats,
Mosier and I are really anxious to meet Greasy Reese
Witherspoon (who I then referred to without the "Greasy"
moniker), because we're both huge fans of the coming-of-age
drama Man in the Moon. Back then, our casting agent,
Don Phillips, would meet with the actors and actresses before
we'd audition them, precluding the meet-and-greets I presently
am engaged in all week. For the Greasy meet-and-greet with
Don, Mosier and I arrange a drop-in, as we're eager to see
what she's like, this young actress who so dazzled us as Sam
Waterson's daughter. So Don is meeting with her in his office
at Universal, and Scooter and I pop in like we don't know
she's there, and start jawing with her. What a disappointment.
First, she comes off faux-erudite as all hell, and
condescending to boot (personality traits that make for the
kiss of death in my book). Secondly, she compares her Stephen
Dorff-starring flick S.F.W. to Clerks, calling
them "...the same movie, essentially." If you're me, and
you've seen S.F.W., this is tantamount to saying
Clerks licks balls. By meeting's end, we tell Don
there's no reason to bring her back for an audition, as we're
now non-Reese fans.
Now whether this registers at all
with Ms. Witherspoon, I have no idea. But on two future
occasions, I have run-ins with Reese which are not at all
pleasant, and may reflect what one can define as a grudge
being held against me for not letting her audition for
Mallrats (a slight that she should've sent me roses
for, all things considered).
The first such run-in
takes place at one of Details magazine's "Young
Hollywood' Parties. I'm dragged to the shindig, kicking and
screaming (I hate parties, and I hate 'em even more when
they're wall-to-wall with creepy young actors in L.A.), by my
then-girlfriend, Joey Lauren Adams. We see Reese there,
holding court, and Joey wants to extend her a congratulations
on her performance in Overnight Delivery.
To
understand the mammoth gesture this is, you have to know
Joey's history with this flick. Many months prior, she and
Reese were up for the lead in the picture, the script for
which I did an uncredited re-write. It was being directed by
the same guy who'd also crafted that contender for the
cinematic throne of Citizen Kane,
Bio-Dome.
While Overnight Delivery would
eventually be unceremoniously dumped straight-to-video by New
Line a year later, it was something of a hot project then, and
Joey was up for the female lead (indeed, at one point, Joey
was going to not do Chasing Amy -- the film that
earned her a Golden Globe nomination -- and instead do
Overnight Delivery; and people say there is no God...).
Ultimately, Reese was cast instead, as New Line was grooming
her for stardom. After the initial understandable bout of
disappointment, Joey found peace with this decision,
especially once she'd gotten Amy under her belt.
So it's a year later. We've shot Amy but it
hasn't come out yet. Joey and I have seen an early cut of
Overnight Delivery, and she wants to say something nice
about Reese's performance to Reese -- a real stand-up gesture
that you'd never catch me making, were I in her shoes.
We jockey up to Reese (me, quite unwillingly), and Joey tells
her that she's seen the flick, and she thinks Reese was really
good, adding she's glad Reese got the part when all was said
and done. And how does Reese react?
She sneers at
Joey. Then turns away.
Children, I wouldn't say it
unless I'd witnessed it with my own two eyes. Greasy Reese
Witherspoon sneered at the compliment like the third grade
girl with the most Valentines sneers at the third grade girl
with the second most Valentines after all the
Valentines have been given out, just prior to the distribution
of the holiday cupcakes. It was an ugly, ugly moment. There
was no offer of even an insincere, Hollywood-type "Thanks."
Merely a sneer.
But that doesn't earn her the
nickname "Greasy." Reese becomes Greasy when I'm later
informed that, on the set of Overnight, she quite
audibly mocked me.
Me! Radio Raheem!
The mockery was thus: Reese and Paul Rudd (the male
lead) are doing the closing shot of the flick, where they walk
away from camera. They're supposed to be talking playfully,
but since it's understood this is the closing shot (and,
presumably, end-credits music will be playing), no dialogue is
written. So the director tells the actors to just make stuff
up, as it's not going to be heard anyway. What follows is the
exchange, as told to me and my elephantine memory (and ass),
by someone who was there.
REESE: Who wrote this
shit?
PAUL: I think Kevin Smith.
REESE: Ugh! Didn't he write
Mallrats?
PAUL: Yeah, but he also wrote
Clerks.
REESE: Who cares? No wonder this
dialogue sucked.
Needless to say, when I'm told this,
I am livid. Enraged. Mildly amused, yes (hell, it was a good
dig), but more enraged.
And from that moment forward,
I've never referred to her as anything but Greasy (pronounced
"GREE-ZEE") Reese (pronounced "REE-ZEE") Witherspoon
(pronounced accordingly).
So when Selma lets slip that
she knows where Greasy lives, I'm agog. I'm begging her...
BEGGING her to give me the address so I can drive by and egg
the motherfucker (I'm talking about the house now, not Greasy
herself; or am I...?). Selma insists I'll get caught and give
her up as the address-provider in the process, but I counter
that not only would I not give her up, but I'll endure
hours of police questioning following my apprehension and
still remain zip-lipped.
"So you're already sure
you're going to get caught?" she asks.
I offer that
getting caught is a must, because how delicious is it
going to be to have Ryan Philipe chasing me down the block in
his skivvies, all piss and vinegar, after the yolks have hit
the fan? And how infinitely more delicious will the
moment be when Way of the Gun catches my ass (which,
assuredly, he would, as he's extremely physically fit, and I
can barely find the energy to make it to the bowl; unless it's
a bowl of Lucky Charms)? I fantasize about him tackling me on
a lawn a few yards from his own home (no homoerotic subtext,
mind you; the boy's no Affleck), turning me over to see my
face, and discovering that the guy who made Dogma is
the egg-man.
I harp on this for half an hour, but Blair
will have no part of it. Sadly, she eventually heads home,
without me having procured so much as a general direction in
which Greasy lives.
It is the biggest disappointment
thus far on the road to Jay and Silent Bob Striking Back.
When he's not writing comics and movies, Kevin Smith collects
a wealth of matches with which to burn many
bridges.
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