Last November, I flew out to LA for the weekend so that my dog Bingham could play with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law’s dog Jelly. Oh yeah, the human folk wanted to get together too. On Saturday night, Jessie, Amos, Ro and I were joined by Jaime and Michael, great friends of ours from NYC who had oddly enough planned a 7 day Cali vacation that started in LA at the same time we were there. So, before they left that smog filled city of sin to drive up the coast to hilly San Fran, we all went out to eat at Au Bar, a trendy spot off of the Sunset Strip.
Our waiter was named David and seemed like the most likable of fellows. Look how happy he looks below in a pic he took with us:
We all were in high spirits and decided to play a game where we tried to guess his age and where he was from. We were all totally wrong (he was 24 and from Kansas and we thought he was older and from either New Hampshire, Virginia, Michigan or Arizona). We were all right about why he was in Cali though: he was trying to break into the acting biz. He was in a really good mood that night becaues it was actually his last night. He informed us that he had earned a role in “Bobby”, a new movie about the RFK assassination, and was leaving his job as a waiter to concentrate on his part. It was a huge break for him as the movie is being produced and directed by Emilio Estevez and the cast is full of heavyweights: Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone, Elijah Wood, Harry Belafonte, Emilio Estevez, Helen Hunt, Joshua Jackson, Shia LaBeouf, Lindsay Lohan, William H. Macy, Martin Sheen and Christian Slater to name a few. He seemed to be really excited, kind of humbled and a wee bit nervous about his first foray as an actor.
The following is a transcript of our exchange (transcribed almost verbatim) after he dropped his bit of news on us:
Jeff: What role are you playing?
David: Sirhan Sirhan.
Jeff: Ha ha ha. That’s funny.
David takes orders from the others at the table.
(Jeff to Jessie: I wonder what he is really playing?)
(Jessie to Jeff: He already said.)
(Jeff to Jessie: Are you serious? I thought he was joking…)
Jeff: You are seriously Sirhan Sirhan?
David: Yes.
Jeff: You kill Kennedy?
David: Yes.
Jeff: Really?
David: Yes.
Jeff: Come on. You kill Kennedy?
David: Yes.
Jeff: You seem way too nice…
David: Nope, I do it.
Jeff: You kill Kennedy dressed as a waiter…
David: Yes.
Jeff: …and you are our waiter.
David: Yes.
Jeff: You kill Kennedy in a kitchen…
David: Yes
Jeff: … a the kitchen is right there (me pointing towards the nearby kitchen).
David: Yes.
Jeff: You kill Kennedy in California…
David: Yes.
Jeff: …and we are in California.
David: Yes.
Jeff: Hmmm. Are you good shot?
David: I need to practice for the part.
Jeff: Oh, good. That’s funny. Hey, are you on IMBD?
David: No, not yet. It’s funny that you ask. I check almost constantly but its probably going to be a while, only the big names are listed right now because they were in a Variety article about the movie a little while back.
Jeff: Well, when you get on IMDB, I’m going to post about this evening on my blog, I’ll link to your profile and I’ll send you an email about it. It’ll be your first bit of press.
David: Cool! Thanks!
Jeff: You’re welcome. I’ll also have another vodka tonic.
David: Sounds good.
The rest of the evening went along swimmingly. The food was good, the company was great and we all had a blast hanging out. Now, a little less than 5 months later, it seems that David has finally made it into the Internet Movie Database.
David: I hope this counts as the first article written about your burgeoning acting career. Good luck, I can’t wait to see the movie and if I don’t absolutely love it, please don’t shoot me. I’m sure its someone else’s fault…
Photo courtesy of Jaime and Michael