Read Online Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography by Rob Lowe - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Rob Lowe
Tags: Autobiography
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uncle’s boss. “Hi. I’m John Dykstra. I’m the visual-effects coordinator. I’m just about to watch some scenes we’re working on.”
As the lights go down, I turn to him and ask, “What’s this movie called?”
“ Star Wars ,” he says.
Even though most of the effects have not been added, what I see on-screen makes the hair on my neck stand up. When the hero grabs the girl and swings out on a rope to safety, even though they’re flying a foot off the studio floor, I don’t need the bottomless Death Star shaft to feel the rush. When the villain appears in the black mask and helmet, I am riveted, even when he pulls out a cool handle with a broomstick on it and begins a sword fight.
“This is what I do,” says my aunt. “I’m gonna add a laser over the broom handle. It’s going to be a laser-sword.”
“No, we’re gonna call it a light saber ,” says Dykstra.
When the clips are over, we stop to see a small robot that is shaped like a trash can. Apparently the robot is a major character in the movie, and I think the name is cool, R2-D2. My brother and I also check out Luke Skywalker’s hovercraft, which has mirrors covering the wheels underneath it, to give it a rudimentary effect of hovering. Later, even that will be “rotoscoped” out for better effect, to make it look like it’s flying.
On our way out we pass the source of the terrible odor that has been wafting throughout the building. It is a giant, wooly-mammoth-looking costume for a character to be called a Bantha. It seems they are the horses of the future. But they stink like dead elephants. And, indeed, elephants have been wearing this gross stinky costume. “Yeah, the guy who rode it got thrown off. Almost broke his neck,” says Jerry Garcia.
The next day at school I tell all my friends about this amazing new movie that isn’t coming out for months but is going to be “the coolest thing ever.” In my opinion (and I am hardly alone), Star Wars did change the world. The movie business was never the same; the era of the blockbuster and the tent pole was now on the horizon. And, following the money, as always, was Corporate America and the dubious model of “vertical integration.” Star Wars made it attractive for an engine turbine company like GE to want anything to do with an inherently flaky artistic business that couldn’t be decoded by bean counters, MBAs, or “bottom-line” hawks, as much as they continue to try. Luke Skywalker’s photon torpedoes not only blew up the Death Star from the warehouse in North Hollywood, they ended an era when the movie business was run by people who, first and foremost, loved movies. Through all the years, and the changes they brought, I still feel lucky to have witnessed the birth of the movie that changed it all.
* * *
We are going broke. My mom and Steve are increasingly at odds. He works for the county government as a shrink, he doesn’t have a private practice like the big guns in Beverly Hills (I have no idea why), and my dad is always late with child support. I’m sure my dad’s point of view is: Let the “new” dad hustle some money.
The tension in the house is overt. There is no attempt to keep those issues from me and my brothers and as a result I am anxious and melancholy. When I hear that my dad is ducking his financial commitments to us, I take it personally. Is there something I should do about this? Is this in some way representative of how Dad feels about us? It also sometimes occurs to me that perhaps I’m only hearing my mom and Steve’s side of the story. I want to call my father, but I’m scared (long distance = expensive) and would have no idea how to begin a conversation about anything real , any interaction about our relationship. As always, I want to keep my head down and assume all is well. If there is an eight-hundred-pound gorilla in the room, I won’t be the one to point it out, lest I be eaten by it.
Although my classmates at school are
As the lights go down, I turn to him and ask, “What’s this movie called?”
“ Star Wars ,” he says.
Even though most of the effects have not been added, what I see on-screen makes the hair on my neck stand up. When the hero grabs the girl and swings out on a rope to safety, even though they’re flying a foot off the studio floor, I don’t need the bottomless Death Star shaft to feel the rush. When the villain appears in the black mask and helmet, I am riveted, even when he pulls out a cool handle with a broomstick on it and begins a sword fight.
“This is what I do,” says my aunt. “I’m gonna add a laser over the broom handle. It’s going to be a laser-sword.”
“No, we’re gonna call it a light saber ,” says Dykstra.
When the clips are over, we stop to see a small robot that is shaped like a trash can. Apparently the robot is a major character in the movie, and I think the name is cool, R2-D2. My brother and I also check out Luke Skywalker’s hovercraft, which has mirrors covering the wheels underneath it, to give it a rudimentary effect of hovering. Later, even that will be “rotoscoped” out for better effect, to make it look like it’s flying.
On our way out we pass the source of the terrible odor that has been wafting throughout the building. It is a giant, wooly-mammoth-looking costume for a character to be called a Bantha. It seems they are the horses of the future. But they stink like dead elephants. And, indeed, elephants have been wearing this gross stinky costume. “Yeah, the guy who rode it got thrown off. Almost broke his neck,” says Jerry Garcia.
The next day at school I tell all my friends about this amazing new movie that isn’t coming out for months but is going to be “the coolest thing ever.” In my opinion (and I am hardly alone), Star Wars did change the world. The movie business was never the same; the era of the blockbuster and the tent pole was now on the horizon. And, following the money, as always, was Corporate America and the dubious model of “vertical integration.” Star Wars made it attractive for an engine turbine company like GE to want anything to do with an inherently flaky artistic business that couldn’t be decoded by bean counters, MBAs, or “bottom-line” hawks, as much as they continue to try. Luke Skywalker’s photon torpedoes not only blew up the Death Star from the warehouse in North Hollywood, they ended an era when the movie business was run by people who, first and foremost, loved movies. Through all the years, and the changes they brought, I still feel lucky to have witnessed the birth of the movie that changed it all.
* * *
We are going broke. My mom and Steve are increasingly at odds. He works for the county government as a shrink, he doesn’t have a private practice like the big guns in Beverly Hills (I have no idea why), and my dad is always late with child support. I’m sure my dad’s point of view is: Let the “new” dad hustle some money.
The tension in the house is overt. There is no attempt to keep those issues from me and my brothers and as a result I am anxious and melancholy. When I hear that my dad is ducking his financial commitments to us, I take it personally. Is there something I should do about this? Is this in some way representative of how Dad feels about us? It also sometimes occurs to me that perhaps I’m only hearing my mom and Steve’s side of the story. I want to call my father, but I’m scared (long distance = expensive) and would have no idea how to begin a conversation about anything real , any interaction about our relationship. As always, I want to keep my head down and assume all is well. If there is an eight-hundred-pound gorilla in the room, I won’t be the one to point it out, lest I be eaten by it.
Although my classmates at school are
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