See this car? This was my car. Or "our" car , Bob would say. It was a 1980-something Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. We had no money. My dad basically gave it to us when we were saving for our first house. It was excitingly gray on the outside and in. Bob drove it. I drove my 1985 Pontiac Fiero that my dad also bought for me.
Since the Cutlass was my dad's, it was pretty impeccable. My brother-in-law took it to work one day in 1994 to change the oil (he was a service guy at a dealership) and someone left a handwritten note on it in the parking lot in Tysons Corner. The note said that we should call give this person a call, that they might be interested in using the car in a movie. We kind of thought it was a joke, but we called.
As it turns out, the note was from an associate producer. She told us that she was working with Jodie Foster on a movie, "Home For The Holidays", that was going to be filming in Baltimore and that they were looking for a car like ours. They would need it for about a week and would pay us a couple of hundred bucks or so. But she wasn't sure Jodie would like it---she was the final decider on all these things--so if we were interested we'd need to bring it to Baltimore for her to take a look.
What would you do? Duh! I took the day off work and drove to some deserted parking lot in Baltimore. When I pulled in the associate producer girl was there to meet me. The lot had 6 different cars in it--but each car had a twin. In other words, there was another Cutlass almost just like mine there, too. All the other people were local and had dropped their cars off for Foster Assessment and gone to work. I had nowhere to go, so I hung around. About 30 minutes later she drove up herself and talked to the producer chick in hushed tones while I hovered. She then came directly over to me and said "Hello, Dianna. I'm Jodie Foster. It's nice to meet you and thanks for coming all the way here from Virginia". We made nice chit chat for a moment and then she simply said "I really like this other car better. But since you took a day off work to come here, I'd like to use your car in the film if you'd allow us to do so". I, of course, consented. There was a bit more chit chat and a discussion of what would happen and off I went.
A few weeks later they picked the car up at our house. They had it for a few days longer than planned AND on the way back the person driving it dented the back quarter panel at a fast food drive through on one of those concrete posts. They fixed that. And when we got it back it had that nifty old man compass installed on the dash. I guess Jodie thought that was important. Someone also left a box of 5 or 6 Nina Simone cassettes in the trunk.
In the movie, it is Charles Durning and Anne Bancroft's car. It is in MANY scenes. They pick up and drop off Holly Hunter at the airport in it. And most excitingly, after dinner on Thanksgiving, Charles Durning washes it in the driveway.
Jodie was very nice. She is teeny-tiny. Knowing what I know now, I'd have to say that she just wasn't into me. I'm more woman than she could handle. :)
We sold the car a few years later. But it will live on in movie history.
3 comments:
How have I known you for almost 6 years and never heard this story? I knew you your random personal tidbits would not disappoint. You have the best tales, the only thing better is hearing them in person.
It was actually an Olds Delta 88 circa 1983-84.
As the "brother-in-law dealership service guy" I can confirm this story - and it was a 1986.
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