A piece of American Pie, a ‘Jurassic’ encounter

Something funny happened on my way back to the nearby Universal Hilton Friday morning (June 29) after my whole-morning (individual) interviews with the stars (before and behind the cameras) of the new Universal Pictures potential blockbuster, Jurassic Park III (a Steven Spielberg production like the first two), including Téa Leoni and Sam Neill and their co-stars William H. Macy, Alessandro Nivola and Trevor Morgan, and Joe Johnston (director) and Stan Winston (in-charge of creature design and special effects).

I actually lost my way to the shuttle stop after I made the wrong turn from Stage 6 where the TV interviews were held and I walked right smack into a corner souvenir shop which looked oh-so-inviting, indeed, what with all those old movie posters and other Hollywood knick-knacks displayed in the showcase.

So I lost my head and, despite a grumbling stomach empty since 8 o’clock that morning (jet lag prevented me from waking up with the sound of the alarm clock at 6:30, so goodbye breakfast because I had to rush to the assembly point at the lobby... you know, you come late and you end up walking to the venue), I was enticed into taking a look-see inside. So who cares about the shuttle bus when before you is laid out an array of VHS/CDs of all kinds of movies (name it, they have it!), cute key chains, blown-up photos of Hollywood icons and what-have-you.

In my headiness, I almost bumped (there I went again, in a déjà vu experience with Jon Voight during another recent press junket, for Tomb Raider, also in L.A.) into a lanky guy in somewhat dirty white T-shirt and simple slacks when I walked around the stand containing mugs and what-nots but looking the other way, my attention having been caught by a huge (as in lifelike) poster of a brooding James Dean, the ubiquitous cigaret dangling between his luscious lips.

Instinctively, I said, "Oh, excuse me!" and the guy smiled and said, "It’s okay." I looked again and I thought, "This guy looks familiar. I have seen him somewhere." Yes, yes, yes. He seemed familiar but I couldn’t place him; I couldn’t remember where I’d met him or seen him.

Anyway, after another exchange of shy smiles, he went his way and I went mine. Oops! At the other end of the stand, we bumped into each other again. I laughed a bit and so did he. And then, my memory clearing up a bit, I said, putting a finger to my temple, "You are…?" The guy smiled, a very friendly smile, and answered, "Yes, I am!" He was clutching four VHS tapes he just took from the rack.

Oh, yes, of course, he is – Jason Biggs, that is, the same guy caught by his shocked mother doing himself a big favor with a pair of socks inside his room in the surprise comedy American Pie.

"How are you?" I said, trying hard to sound, you know, familiar.

"I’m okay, I’m okay," he said.

"You know, you look like the actor-son of my friend," I said, referring to Carlo Muñoz.

I told him I was a movie writer back in the Philippines, adding that American Pie was a smash hit in my country, so was it okay if I had a picture taken with him to show my readers (the teenage ones, especially) back home that I, indeed, not only met him in the flesh but also shook hands with him?

"I’m sorry," he said, still smiling, absolutely un-impressed. "I’m sorry but I can’t."

Well, and good, but thanks for being nice anyway.

A few steps away from me and Jason turned back, obviously "relenting." Okay, okay, he said, still smiling, "But just one shot."

I was fumbling for my camera tucked inside my belt bag when a kindly shop helper (from San Salvador, I later learned) offered to click the camera. There it was, for posterity! I asked Jason what he was doing there (at the Universal Studios) and he said, still smiling,

"Oh, shooting American Pie 2" (which will soon hit screens in the Philippines). No wonder he was in such a "dirty-looking" attire.

Now, could I take just one more shot of him, alone?

"That was enough," he begged off, still smiling, and walked away, only to turn back after a few steps. "Okay, okay, just one more shot." Click! And then he was gone, after paying what he bought, of course.

Now, I have an excuse to publish my own photo in my own column as "proof" of my funny (wasn’t it?) encounter with that piece of American Pie.

Actually, Jason Biggs was only one of the very interesting creatures I and my working companion, Bulletin’s Shirley Pizarro, happily bumped into during that three-day Jurassic Park III press junket. There was also, among other denizens I thought had been extinct millions of years ago, Spinosaurus, the gigantic dinosaur being introduced in the movie (in which he engages T-rex in a fierce fight to the finish).

The Spinosaurus stood at one end of Stage 9 where the print interviews were held the next day (June 30, Saturday). The whole place, like Stage 6 (where the TV interviews were held), was made to look like a jungle, complete with trees, more dinosaurs, a plane wreckage (actually used in the filming of the movie) and a small bridge leading to where the Spinosaurus waited to greet us (more than a hundred print and TV journalists from all over the world).

Connected to five puppeteers (each one assigned to move a particular part of the monster’s body), the Spinosaurus looked very real. When it moved, it could scare the wits out of you because he seemed so frightening real that any moment you felt that it would swallow you in one giant gulf (burp!) like what it did in the movie, carrying the poor guy in his tummy while the guy’s cellphone was ringing like crazy. (Who could have been "texting" him?)

Used only to the warmth of humans, Shirley was at first hesitant to touch the creature, just touch it with her virgin hands. But assured that she wouldn’t be eaten alive – thank heavens! – she soon warmed up to the Spinosaurus, caressing his rough (like real!) skin and peering deep into his large (like real!) eyes.

When the Spinosaurus suddenly opened its mouth, Shirley lost her poise and let out a scream. In a jiffy, relieved that she wasn’t inside the Spinosaurus’ tummy, she was smiling again.

And that’s when I took the photo somewhere in this page, also as "proof" that sweet Shirley could easily "charm" not only two-legged creatures.