As I think most of you know, the actor Jeff Daniels spends a great deal of time in Michigan. According to my sources, now that his kids are grown, he’s spending more time away from Chelsea, where his theater, The Purple Rose, is located, but he’s still around, doing stuff, like recording voiceovers for the State’s marketing campaigns, and the like. And, apparently, he was in Ann Arbor a couple of days ago, where my friend Peter Baker ran into him. Following is Peter’s account for the Pencil Paparazzi file:
It was around 10:30am, and I was rolling into work a little late (or right on time, depending on who you’re talking to). My dog had already peed on 30-40 plants on our short walk from Depot St to Felch when we crossed Main Street (always in a hurry, commuters are crazy), and walked past what I’ve since come to find out is some kind of theater management company, in a grey building on the corner of Main and Felch (which might be a clue to where he was going, given how involved he is in theater).
I see a casual male in shorts, leather docksiders, and a pale yellow button up shirt (not all the way buttoned up), hands in pocket, unburdened and walking slowly up the slight hill I’m on. We were alone on the sidewalk, and as he approached, while I again went through the oft-occuring struggle to find the right acknowledgement for a proximal sidewalk stranger (a slight nod, a full on “how’s it going,” or just another recitation of the “yes, my dog is crazy looking” spiel) I think “That guy looks a lot like Jeff Daniels.”
He looks up the hill at me, looks down at my dog, then looks back up at my face, now complete with a shit-eating grin. Not wanting to be that guy, I try to come up with something succinctly flattering to say in the few seconds of time we’d be sharing the same pavement square. Now fully realizing my shit-eating face is because of him, and approaching to within feet of each other, he looks up again and says “Morning.” This nearly throws me, but I get back on track and reply “I’m a fan,” while making some kind of hand gesture close to my chest that I hope he took as a thumbs up. He says “Aw, thanks,” seems relieved that I keep walking, and continues up the hill while I head to work and spend the rest of the day thinking about Dumb & Dumber.
[And, if, by any chance, you should happen to see this, Mr. Daniels, I’d love to invite you to drop by some time for a guest spot on Dreamland Tonight. I think you’d enjoy it, and we’d love to have you.]
11 Comments
Maybe next week he’ll be spotted at Main and Goatse.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=felching
My wife subscribes to US Weekly, which I also find myself shamelessly reading. If you have never ready US, they have this horrible section called “Stars: They’re Just Like Us!” Its a fantastic piece of journalism squarely set on making anyone outside of Hollywood feel small. Normally the article will encompass pictures of celebs like Jack Nicholson drinking a Slurpee, with a caption that reads “Jack Nicholson noshes on a Slurpee in Calabasas. Stars, they’re just like us!” Sigh
Anyway, last month, they had a text that read “Pierce Brosnan Sunbathing on Ann Arbor’s U of M Campus.” Now fuck me. Remington Steele is in the area, and I was not notified? Sadly there were no pictures taken. Did any reader see Thomas Crowne or what? And if so, pencil drawings are in order.
We need a pencil paparazzi report. Someone has to have seen a topless James Bond, oiled up on the Diag. (His real life wife kind of let herself go. He was probably looking for some coed action.)
I think it’s the nose, but he looks like of like Sparty to me in this drawing.
http://images.quickblogcast.com/75386-66037/sparty_11.jpg
Hee hee, you said “felch”. Doesn’t Felch interset with “Hiscock” at some point?
I mean “intersect”. It’s the end of the school year. My brain is fried.
Actually, Felch is parallel to Hiscock.
It’s such a tease that, for eternity, they sit, arrow straight, next to one another, never touching. So sad.
Hey Mark, annarbor.com reports that a movie is being filmed in Saline, a period piece about the Civil War, starring Tom Beringer and CHRISTINA RICCI! Man oh man, how about a drawing of her, huh?
elviscostello: I’ve actually got one, but I don’t know how to send it in. (I can only scan into PDF, not JPG.) Mark?
Not to be crude, but did you do a good job with her breasts?