In Search Of Leonardo DiCaprio

 

“The whole of life is just like watching a film. Only it's as though you always get in ten minutes after the big picture has started, and no-one will tell you the plot, so you have to work it out all yourself from the clues.”
~Terry Pratchett,

  Moving Pictures

So what if I told you that last Tuesday, Leonardo DiCaprio came all the way to Stockton to film a movie? If I heard myself say those words out loud, I would have to say back to myself, umm... what? Leonardo DiCaprio? Why the HELL would he come to this GOD FORSAKEN place to film a movie? At first I thought it was a joke, because really, and I can't stress this enough, why would he be in a film that has anything to do with Stockton? But low and behold, it was no joke, he was actually in town filming a movie! In fact he was just a couple miles away!

 

 The movie will be based on the bestselling book,Vineland, by Thomas Pynchon, and aside from that, I don't know a lot about the project. In 2012, when we followed Woody Allen around San Francisco as he was filming Blue Jasmine, we managed to find out a partial cast list, Alec Baldwin and Cate Blanchett, and that on the days that they filmed, there were signs taped up along the blocks that read, W.A.S.P., which stood for, Woody Allen's Summer Project. I have always wondered it that was a joke, or a funny oversight? Either way, it gave us a bit of a giggle. Just from small clues, we were able to watch a couple days filming, and I got to photograph Woody Allen in action. I had the time of my life!

 

Anyway, this film crew has permits in Sacramento through at least the 20th of February. There were several Warner Brothers trucks lining the streets surrounding the courthouse here in Stockton and the capitol in Sacramento. I know Sean Penn will co-star in the film. I don't know if I am too late to get just a glimpse of Leo, but I am trying to do a little lite stalking of where they might be filming next! Social media and Google maps are excellent for that, but it isn't easy. You have to get as much information as you can, and in then check the maps for closed off streets. Wish me luck! As demonstrated by these photos, I am way less than 100 percent on my game. It's February. It's cold, I am old, we are in the middle of redecorating, and it hasn't just been cold, we had an atmospheric river come through! Did I tell you we picked out a nice shade of green for the hallway up stairs? I need more energy than this if Hollywood is going to be visiting Stockton!

 

 

 

 

OUATIH

 

"Nah, it was dumber than that."

~Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) 

Once Upon A Time In... Hollywood 

 

Warning: Spoilers Below

 

Hair will always be my favorite movie, full stop, but in 2019 a new movie came along that floored me, and I find myself watching about as much as I do Hair. It's the 9th film from Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon A Time In... Hollywood. It's smart, funny, violent, gory, sweet, shocking, and downright chilling. In other words, it's a movie by Quentin Tarantino, so as you might expect, it's complicated. But what Tarantino did was to give the audience, his audience, a chance to visit the night of August 8th,1969, and dream of a whatif scenario, like any of us of a certain age did, since the tragedy happened all those years ago. I was 8 years old when the murders occurred. I had been in Los Angeles the year before when my sister and I visited Disneyland with my sister-in-law.

 

 We drove around all over Tinseltown, and marveled at the lights along the Sunset Strip. I will never forget the lights of the city. We drove to Malibu and through some of the canyons on day 2. Benedict Canyon was one of them! Our 5 day vacation was exciting, and wildly fun, and I still daydream about it to this day. My sister and I bonded that trip, and spent some time talking about our bother who was serving in Vietnam. Sis and I had never been particularly close, and we still aren't, in fact we haven't spoken in 25 years, but our first vacation away from our parents was filled with so much innocent fun that I feel a little sad that she and I are no longer friends, or family for that matter, because life is short.

 

Sharon Tate only lived 26 years. She had a younger sister too. Unfortunately they never got to live a lifetime of sisterhood, and here my relationship ended over so much self-inflicted indifference and deliberate malice that it's obscene. My heart aches for the life Sharon Tate never got to have, because of individuals filled with rage, drug induced paranoia and societal indifference. My sister acted out for similar reasons. Sharon was gorgeous, so much so that it's rumored that she was the inspiration for Malibu Barbie! And it's easy to believe, as there was a pretty strong resemblance between the actress and the doll. It's kind of a nice thought. I was a fan, even as a child. When I heard the news of her death, I was so sad, I remember discussing it with my friend Jimmy, my best friend, who would pass away himself a few short months later. 

 

His death left a huge hole in my life, and in the hearts of everyone on our street. The kids didn't play together anymore, and the parents stopped having friendly cookouts together. No dads watching football together, or moms meeting after PTA meetings for gossip and a quick drink before the menfolk got home from work. So many times over the years I have thought about those two uniquely devastating events, and what it would be like had neither had occurred. I have played it over in my head about a million times, but it always ended up the same, that poor lady passed away, and my friend was gone at 8 years old. The End. But as it turned out, there was someone, somewhere, about my age thinking about tragedy too, and in 2019, he gave me an ending I could get lost in, to a great deal of satisfaction. It's fiction. Sharon Tate's story did occur, but as I sit here, an old lady of nearly 60, watching as tragedies happen almost daily, I am grateful to Quentin Tarantino for giving me an alternate reality to step into for a bit of relief. He couldn't bring my friend back and change the events that led to his death, but he did give Sharon Tate a different story.

 

Once Upon A Time In... Hollywood.

 

If you haven't seen OUATIH watch it.

 I can't recommend it enough.