Here's Johnny

The first celebrity I saw in Los Angeles was John Larroquette. The only reason I knew who he was is because my father used to love Night Court. I remember standing behind him in line at a coffee shop and feeling a buzz in the room. He hit on the cashier for about five minutes and walked out of the shop. I remember thinking that if John Larroquette creates such a buzz, what would it be like to see an A-lister walk into the room.

Approximately one year later I got the feeling first hand and all I can say was that it was surreal. That’s when I first broke into the Hollywood scene and the best way to compare it to anything is to compare it to being in a fraternity. You were good enough to walk through the door but you don’t know what to do. You just try your best to watch everyone else and act like them. The first time I got recognized on the street, I was trying to figure out if I went to college with the guy who was freaking out about seeing me. It turns out he had heard me speak to a section of law school students about using their law degree in the business.

When Jack Nicholson expressed interest in a spec script I wrote I thought it was a joke. I had just gotten an agent off the sale of my first script and he asked me if I had anything else. I handed it over to him, and I was so used to people not getting my material, I never though about it again. He calls me two days later and tells me that Jack Nicholson is interested in producing and playing the lead.

Thinking that this agent was trying to impress me by leading me on, my exact words were “You can tell Jack that I’m interested in him playing the lead but there’s no fucking way he’s producing my baby.” The agent calls me back and tells me that Jack respects my love for the material and he will drop his back profits and take an executive producer role. At this point, I started to realize that I was really dealing with Jack “I sit on the front row at Lakers’ games” Nicholson.

Little did I know that that one little statement would change my career. I was just trying to call my agent’s bluff and instead I earned the respect of one of the best actors of my generation. The movie died in pre-production and ended up coming out a couple of years later with a different lead. It’s funny how a person can get lucky sometimes, but to be lucky you have to help yourself. And sometimes you have to just shoot from the hip and have some guts even though you might endanger yourself in the process. You have to take risks. And that’s the story about why I drink whiskey.

LD