My Joel Schumacher story.

Back in the late 90& #39;s, I went on the Warner Bros. studio lot tour. Our group was checking out a soundstage when I saw a tall gentleman with kinda wild hair walk by behind us.

Now I was that nerdy kid who actually knew who directed what film...

So without hesitation I blurt out:

"Excuse me. Aren& #39;t you Joel Schumacher?"

The man stops and looks at me. I& #39;ll never forget the look on his face. He seemed genuinely delighted to be recognized by some random kid on the lot.

His response:

"Yes, I am. And who are you?"

And at this point I& #39;m tongue-tied that a big time Hollywood director even cares who the heck I am. I wondered if all directors were this friendly.

Joel and I had a bit of small talk. Can& #39;t remember the details & #39;cause I was in awe.

The rest of the tour group soon wandered over and by the time Joel mentioned that A TIME TO KILL was being released soon, the others caught on that he was a man of some importance. He was heading to work on the next BATMAN.

We all wished Joel good luck & he carried on his way.

For the rest of the day, all the other people on the tour kept referring to Joel Schumacher as my "friend."

"We& #39;re definitely going to go see your friend& #39;s movie!"
"Your friend seemed so nice."

RIP my friend Joel. You are one of the reasons why I work in Hollywood now.

Because everyone can and should be that good of a guy./