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Never worked for Ivan Reitman, but I had a pretty surreal encounter with him back in summer & #39;03. They were doing the Central Park outdoor movies, and Ghostbusters was playing one night. It& #39;s one of my favorites, and Reitman was set to introduce it, so of course I had to go. <1/>
In the Time Out NY listing I found, I distinctly remember reading something about encouraging people to come in costume, and that they& #39;d be giving out prizes after the screening for the best ones. <2/>
I& #39;d made a pretty solid proton pack replica and jumpsuit for the Village Halloween Parade the year before, so I figured this would be the night it all paid off! I dug it out of the closet and dragged a very embarrassed @AustinCarr on the subway with me to Central Park. <3/>
Except. We get to Central Park, and NO ONE is in costume except me. Because I misread the ad. The costume contest wasn& #39;t for Ghostbusters. It was for the screening of Hair the following week, for which they wanted everyone to come dressed as hippies. <4/>
So now I& #39;m feeling pretty embarrassed. We find a spot to watch the movie, and I& #39;m taking off the pack when all of a sudden, the event organizers come running over. They& #39;re ECSTATIC that I came dressed up, and want to know: will I introduce Ivan Reitman to the crowd? <5/>
Apparently, in all their organizing, they never decided on who would do the intro, and figured some crazy superfan in costume would be as good as anyone. So I said sure, and waited nervously for the sun to set enough to start the movie. <6/>
Finally, it was dusk, and they brought me over to meet Ivan and his wife. I felt super awkward, because both were dressed really nice, and here I am in a cosplay GB suit, the equivalent of meeting William Shatner in a Star Trek captain& #39;s outfit. <7/>
But I managed to quickly explain the circumstance, and he laughed and said, "good costume." He looked at the pack up close, and was like, "wow, this is really good." <8/>
So I took the moment, without gushing too much, to tell him it was a favorite movie as a kid, and that making my own Ghostbusters movies on the family camcorder with my fellow 8-year-olds was probably the seed that eventually led me to be at Columbia studying film. <9/>
They called us on stage, and as we& #39;re waiting in the wings, all of a sudden, it occurs to me that I& #39;m about to speak in front of a couple hundred people and I have NOTHING planned to say. <10/>
I think Ivan must have noticed me suddenly freaking out, because he goes, "A little advice? Keep it short. And just say everything you just told me." So I did. And it went great.<11/>
So that& #39;s my Ivan Reitman encounter! A strange, unexpected but most appreciated moment to thank someone for their contribution to my childhood. I highly recommend taking those opportunities, however they come. RIP, Ivan.<12/>
