As this week we finish celebrating Thanksgiving in the US, I was thinking of all the things I get to be thankful for. One particular experience this year deserves to be mentioned ;D
As usual I made my annual trip to LA (I volunteer for the AFI Fest in Hollywood) and while I am there, we try to sync up on some follow up activities related to the forum (like picking up autographed pictures for example).
This time, I was scheduled to meet Karin Gleason – GA producer; she is a key player in the Speyside Sessions album activities – at Prospect Studios. Once I got there and met her, we talked for a brief moment and she asked me “
have you met Kevin before?”. As I said no (no other than a chat or skype), she said “
oh, let’s go inside then, I think he is finishing shooting a scene”.
I swear … my heart skipped a beat!
As we got into one of the buildings, I suddenly found myself in SGMW! When I realized I was walking the hospital corridors I think I must have looked like a kid at Disneyworld!
We finally found Kevin in one of the patient rooms. He was working on his laptop and when we got in, he stood up, said “hi”, shook my hand and invited me to sit down with him. As he was in between takes, he was fully dressed as Owen Hunt (in the dark blue scrubs with the white coat on top). Ten seconds later, somebody came in and indicated that they were ready for him – internally I was screaming NOOOOO!
He was so nice and invited me to stay and watch the scene in the monitors so we stood up behind the director and the script supervisor and watched Kevin work for a while. They did 6 takes on that particular scene and moved to another part of the set to rehearse the next scene.
For those wondering if I have met any other actors, no, it seemed it was only Kevin working at that time. It was a trauma scene so I get to see some of the extras, some of the nurses, actors working as patients – one in particular with an amazing make up on him, the injuries looked so freaking real!
Once all the takes were completed, he came back to the room, we chat for a while, and then he left to grab something to eat. Before leaving, we discussed some of the forum activities, and as he couldn’t finish signing some of the autographs he asked me if I could get back on Thursday to pick them up. Ok, it is your time to play …. What was my answer? LOL
He picked up his stuff and left, and while leaving, he turned and said “
see you Thursday”. (note to self: if your heart has resisted this far all the emotions, you can skipped your check up this year
)
When I came back on Thursday I was only able to see him for a minute while in between takes (this time he has all his stuff in one of the hospital conference rooms) but a minute is a minute!
For those of you wanting to know how is he like, he is really handsome in person (he is more handsome in person than on screen – if that is possible). In my unique situation, the combination of having Owen Hunt in front of me but talking with an Scottish accent is a killer
, and yes, his eyes are a weapon of mass destruction.
But most important, he is so down to earth and friendly that after the initial shock of meeting him, he makes you feel that you have known him forever. He truly is a nice person. You can’t help but thinking that must be really great to be his friend.
I need to thank some special people for this opportunity:
To Leanne: for trusting me with representing the forum
To Karin: for taking time off her busy day and literally opening the door for me to meet Kevin – also for helping so much with the Speyside Sessions (thanks from your shipping department
)
To the KMKO charity team: for another great activity
And to Kevin, for being so nice and caring, and taking the time to deal with me while at work.
No doubt, a November I will remember for a long time!