Thursday, May 04, 2006

This past Friday, April 28, I made my annual visit to Ebertfest, Roger Ebert's overlooked film festival, at the Virginia Theater in Champaign, Illinois. Friday night's screening was Ripley's Game, starring Illinois native John Malkovich. I did manage to squeeze in a brief conversation with John during my attempts to get a photograph. Unfortunately, John just didn't want his picture taken.

However, Roger didn't disappoint. He's always accommodating to festival attendees and frequently roams the lobby and theater. If you see a silver Lexus SUV with the license plates MOVIES, that's Roger.

Marni Nixon, Audrey Hepburn's singing voice in My Fair Lady, was in the audience for the Ripley's Game screening. She had lots of compliments for the Ripley's movie score during the Q and A session that followed. My Fair Lady was screened the day before, with Marni sharing stories about the movie and her other "singing" roles in feature films. Marni's son is Andrew Gold of "Thank You For Being a Friend" one hit wonder fame.


Finally, I spotted Scott Wilson in front of the Theater as I was leaving. Scott is one of the stars of the early 1980's movie The Right Stuff. He was at the Festival as part of the next day's screening of Junebug, a movie he co-starred in with Amy Adams. This was Scott's second trip the Festival.


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