the prince and me

The Prince and Me opened april 2nd 2004

august 10th 2004

The Prince and Me is now available on DVD!

PHOTOS AND STORIES

pre-premiere day

26 march 2004

i just bought a suit to wear to the premiere of "the prince & me." an armani suit. it had a comma in it. by that i mean, the price tag. this is my first comma suit. ever. and my first big hollywood premiere at the grauman chinese this sunday night, march 28th. on hollywood blvd. where i walk down the red carpet with my father, my sisters, my aunt barbara and my friends, renee, audrey and jennifer, who have lifted me up when i was down, who believed when i forgot to. and so, despite all the ups and downs, tears and concessions, joys and hair loss in writing and rewriting a movie, of collaborating with a confluence of lives lived and their specific tastes that might not be your own, and the needs and wants of the practicalities of big box office, of knowing nothing in the film business can be entirely yours -- a movie has been made. and because of it today was my day to be a girl.

a young girl. i had a gentle pause in the armani store. stop, look where you are. you are buying a comma suit to go to a movie premiere, of a movie you wrote. never did i imagine this would happen to me. never, all those angst-ridden years growing up with a light blue selectric typewriter with stickers of the partridge family on it - did i see my path as leading me to this. i smiled as i remembered that young girl, that serious katherine, who typed furiously and fastly stories about growing breasts and not growing tall enough. of pete vasquez, the assistant manager at burger king who wore black angel flight jeans, drove a black camaro and broke my heart while his girlfriend cassie toomey chipped my front tooth, telling me in no certain terms, he was hers. stories of losing my virginity in the back seat of a car, the red stained carpet scratching my back.

of my dog, abraham, stolen out of my car at the coin-operated car wash when i left for a minute to feed coins to the machine. of a voice gone hoarse from driving and screaming his name, only to have a policeman say, "chihuahuas have been stolen lately to feed to pit bulls. you know, the opening act to dog fights." and me wishing i had never heard those words, instead choosing to believe my little trusting guy was in the loving arms of a little boy or girl somewhere happy. of stories i wrote about my mother dying in a car accident. of my starring role in the play the star-spangled girl when one entire wall of the set's apartment fell down during my performance. of an entire audience staring at me in shock, me standing still in my USA bathing suit on stage, looking down at the fallen flat, then back at the audience waiting to see what i would do. of me realizing, this is my moment. alive, spontaneous, unexpected, right here -- connected to everyone in the room, and they connected to me.

and learning, to always step into your light.

stories of my brother dying, of siouxsie sioux slinking across the stage at the hollywood palladium, opening my quiet world to punk, dyed black hair and women in complete control. of performing as janet in the rocky horror picture show and later telling susan sarandon at the 20th anniversary about it, not at all aware i wasn't the first young janet to do so. of delivering chinese food to jack nicholson on mulholland drive, driving my datsun through large iron gates to see jack swimming in the pool, a scene out of The Witches of Eastwick. of waitressing past midnight at bob's big boy, scrapping old hot fudge off stainless steel, thinking i will never be more than this. which means i didn't try and reach for my dream.

stories of drinking coffee at 8am with my aunt barbara, she wearing a chenille pink robe and no make up and me thinking, there is no greater beauty than my aunt b just as she is right now. not the movie star, not the name, just the person, sniffing out the mood of a new day. and smiling. the beauty that only comes from being real.

of more heartbreak, some i gave, some i took in the gut and some late nights the weight of it all seemed more than a single heart can bear -- and yet, for all the scars and stains a broken heart can make, i wouldn't trade one story, one crack, one event for all the eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. because this is life, baby, and the ride was never meant to be smooth. it's only meant to be lived in such a way you can look back and see where you've been and where you are now. the path always leads to a destination.

for all these events, for all the light blue selectric typewriters that turned into word processors into fancy laptop computers, brought me to this:

a geeky drama student with a dream pointing at her name on a movie poster about a fairy tale. both of which came true.

and you know, the movie is not all mine. not all i envisioned nor all i wrote - things i loved were changed, things i loved remained. but in the end, when you join hands with another person or 50, you together create something that is bigger than one person. and all the parts are important to the whole. equal to the whole because this beautiful film, like the tapestry of life, is not just one color, or one person. it's all. and it both amazes you and bewilders you and astounds you.

because at the beginning of the day, you started something. at the end of the day, you ended with something.

and to that something, you are wearing your first comma suit.

30 march 2004

here are some sneak "peaks" of the premiere photos and the comma suit.

a full story to follow. for now, let me say, a kaleidoscope of feelings for one single day. from arriving at the hotel to find the room not ready, to walking the red carpet, to the screening itself, then on to the after party, where renee, audrey and i did our best charlie's angels for a photo op in the royal chair. this is the preview. the final picture had the "prince" inserted magically into the picture in a mock of the poster. when that photo came out of the printer, renee screeched because now the prince was about to be decked in the royal jewels by her chop socky karate foot!

more, i promise, on this very exciting moving frightening hilarious night and week...