About midday I headed over to my “office” (aka Bar Britanico) to edit a manuscript. At one point I start hearing a guy speaking in English at the table behind me. That’s not very unusual considering all the tourists in San Telmo. The guy was conversing with a few others about various cinema topics. Somewhere along the way I heard the terms “moral ambiguity” and “acting”. Eventually I turned around and realized that it was Francis Ford Coppola.
Of course, everyone here in Buenos Aires knows that Coppola has been hanging around the Argentine capital writing a screenplay, getting robbed, and preparing for his new movie Tetro. I figured that I eventually would have my requisite Coppola sighting.
Enter Vincent Gallo: I was sitting by the door and couldn’t help but notice when a bearded, scruffy guy in black t-shirt swaggered in with an appearance that proclaimed “Yes, I am an actor” and joined Coppola’s table.
Over the next hour I kept hearing snippets of conversation between Coppola and Gallo while the other 4 people at their table (and everyone at surrounding tables) listened. Gallo, who has a very loud voice, asked Coppola about Dracula and Gary Oldman. Coppola threw in Uma Thurman’s name. Gallo tossed out Christina Ricci and Buffalo 66, and so forth. Coppola returned with a “Brando said,” which was drowned out by the noise. Gallo asked again, and Coppola repeated, “Brando said….”.
A man walked by the window with a llama. Where are we, Peru?
I never heard what Brando said.
I didn’t recognize the other people at the table. I’m really not very good at celebrity sightings. The elegant brunette at the table may or may not have been Maribel Verdú. When I do a Google Image search on her name, most of the photos of her are nearly naked. Alas, I can’t confirm that sighting. (This almost was as good as when I saw Farrah Fawcett sitting at an Sbarro’s in the Miami airport.)
A block away, on my way home from Britanico, I’m almost knocked down as I cross Av Caseros by a young, dark-skinned boy being chased by a policeman swinging a nightstick.
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:33 am
This is about the last place I expected to read about a celebrity sighting. :-p
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Yeah. The next thing you know I’ll be writing about private restaurants hidden behind red doors and the hottest DJs.
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:24 am
So, did Francis try and steal a look at your work?
March 27th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
It’s a small world. Someone pointed out your blog to me last week and then again this post… 😀 I think it’s funny that we both used “faded elegance” – for me it was just the opening words for a post last year. Great words to describe Buenos Aires.
Cheers,
Beatrice
March 27th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
@Tom: Nah…..
@Beatrice: I know I’m not the first to use “faded elegance” to describe BA…such an apt description. Thanks for commenting.
March 28th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
What is the movie about?
April 5th, 2008 at 1:17 am
And thus ends the dream sequence…