be still, my heart

bangkok, thailand, 1999. my first official one-on-one dinner with a member of the bangkok press was with this writer for a travel & tourism trade magazine, a kiwi covering the southeast asian tourism beat...as with most press contacts, we've previously corresponded by email concerning press releases from my end or research gathering from his...this particular time however, i had a schedule of press rounds in bangkok which gave me the opportunity to meet with some personally, and him specifically...i agreed to his suggested place, an irish restaurant & pub which he claimed offered great beers, authentic fish & chips and assorted baked pies...on top of the alleged good food, i was glad to note that the place had a nice ambience, and the music not so loud, really an ideal place for business meetings...i was caught by surprise however because when i arrived (i was a bit late), i saw this gorgeous human being standing up and waving at me as i stood near the door obviously looking for someone, and offering his hand he said, "hi i'm mark", with his matching hazel eyes and impish grin - no way is this the writer i was supposed to meet!, since when had there been tourism writers this...this...this yummy!? ok, deep breaths, stay calm, and be still, my heart!

we offered and accepted each other's calling cards and started talking bits & pieces about ourselves, since when have we been in thailand, are we happy with our jobs, how's the hotel & convention industry, tourism per se, yadayadayada...in all of this i tried to keep from staring until finally, i probably forgot to look somewhere else before that certain silence became noticeable, i ended up getting caught staring at him when he said, "go ahead, say it"..."uhm, say what exactly?" i replied, immediately trying to work on the salad in front of me and he goes, "this always happens, so shoot, tell me if you liked him in that film?" i still couldn't figure out what he's on about so all i said was "huh?", still trying to look busy working on that salad...then he goes, "people have been telling me i look like ed norton and i'm not so sure i even like the guy, isn't that why you're staring? don't worry, it's ok if you hate the guy..." then i go - and now with the excuse to really stare - "ooooh, right! yes! ed norton! you're right, you do look like him!" (but at the back of my mind, i was racking my brains thinking who the heck is ed norton?!) i wasn't sure how we veered away from the subject but we certainly did and talked more about the birds & the bees and ended up closing the bar and telling each other we should hook up again when either one is in town and that he definitely should visit our resort very soon (it's a 2-hour trip by car from bangkok)...hmmm, something to look forward to then...

back in the resort the following morning, i patiently waited for my officemate, zig (he's originally from fiji but grew up and studied in canada, joined his parents in thailand just a year or so earlier when his dad got assigned there by the UN) - so we could have breakfast together and i could hopefully learn more about who this freaking ed norton is...zig arrived, got his food from the buffet, sat down beside me, listened to my frantic urge to know who ed norton is and he nonchalantly retorted "the one in american history x"..."huh?"..."it's a great movie, i'm surprised you haven't seen that!"..."i haven't even heard of it yet!"..."well you should've, he looks like mark..." aaarrrggghhh!

that night, i heard a knock on my door and found zig outside, he said he was on his way out to buy a few things but wanted to lend me something i might be interested in - well well, he handed me a vcd copy of american history x and told me, "there's your mark! enjoy!" you bet, i immediately put on the player and watched the movie and boy was i hooked! i was hooked on the real ed norton - he was so great in the movie! when his face first appeared on the screen tho, i recognized him as that new actor in one of my other favorite movies, "primal fear", his name just didn't register cos i always associated that film with richard gere (i actually watched 'primal fear' just out of curiousity, if the director would give justice to the book with the same title)...in american history x, i still couldn't get the semblance yet as regards to mark until it's in the 2nd half of the movie when ed's character gets released from prison and he finally had the hair and the beard on (the movie's 1st half showed him as a skinhead)...


be still, my heart...mark or ed?

ed norton is like the younger versions of de niro, travolta or cage - they're one of those rare actors who are able to come off, and really really get away with playing protagonist/antagonist roles simultaneously in the most natural way...(no wonder de niro made sure that the producers got norton as the other lead before he agreed to do the 2001 film, 'the score' - legends truly know to whom they could turnover their crowns and scepters one day)...

anyways, thus began my interest to watch all norton films from then on, not excluding the so-so films he made like 'keeping the faith' (his first crack behind the lense), 'death to smoochy' etcetera...when i finished my contract with the resort, zig gave me his american history x vcd as his going-away present (zig, btw, is the first guy from the right in that photo of mark, you have to click it to see the whole picture)...

mark, on the other hand, remains the gorgeous guy that he is, probably still using that line "go ahead, say it..." - with a face as beautiful as that, how many other hearts stood still even just for an instant, i wonder?

* and here's a few trivia i found on the net regarding Norton's debut film "Primal Fear":

- 2,100 actors auditioned for the role of Aaron Stampler - Matt Damon was one of them.
- When trying out for the role of the altar boy, Edward Norton went into the audition in character, complete with stutters and all, and this won his role.
- Wil Wheaton and Leonardo DiCaprio turned down the part of Aaron Stempler.