just finished watching the comedy central special, a tribute to bernie mac.
it got me a little nostalgic, so, i figured i’d write down my memories of bernie.
it’s the spring of 2003. chuck calls me, he wants me to audition for a role in the new movie he’s directing; “mr. 3000”. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0339412/
long story short… i did’nt get the role chuck called me for (“boca", the best friend), but i ended up getting another role (“eddie” the trainer), and i’m glad i did… i got a whole lotta exposure from that role. so, come july, i fly out to new orleans for the start of my 3 weeks of work.
this was my first feature film. my scene with bernie was the very first scene to be shot, so it was the first day on set for the cast & crew. it’s 7am, we’re in the gym of some college which had been set-designed to look like the training room for the milwaukee brewers (why they did’nt just shoot the whole thing in milwaukee, i still don’t know). bernie comes in with his “entourage” (script supervisor, personal assisstant, personal trainer…he’d lost 40 lbs for the role). the first thing that struck me was; bernie was freakin’ tall (6’4”), and his teeth… they were SUPER white, i mean, almost luminescent. it was both weird and transfixing. (is that a word?)
the two of us walk toward location 1 for the first shot, chuck starts to introduce us, bernie, with a big smile, says; “i know who this is, this is your boy, mr. whassup!” i did what I always did in those situations… deflect. (i was always extremely modest about that stuff, and easily embarrassed) we shake hands, and, as we shake, i grip his hand really tight, look him dead in the eye, and say; “you have some lovely hands…do you moisturize?” he’s a little taken aback, and just looks at me like; “what the…?” chuck has no clue what i’m doing and just stands silent… probably more than a little tense. i continue; “do you use aloe vera? You know, ideally, we should all wear gloves to bed at night…” then you see the light of recognition come across bernie’s face… he realizes i’m doing his lines from “ocean’s 11”. he begins to chuckle and says; “oh ok, i see…so, that’s how you want it to be? you sure you wanna go there?” i immediately back down; “no, no, no…you win, i surrender.” i did not want to get into a joke war with bernie mac. but that’s how it began; with a joke, and with bernie being a really good sport. and he could’nt’ve been a more gracious and accommodating actor to work with. he gave me all the room i needed to work, and if i was funny, he’d laugh, and tell me i was funny… which a lot of actors/comedians won’t do… their egos won’t allow them to. there was absolutely no ego about him, and he was so goddamn personable. that night the producers threw a “first night” party on the roof of a hotel in the french quarter. for the entire last half of the night, bernie and i were at a table by ourselves, talking, telling stories… mostly about our adventures coming up in rough neighborhoods. oh, and, pro-wrestling… he and i were both huge fans of old-school pro-wrestling, so we kinda bonded over that too. (i actually pulled a wrestling-based prank on bernie… he told me he was a big fan of “macho man randy savage”, well, so was i, and i used to do a pretty impressive macho man impersonation, so, one day i called bernie’s cell at a time when i knew he could'nt answer and had “macho man” leave him a message; “my veeeery good friend scott told me you’re a big fan of mine, uh huh, yeeeah, well, i’m a big fan of your work too, brother!” etc, etc… the next morning when i got to set, he came up to me, all smiles; “yo man, your boy macho called me yesterday…he told me what you said…thank you, that was cool!” …he gushed about that for a bit, telling the crew how i got the 'macho man' to call him …he was so tickled-pink that i never had the heart to tell him that it was me) at some point during our conversation, he turned to his agent and said; “i like this guy, i think you should talk to him” (pointing at me), then bernie wrote down all of his phone numbers on a napkin: office, home, fax, cell …and told me to call him anytime, and keep in touch with him. (i still have that napkin to this day…i used scotch tape to ghetto-laminate it) after the party was over, as chuck was driving me back to my hotel, he said to me; “man, i looked at you sitting there talking to him like that, and i was just like; ‘damn…how does he do that?’ …i would never have the balls to just walk up and start talking to someone like that …i really admire that about you.” but bernie was cool like that…we just got along.
besides that party, bernie never went out. at the end of the day, he’d go back to his hotel. he might go out for dinner or something, but, he never hit the bars & clubs like we did. the day after that (very) minor altercation in the strip-club [see previous story], when i got on set the next morning, the first person to greet me was bernie, busting my balls; “i heard you let some little white boy whoop yo’ ass at the club last night!” after having a little fun at my expense, he said to me; “see, that’s why i don’t go out…if you don’t go out, you can’t get in trouble.” but then he came in real close, and very quietly spoke to me... he commended me on holding back and not escalating the situation by starting a brawl… ”because then we’d be coming to git ‘cho ass outta jail!”
whenever i was’nt shooting, or just hanging around on location with nothing to do, i’d often go to bernie’s trailer, and we’d just chill and shoot the shit. he always made me feel welcome, he never shooed me away or acted like he did’nt want to be bothered. we had developed quite the little camaraderie. so much so that when we were shooting the scene where i’m dunking him in the pool, at one point chuck yelled cut, and said to me; “yo scott, you gotta get into character, be more adversarial… it’s obvious that you and bernie are friends and it’s coming through on film.”
the production left new orleans after 1 week of shooting and headed up to milwaukee. after the 2nd week of filming, chuck tells me that a bunch of us (cast & producers) are invited to bernie’s house that weekend, he’s having a big 4th of july cookout. i was a little confused… we’re in milwaukee, bernie has a house in milwaukee? why??? who the hell would buy a house in milwaukee??? i did’nt realize that milwaukee is only 90 minutes from chicago, bernie's hometown. so, that saturday, me and chuck drive down to chicago. bernie’s house is off of a main road… you just see an opening in a stretch of trees, then at the end of the tree-lined driveway, you come to a clearing, and there sits bernie’s palatial estate. a house that if it were in new york or los angeles, would easily cost 5 million...easily.
his wife greets us at the door and welcomes us into a vestibule... which by itself is the size of a 1 bedroom apartment... if that apartment has 20 ft. ceilings. bernie walks up a minute later and tells us; “angela should be right behind ya’ll, so let’s wait for her then we’ll all go in.” a minute later, angela basset shows up. we’re saying our hello’s when i notice a dude with her carrying some bags. when i turn to see who he is, i blurt out an involuntary; “OH SHIT!!!” startled, he stops in his tracks and gets a nervous “WTF???” look on his face. i had no idea that angela basset was married to courtney b. vance!!! whom you all might know as the DA on “law & order: criminal intent”…and i just happen to be one of the biggest law & order geeks on the planet. i calmly apologize for my outburst and tell him what a huge fan i am. but i digress. bernie and his wife proceed to give us the tour of the house…which was gorgeous. we all go downstairs to his basement / rec-room… which is decked out with a pool table, video games, poker/blackjack table, and a mini movie theater, complete with the chairs, big screen, and surround sound. As i’m walking around checking stuff out, bernie taps me on the shoulder and says; “c’mere, i got something just for you…” he opens the door to his workout room… which is a gross understatement… the man had a fully equipped gym in his basement, with a full line of professional quality equipment. He smiled and said; “have fun” and walked out of the room. i could hear chuck laughing in the background.
(side note… later in the afternoon, i got myself a plate of food and took it out to the deck… sitting alone at the table was a young black girl and white boy… i said hi, introduced myself, and asked who she was to bernie… she told me she was his neice… totally joking, i asked; “the one from the show?” …she sighed and said; “yeah”, like she’s had to admit that 1000 times before… so, i actually got to meet the actual neice!)
there's one conversation in particular that i had with bernie that i’ll never forget…
i was in his den, and all over the walls were photos, magazine & newspaper articles, awards, and all kinds of memorabilia. he came in as i was looking around, and i told him how i used to have all of my articles, photos n’ stuff hung up all around my apartment, but, i took them all down, because my friends would come over and clown me, making fun of my “shrine” to myself. (my buddy chad once said; “the only person i know who has more pictures of himself hung up all over his house is jesus” …which, you have to admit, is REALLY good line) bernie looked at me, he got real serious, and said; “man, fuck them... those are your accomplishments... your memories... you worked hard for those things... you be proud of them... you go home and you hang your pictures back up, boy!” and i did. yeah...fuck them haters.
later that night, bernie gathered us all together… the A&E network had done an episode of their show “biography” about him, and he had an advance copy, so, we all gathered in the basement and watched it on the big movie screen. that was pretty cool.
my last day on set, before i left for the airport, i was in bernie’s trailer, eatin’ chicken wings & watchin’ him play cards with his people.
later that year, sometime in the fall, i called bernie’s cell. i wanted to ask him if he’d hook me up with a role on his sitcom. bernie did’nt answer, his assistant did. when he asked who was calling and i told him it was me, his demeanor changed from all-business to “hey man, what’s up! how you doin’?” we chatted for a second, then he told me; “bernie’s shooting right now, but i’m gonna have him call you back, probably around 5, is that ok?” i said that was fine, and we hung up. now, i’d been in the business long enough to know, the percentage of people who actually call you back when they say they’re gonna call you back is about 30% - 40%. so, i was pretty much expecting not to get a call. i even left the house to run some errands n' stuff. at around 4:45, as i walking down south st., my phone rings. it’s the assistant. he says; “bernie’s gonna call you in 15 minutes, ok?” i was shocked. i mean, i’d heard of this kind of thing before -- where assistants do the “pre-call” -- i’d just never experienced it. i found it to be both very baller and quite amusing at the same time. then, at 4:55, my phone rings again; “bernie’s going to call you in 5 minutes.” and, sho' nuff, at 5 o’clock on the dot, my phone rings, and i hear a familiar voice say; “i hear it’s cold as a witch's titty up there in philadelphia right now…how you keepin’ warm?” we chatted for a good 15 minutes. (which is a LONG time for a busy hollywood player like him) i told him why i was calling, he told me to send him my headshot and he would talk to casting and see if there was an episode they could put me in. (sadly, i did’nt happen, and i don't like bugging people again after i already bugged them once, so i never asked again, i let it go)
i only spoke to bernie a couple times after that. but, i will say this; every time i called him, he always got back to me.
just like everyone else, when i heard he had died, i was shocked. i did’nt believe it. i thought it was a mistake. i called his assistant and asked about arrangements, and where i could send flowers. i knew i would’nt be attending the memorial, because, we'd just had my mother's funeral a couple weeks before bernie passed, so, i had a lot to do back home. whenever i think about it, i still feel kinda bad… i wish i could’ve made it to his memorial and paid my respects. i know i did’nt know him for very long, but, i genuinely liked bernie mac… he was a good dude, and i have nothing but good memories of him.
