Because Daniel Craig was on the cover of Caesars Player, my mom saved the issue for me (I didn’t even know she was in Vegas!).
The article was mostly same-old, same-old, but there was a nice bit in the interview about how Craig felt being an actor:
Craig doesn’t hesitate to admit his own awe of Hollywood luminaries. “I think when I did Road to Perdition and was sort of confronted by Tom Hanks and Paul Newman, it was half an hour before I managed to get out of the rabbit-in-the-headlights thing and go, ‘Hey, you’ve got a job to do here, better get on with it.’…I’ll quite happily admit that I am star-struck. That’s why I’m in the game. As I said, I wanted to be an actor.
Then he goes on to talk about his goals, and I like this part.
“I think about Paul Newman,” he says finally, “You know, his middle name is ‘F***ing’ because when you see him, you go, ‘It’s Paul F***ing Newman.’ I think one of the most inspiring things I found out about him, as old as the man is…is that he still gets such a kick out of what he does. I just thought, ‘Well God, if I carry on doing this and be just as excited as he was on a film set when I’m his age, then I’ll be a very happy man.'”
A. Mom was in Vegas?
B. rabbit? rabbit in headlights? How tall are the rabbits where this guy is from?
A. I don’t know. I didn’t think so. But the magazine constitutes strong circumstantial evidence.
B. Either it’s a Britishism, or it requires the Holy Hand Grenade.
Rabbits here are sort of rabbit-height, but cars are low enough to hit them with the front spoiler, as I know to my sorrow – only once, fortunately. The blank furry face as it raises its head and looks towards the oncoming killer! Argh!
Remember, this is the land where the Mini was born. Hey, Bond in a Mini… ack, forget it, Bourne did it already.
Your headlights should be aimed down at the road anyway – a fact that seems to escape most fuel-hungry Chelsea Tractor (urban 4×4) drivers and the White Van Man.
Oh.
Yes, it’s a Britishism, but if you drive in the countryside here, you’ll know it’s from truth. Rabbits seem to thrive on the roadside verges and there are deer too.
Aah… so the question remains, which was the original expression, batardized by who…deer or rabbits?
See, I thought this was a “Bond” post, and it turns out to be a “Fun with Language” post. I’ve never heard it any way except as “deer” before, so it’s really quite curious.
sorry to cause the bicategorical issue.
I got nothing to say on Bond, you know that.
I dunno ’bout them British rabbits…. but the rabbits in my driveway run like hell when I drive toward them……
No good. I can’t find any origins for either expression.
@Ken: maybe you drive too slowly in your driveway? This is an English drive: http://www.umcus.org/~discjirm/walks/walk_pics/Digital/20040622/Small/P20046220134.JPG (Stowe School, from http://www.britishwalks.org/walks/2004/612.php )
😉
I got nothing to say on Bond, you know that.
I thought it was also really interesting about acting. Sometimes I’m watching a movie and I wonder exactly that: What’s it like for that new or unknown actor who is suddenly co-starring with Tom Hanks and Paul Newman (and Jude Law, not for nothing).
I thought that about Rosamund Pike in Die Another Day. She was 23 years old and had done a little bit of TV. Now she’s in a HUGE movie, a Bond movie, with Dame Judi Dench, Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, and John Cleese. What goes through your head?
I have heard that Lauren Bacall’s sexy head tilt was developed in her first movie – that she, at 19, was so nervous about acting with Bogie that she couldn’t look him full in the face, the only way she could look at him was with her head slightly tilted forward.
That’s true, Ken. It’s in her autobiography — one of the only celeb bios I’ve ever read.
Are you sure that it’s Vegas where your mom went and not Atlantic City? (Because this is the real matter of gravity raised by your post…)
Clearly I could just ask her. I think I’ve seen her twice since she gave me the magazine.
> Clearly I could just ask her.
Yeah, sure, but where’s the fun in that? Idle speculation is so much more interesting… (Although I do have it on good authority that she did indeed make an appearance in AC recently.)
This is just like that old kids show, “Where in the World is Carmen San Diego,” except that it’s completely different.
You know, I thought of that (AC), but Vegas would be much cooler not to know about.
Yeah – no matter how hard it tries AC just doesn’t have the cool factor of Vegas….. the only Rat Pack that appears in AC is the one under the boardwalk, scarfing down old popcorn…..