1. I spent all spring tracking down movie sets in Stamford, but recently filming has stopped because of a potential actors' strike. I've been really bummed out, because I had been getting very good at worming my way onto film sets.
2. In May, I wormed my way, through diligence and charm, onto a set at the Stamford train station. Major luck was also involved: my mom's train was late, so I was typing on my laptop in the waiting room. I could tell there were film people around- I saw crew passes on black lanyards around their necks- but they were darting into elevators and I wasn't in the mood to chase them around. Then, I glanced up and saw the location manager that I'd met when I visited a set in North Stamford. I shouted his name and reintroduced myself. He begrudgingly let me watch DeNiro do a few scenes at the bus terminal outside the station.
That all leads to why I thought I saw the star of Transformers and the most recent Indiana Jones movie at the Stamford train station last week.
I was sitting in the waiting room, about to catch a train into the city. I was poking around on my iPhone when I glanced up and saw a person with a black lanyard around his neck walking toward me- and he had Shia LaBeouf’s face.
Granted, he also had long wavy hair past his shoulders, so part of me had a good clue it wasn't really Shia- but another more imaginative part of me hoped I might be looking at Shia LaBeouf in a wig.My brain froze, and I was stuck in a loop of thought: I was trying to determine if that was Shia (I saw DeNiro there, why not Shia?), and if it wasn't Shia, if he was a film person. He was wearing a black shirt and jeans like the film crews always wear. Even though I quickly realized it wasn't a lanyard around his neck- it was a phone earpiece wire- my brain still refused to believe it was not Shia.
As I was staring, he was looking back at me, but I was so busy thinking that I didn't have the sense to look away. As he was just about to pass me, he said, "Hi." Because I was totally staring at him in an unblinking, stunned way.
"Hi," I said back, unable to wipe the confused look off my face. He gave me an "Okaaaay..." look and kept walking, and then kind of glanced back at me. I think he was expecting me to say something else.
I felt so stupid for staring at this person, but he literally had the face of one of today’s most popular young actors. He must get told that all the time. I only believe it wasn't Shia because no one mobbed him. I watched him walk out of the station and down the elevator, and no one else stared at him, so my brain was finally able to conclude that it was a case of mistaken identity.
When Shia LaBeouf got arrested a few days ago for DUI, I kept seeing his face on the web and thinking of my faux-sighting. I needed to write about it so I can stop thinking about it.
Also, I was hoping someone knows who this faux-Shia is, and can have him meet me at Starbucks, so I can get a good long look at him, and compare his face to the real Shia. I MUST FIND THIS PERSON. Just because. No real reason. Just because it’s interesting. And kind of a mystery to solve.
