The_Film_That_Changed_My_Life

88 Brian Herzlinger
You met Spielberg as a kid. Can you tell me that story?
Herzlinger: I was a senior at Cherokee High School in Marlton, New Jersey,
and everybody knew, among the students and the faculty, that I loved
Spielberg and I loved E.T.
So my teacher, Mrs. Underwood—her son was a cadet at the U.S. Naval
Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and even he knew how much I loved
Spielberg. So he called his mother and told her to tell me that Spielberg
was getting an award for Schindler’s List at the U.S. Naval Academy, which
is a three-hour drive from where I lived in New Jersey. So she told me that.
My dad took off work, I took off school, and we drove down to Annapolis,
Maryland, with an 8x10 picture in hand of Steven and no real way of getting
to the academy because the son wasn’t gonna get us in.
So we drove down and, basically, we went on the campus and were told
by numerous people that it was sold out and you couldn’t get into the presentation
and even if you did, there was no way you were gonna meet him.
My dad was so great to stick this out for me, and he talked to everybody,
and we wound up talking with a lieutenant named Scott Alan, and I showed
him the picture, “I’m a big fan, and I’d just love to meet him.” And he said,
Spielberg is in the mess hall getting something to eat. And he goes, “You
want to come into the mess hall?”
Now, meanwhile, my dad is videotaping everything. He’s got my Hi8
video camera and we go into the mess hall and it looks like a matte painting
of ten thousand Navy midshipmen, just all in white, all around the auditorium,
and the middle was the podium and the chaplain—who, by the way,
had told us that the chances of me meeting Steven were nil—and here they
are introducing the guest of honor, Steven Spielberg.
And now I’m in there, and I see Spielberg take his hat off as he comes
down to the podium and I see this hand with a hat coming toward me and I
can’t see over anybody in front of me. And in this sea of people, I see this red
hat, and I’m like, “Oh my God, he’s coming toward me,” and then it makes
a sharp right, to the table right near me, and he sits down and everybody
around, all ten thousand people, wait for him to sit down.
As he sits, the lieutenant goes over to him, tells him about me and waves
for me to come over, and I come over, and the lieutenant begins to tell him