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