At long last, I sat down today to watch the documentary 'Reel Paradise' which chronicles the final month of John Pierson's adventure running a movie theater in Fiji. As a long standing admirer of Mr. Pierson, I was excited when I first heard about this film, but since I couldn't find one in a store locally, I unfortunately put off viewing for a couple years.
The film was certainly worth the wait, succeeding as a celebration of film and a travelogue of a Western family living among the natives of the island. The experience of watching the film was quite enlightening and helped me reconnect with my enthusiasm for the movies.
I can also honestly say that I had one of the most pleasant and surprising experiences ever watching a film. About three-quarters of the way into the film, John Pierson's son Wyatt is practicing a speech he will give to the audience at the evening's screening. Proud Papa John is listening from the very back of the theater, as seen below.
Why would I be surprised by this? Because I made that shirt.
Not like, "I designed that and a company printed it," I mean I really made that shirt. I created the art, printed it to a shirt and sent it to John Pierson personally about a decade ago.
The whole thing started in 1997 at the Florida Film Festival. Pierson was a judge and I was working for the Fest. I happened to be working while Pierson was viewing a film. I overheard that he had needed transporation to meet his family at Universal Studios and it somehow hadn't been scheduled. I stepped in and offered to make the drive personally. On the way, we talked about some current films and some in the festival. He alerted me to 'In the Company of Men,' which I then saw and was mightily impressed.
I had been to Pierson's presentation a couple days earlier and been enthusiastic over a clip from a show called 'Fishing With John' featuring musician and actor John Lurie. At the time, the show had appeared on cable but was not available on video. Amazingly, Pierson offered to loan me a tape of some episodes.
In case you hadn't guessed, I was inspired. During one episode where Lurie and Willem Dafoe were ice fishing, the perfectly dry narrator intoned, "These are real men, doing real things." I wanted this slogan on a shirt, so I made one myself. You won't see the slogan in the film, however, because it's on the back of the shirt.
There are only four of those shirts in existence. Eventually, I was asked to make one of these for John Lurie himself, which was mighty cool. One is in my dresser and evidently John Pierson is still wearing his, and it makes me happy.