Steven Spielberg Embraced By Budapest, Part II: Eyes Off The Maestro
After discovering the hidden joys of having a big-budget Hollywood production like Steven Spielberg's Munich take over their neighborhood (i.e., closed streets, towed vehicles, unfriendly production staff), the Budapset-based Pestiside.hu blog passes along a rumor about Spielberg's alleged latest attempts to ingratiate himself to the locals:
According to a friend with excellent connections in the local film business, some of the director's main lackeys have made some of their smaller, local lackeys sign contracts which stipulate the ground rules for any interaction with the big man. One is that the great auteur should be addressed only as "maestro," rather than (we assume) "Mr. Spielberg" or (shudder at the thought) "Steven." Then again, few of Spielberg's Hungarian peons are likely to ever get the chance to address the maestro directly, as one of the other rules is that staffers are not supposed to make eye contact with him, unless absolutely necessary.
Like we said, this excellently deranged piece of Tinseltown protocol may not actually exist, though the source in question is good, and the use of similarly feudal rules is apparently all the rage among American super-celebrities these days.
The "cast down your eyes, plebe, lest they be pluck'd from your head and placed upon a pike" rumor is one that surfaces frequently (recently, it alighted upon Jennifer Garner, whose publicist countered by telling the world how much the star loves the handicapped), but true or not, it's probably a pretty good indication that Spielberg isn't going to get a bronze statue in the town square when his production finally leaves. The director can go two ways with this: either invite a bunch of wheelchair-bound kids to the set for ice cream and hugs, or publicly kick the ass of a couple of the brawniest locals to establish that Budapest is his turf now. Regularly-abled locals, not the kids in the wheelchairs—although that would probably be a fairer fight.
