OT. I saw Ruthless People (1986) with a guy who didn't know much English. So the passport picture was the gag that he appreciated most. We both giggled at the sight. When the movie was over, we looked at each other and the giggles started again. Went on like that for days.

OT. If I ever meet Jake Kasdan, I'll probably go "timpani, distant! that timpani!" before he has me arrested.

Sometime between Spaceballs (1987) and The Serpent And The Rainbow (1988) is where I'm guessing he had his tooth fixed (the left cuspid, highly suspect). He has small teeth. I love the smile he gave to the friendly jaguar.

Going Under (1990) was initially called Dive. Might've well called it Sub Standard. A movie destined to sink.

This is cute: Cold Feet (1989)

With every new BP movie that comes out, I think, is this going to be the one? Am I going to see a liposucked chin? He's a movie star after all and looks matter. That fat chin of his has always made me wonder about his vanity. Not that I want him to recontour his face. If he never goes through with it, great. Maybe he doesn't even care and that's what I want to believe. But then I saw Lake Placid (1999) in which he looks leaner than ever. Crocodile dandy. His butt, his gut, his chin. Is it the Fish and Game uniform? Has he been working out? Did he get himself a Hollywood trainer? None of this is my business I know I know. I'm crazy. He's great looking and somehow that leaves me a little disappointed. Did I mention I'm crazy? He's been called many things, worse than better. Late 1994/early 1995 after The Last Seduction (1994) he was the 'perpetual dupe' as Premiere mag put it. I didn't see it that way, but I liked him there.

Martha tells her friend that Whitman is still into 70s bands in Mr Wrong (1996) (like there's something wrong with that!). I really enjoyed the music selections (tho never a REO Speedwagon fan myself). If anybody would sing Hold The Line in a movie, I'd've imagined they go for the 'hold the line, da da da da' line but not here. Precious when he chimed 'love isn't always...' I would have, however, had Whitman sing Waiting For A Girl Like You instead of I Want To Know What Love Is. Just different times in Foreigners' career.

Of all the leading ladies, I'm probably most envious of Holly Hunter. In the cable movie Crazy In Love (1992) they looked like they were really in love in marriage. Her intense jealousy affected me too. When I saw it the first time and wondered about his fidelity as she did, I was scared about how much it was going to hurt me to find him with another woman. Emotion overflow! So incredibly real! ...OK, I'm calm now. Here's something else. In the sex scene that Georgie imagines Nick & Jean in, Bill's crotch is in plain sight. I did a double take of course. Huh??? Is that what I think I see??? Well, he's wearing underwear, right, and they're supposed to be doing it. The actress was sitting on his stomach. How uncomfortable.

Sibling Rivalry (1990) was the biggest surprise. I remember going "WHAT!!!" clasping at the heart in my seat when I saw his name on the screen. All I knew about the movie was the "I hope it was after. Eeeough" line. Absolutely no idea that this movie was at least 50% about him and not all Kirstie Alley, who by the way, played her part very well. He had his hair parted way to the left to play this sorry kinda guy and slouched alot. Somehow that added poignancy to the whole afternoon movie experience that I thought was going to be a casual outing.

I knew as well as anybody else did that While You Were Sleeping (1995) was going to be a big hit. The TV spots were charming and for better or for worse, the ending of the movie was clear to be a Hollywood ending. Sandra Bullocks' best work so far. I was bummed though, hearing and reading some people describing this one as Bill's breakthrough role. Guess I didn't want to share him with more people. Mr Wrong (1996) turned some people off. Then came Independence Day (1996), #gasp#, and he's a heartthrob again. It's a roller coaster fandom ride.

OT. Sandra Bullock and Peter Gallagher are quite appealing as a movie couple. But then again, they could easily pass as bro and sis (come on, Bill and him don't look remotely related). That's what I used to think about him and Laura San Giacomo in sex, lies, and videotapes (1989). She looked more like his sister than that of Andie MacDowell's, who costarred with Bill in The End Of Violence (1997), a Wim Wenders movie.

More OT. Whenever I see or hear about Wim Wenders, I'm reminded of his early work, Im Lauf der Zeit (1975), in which Rudiger Vogler takes a crap. Seriously. You see, this guy, he was not sitting on a toilet. This was a road movie. He got out the car, pulled down his pants, squatted with his back to the camera, and dropped turd. Stunned, disbelief.

So what is it about Bill that makes me crazy? I often read in mailing list posts and such that he has nice eyes and nice hair and nice voice and I agree, but, they're not the only reasons. Eyes. Blue, brown, green, depending on the contacts he wears for his movie roles (In The Favor (1994), he called Brad Pitt a blond haired blue eye guy that he wasn't). Hair. Dirty blond. Sometimes clean blond, often darker. His voice changes too. I don't know when he started smoking and if or when he's stopped, but his voice hasn't always been husky. Kevin Pollack kvetched, I don't know why, about how when did Bill Pullman started sounding like Robert Loggia, taking shots at Independence Day (1996).

What's consistent to me is how he says things. I don't know anybody else who talks like him. Do I have to go to Hornell, NY to hear more of it, I don't know.

Like in Malice (1993), when he said: "I said sit the fuck down, I'm running the show now" I listened. Keyword down. He pronounces every letter in that little four-lettered word. "I had them size it d-o-w-n." "We're not just doing this for mmmoney, we're doing this for sssshitloads of mmmoney" Spaceballs (1987) "I'm her lllovvver" Mr Wrong (1996). Just listening to him go "I have BiG Plans" or "no, no, no" is already too much. "Oh baby, baby, baby, let's not fight, right"--The Last Seduction (1994). Woah, I can't breath.

On my 2nd DVD viewing of Zero Effect (1998), my eyes were fixated on Bill's hair. Wanted to make sure his hair didn't come off when he took his cap off. That's some set of hair he's got on himself. In all his movies, you see him running his hand through his hair a lot, which is something what many drinking games are based on. Anyways, if Bill's one who gunks up his hair everyday, he must have very greasy hands. I should know.

OT. A customer at a diner in Summer of Sam (1999) looked like a younger blander Bill Pullman. The profile struck me. Don't know the actor's name. I believe he was wearing a pink shirt.

The proof: Michael Sorvino. Looks like a cross between BP and the Culkin boys.

The age issue revisited:

In Ruthless People (1986), Earl Mott was 29. Close enough to BP's real age. In Home Fires Burning (1989) the book, Old Henry is 34. Again, close enough. As scripted, in The Last Seduction (1994), Clay is about 30. David Lynch's original Lost Highway (1997) script puts Fred Madison at age 32. Chuckles. I doubt Bill was playing a 32-yr-old.

The Thin Red Line (1998) controversy never dies in my mind until the deleted scenes are restored. How young is the young draftee (also nicknamed 'Old' MacTae as is Henry Tibbetts in the novel Home Fires Burning)?

ZEROxes: BP has played Bob twice, Nick twice, Henry twice, Jack twice, [2004 update: Peter twice,] Ed (well, sorta) twice, ... nameless at least twice, ...

MsWrong factoid: Ellen DeGeneres guested on a Roseanne episode "The Blaming of the Shrewd", orginal air date 5/3/1995, in which she played marriage counselor to Jackie and Fred, the blabbering Dr Whitman! Didn't see any name plate on the show but how many ways can you spell Whitman?

The Martin Short Show disappeared before I was able to tape that one segment about possible movie sequels. Lake Flaccid was the punchline. Guess what the setup was. But I do have mpeg of the Fretts Film Forum bit (SNL, 2/19/2000). Oscar oversight: "If you don't like Lake Placid (1999), you must be on fake acid."

Coming soon on DVD I'm sure and I want it bad: Cecil B Demented (2000). Celebrate bad cinema. In the title sequence, a familiar title is displayed on a theater marquee and it's Lake Placid 2.

10/15/2000 Sunday paper article on Jackie Chan: "Chan just finished filming 'Accidental Spy' in Turkey, playing an exercise equipment salesman who gets swept up in international intrigue."

Jim Carrey on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno 11/9/2000 described his gruelling Grinch makeup process: "Don't bury me! I'm still alive!"

11/21/2000. Whatever happened to the DVD releases of Newsies (1992) and Casper (1995) due out spring 2000?

I'd long forgotten that Christian Bale's alias in Newsies was Jack Kelly. Jack Kelly. Jack Kelly? Jack and Kelly. They're the first names of BP and Bridget Fonda roles in Lake Placid (1999). Ha ha ha...I'm so easily amused...

12/13/2000. Bradley Whitford on The Rosie O'Donnell Show talked about being naked on stage for The Curse of the Starving Class in the role he replaced when "Bill Pullman had just dropped out."

Celebrity Jeopardy. A: Diane Lane starred with Matt Dillon and Tommy Lee Jones in this 1987 movie. Q: What is The Big Town?

2/17/2001. Very very OT: learned this morning from AFCOB that Don Henley will be the music man when Conan hosts SNL on 3/10!!! Aaaaargh! DH was on Alec Baldwin's first SNL outing ages ago. Pls pls pls, could BP stand next to DH just for a moment? With ConZ of course. Call Mark McKinney too.

4/10/2001. (Note to self. This day in history: I'm two weeks into my IE5.5/DX8 crisis. Script errors, hardware incoorporations, massive headaches. Keep seaching for answers...) Igby Goes Down (2001) site is neat! has nice touches to it. For one, BP's movie file is hypertexted chin chin.

5/20/2001. The Judge Reinhold Curse. Well folks, looks like Ignition (2001) is headed straight-to-video. Not a good trend.

6/20/2001. Newly teenaged Mae Whitman appeared on a local talk show to promote her new sitcom. She's cute, but she's cuter the way I remember her. The host asked her about Independence Day (1996). Mae's response: "That was really fun actually, because um, you know, I mean I got to work with Bill Pullman and all these other really great people like Harry Connick, Jr." The host quickly moved on to ask Mae about George Clooney! (the host yelled, enthusiastically, threw out her arms) because that's who the host is the most interested in.

Whoa, news to me. BP2's given name is William--Bradley is his middle name. Bill Pitt? B-day: December 18 (STOP!)

1/11/2002. Searching BP. Jake Kasdan's new movie, Orange County (2002), featured many cameos. Got my hopes way high when Ben Stiller turned up. Dirt! Bill was a no-show. Of course I knew that but...

NO MORE BILLINGSGATE. Well not exactly. Billingsgate is for now part of Billingsgate+, my blog. I say "for now" because I mean to separate my blogs by subject, but those who know know, my temporary is a long time. See you there?