Monday, May 5, 2008

Decatur, Illinois!


I just returned from Decatur, where we're filming a movie called "The Informant." Steven Soderbergh is directing it, and Matt Damon is in it, and I think that what the studio is doing is they've decided to promote the Steven Soderbergh/Matt Damon thing in a much more prominent way than they're promoting me being in it. Okay, whatever. I guess somebody just doesn't look at blogs... but they're nice guys and we're having a good time.
Decatur is farmland. Flat flatty flat flat, with corn, soybeans, and a few trees planted around farmhouses to block the wind. And what country house would be complete without a cement deer out in front? My Dad loved this stuff, but since we lived in the city and didn't have room for deer, he put a cement dog in front of our house. Brown and white paint with a couple of black spots sprayed on, until the rain finally washed off the paint and the cement started to crack. He loved that dog, though, and wouldn't get rid of it even when the tail became a dangerous re-bar spike jutting out of the lump of plaster that we had to avoid while playing wiffle ball or someone might get impaled by a decorative beagle. We finally moved out of the city to the suburbs, and a bigger lawn. What did Dad do? He went out and got a brand new dog, a clone of the original. Even when he had room for a deer, Dad decided that loyalty to a cement dog trumped the antlers of the nouveau riche.

11 comments:

Brien Malone said...

Hey! Congratulations!
I looked the movie up on IMDB and it says Thomas F. Wilson (as Tom Wilson). So you're playing yourself? Artist, actor, commedian by day, corporate whistleblower by night? ;)

Anonymous said...

Forgot about that,maybe I'll get one.

Public Privacy said...

I was trying to think of something to comment on, but it's late and i am rather not all there.

I have found your blog, and it goes in my favourites cause i'm curious.

Any chance of an Australian Art exhibition after all the movie-making goodness?
We're a bit isolated down here... boo...

Anonymous said...

You forgot to mention something about the smell of Decatur :) If you were there....surely you didn't miss it!

tracey said...

Hey great to here you are in the Informant! What role are you playing? Could it be the role of the groundskeeper Rusty Williams?

Anonymous said...

i laughed really hard about the impaling beagle.

whew that was a good entry.


meems

Anonymous said...

My Grandpa was the same way with a concrete bunny. He always painted the eyes pink which gave it a real demonic look. Long live the concrete pets.

Anonymous said...

"I think that what the studio is doing is they've decided to promote the Steven Soderbergh/Matt Damon thing in a much more prominent way than they're promoting me being in it."

Oh my gosh Tom, that's too funny! Forget about Matt, It's Tom Freakin' Wilson!

-Jacob

Niki said...

Hi, I'm writing a story for Illinois Country Living magazine about movies filmed in central and southern Illinois and I was wondering if you'd be interested in answering a couple of questions about filming in Decatur. You can email me at internicl@gmail.com.
Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I want not agree on it. I regard as polite post. Particularly the title attracted me to read the intact story.

Derrick Lee Bradshaw said...

Yup, the title got me also :)