Damned if I do, Damned if I don’t….

Damned if I do, Damned if I don’t…..

It was a warm August Saturday afternoon, when my daughter Victoria and I planned a girls day out to do some sight seeing, shopping, dinner, movie and drinks.  Fast forwarding to dinner, (and slightly pressed for time to battle traffic to make the 6:45 showing for the “Lone Ranger”) we settled on Whole Foods in North Vancouver, (British Columbia) where you can shop and get a quick bite to eat should you so desire.

Helena Bonham Carter on the red carpet

Engaged by the beautiful surroundings my eye landed on a fresh looking woman with flawless yet slightly flushed skin, dressed in a pale lime green long frock and baggy matching blouse with her hair tousled in a loose up do.  I found myself studying her intently…… then turned to my daughter: “Wow, SHE is good… she looks just like Helena Bonham Carter!”  Looking in the same direction I was, my daughter, astounded, found herself also staring.  We then stared at each other….(brief pause) then realized: “It IS Helena Bonham Carter!”  Her husband Tim Burton was in town filming “BIG EYES” during this time.

She was less than 8 feet from our reach.  Did we take advantage of the moment?  No.  Are you calling me an idiot?  Possibly…. but here me out.

Sure I am well aware that Mr. Burton and Helena are good friends with Johnny Depp…. and what a great opportunity for me….. right?  Well my question is, how? So I go up to her and say: “Hi my name is Denise Pearson, I love all your characters, your work and your a brilliant actress.  Oh and by the way I am a female Johnny Depp Look-alike”!  She would look at me puzzled, I look at her …. I feel silly…. I would apologize for interrupting her day, feel like an fool and move on.  Telling her a cliche she hasn’t heard a ‘gazillion’ times before with ‘this is about me’ self promotion….. not my thing.  I’m not going to lie, yes I wanted to go up to her and get her autograph…. but it would be about HER, not me, on top of that, I didn’t want to draw attention to someone who, looking at her buggy that was brim full with large bags of groceries, obviously shopped for several hours.  As she sauntered past, I turned to see the path of her jouney, and at the end of it was a rather large, tall well built man with an earpiece in his ear, (obviously her body guard) as her final destination.  Intimidated, I felt myself suddenly glued to my seat.

When I tell people my story, of course their first reactions are: “Well did you go up to her and tell her what you do?”  Sure, I can understand, it would be an obvious scenario for me to do for a little self promotion….and open up a window that I exist….. but disappointment on their faces takes over quickly when I say: “No”.

Maybe I am not as big of an opportunist as I thought I was.  I admire Ms. Carter as equally as I do Johnny Depp.  I didn’t want to cloud that. Sure she is friends with the man I emulate, and no lie it would have been fun to have spoken to and with her….. but chances are, had I approached her to begin with, it would have been for a photo only.