The man - who appeared for all-the-world a country gentleman in a casual sport coat and slacks, salt 'n pepper hair, and a neatly-trimmed beard - was knowledgeable, charming, and witty.
His name?
Robert Benton - director of the Oscar-nominated feature film - Kramer vs. Kramer.
Last night, Mr. Benton and Justin Henry (one of the actors who starred in the film opposite Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep) appeared at a screening on the 30th Anniversary of the initial release of the film which has just been overhauled and re-mixed for a much-ballyhooed release on DVD this week by Sony.
Unfortunately, a production crew hired to capture a Q & A on-camera for future posterity when Kramer faded to black last night at the Fine Arts Theatre, screwed up royally.
For example, after Benton and Henry took the stage, incompetent members of the crew continued to futz with camera angles and sound snafus - much to the annoyance of film buffs - who shook their heads in disbelief as the unprofessional workers bumbled and stumbled their way through.
Meanwhile, the director (!) of the on-site shoot frustrated matters when he continued non-stop to interrupt the proceedings on stage without rhyme or reason.
In addition to the blatant incompetence of the documentarians on hand, the host hired to field questions appeared to be suffering from the same "me" syndrome.
In fact, on occasion, he was downright insensitive to his guests.
For instance, while the technical problems (!) were being sorted-out (for over an hour and a half before I departed in disgust with a raft of other disgruntled film buffs) Mr. Benton chose to answer a few questions from the audience to avoid a lot of dead air in the cozy movie house.
On one occasion, just as the insightful director was about to offer up a juicy tidbit about Hoffman, the high-strung host cut him off and shouted out into the footlights below:
"Have 'ya got a mic yet for the folks asking the questions?"
Then, he turned back to his gracious guests, oblivious to his unprofessional behaviour .
When Benton gave the punch line for his amusing anecdote, he lamented to his crew in a bit of an aside:
"Gee, I guess we should have gotten that on tape."
Do 'ya think?
Staff toiling at the Theatre were a bit "off" and lacked manners.
For instance, when filmgoers arrived and took a detour into the confectionary for snacks, servers acted rudely.
"Do you have a ticket?" one gruff young man barked.
No, I was invited," the guest politely responded.
"Well, do you have a copy of the e-mail?"
The person in question was invited by the owner of the Theatre - Michael S. Hall - and was a little unnerved at this juncture.
Mike, hire some decent staff, will 'ya?
Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!
All unpleasantries aside, the night was very entertaining; after all, Mr. Benton was a great storyteller, who lucidly recalled dusty old memories from thirty years ago at whim, much to the delight of everyone in attendance.
Originally, Dustin Hoffman turned down the project, he chuckled.
Not to be rejected so easily, Benton asked Hoffman's "people" to give some feedback.
Benton felt that if the actor could point a finger at holes in the script (adapted from the best-selling book) that perhaps he could rewrite it to the satisfaction of the actor.
After a handful of rewrites, and some judicious editing, a polished script was handed over to Hoffman's handlers for consideration.
Lo and behold, as fate would have it, word came back that Hoffman would meet with Benton for lunch on location in London at the world-famous Inn on the Park.
Why not, he mused?
"At least we'll get a free trip to England out of the deal even if we're rejected," he quipped.
The audience roared!
Once he arrived at Hoffman's Hotel, he spied Dustin in a small tea room just inside the lobby.
"Oh oh," he thought to himself, "We're going to get a handshake and a polite brush-off."
On the contrary!
According to the Maitre d, the main restaurant was "booked solid", so Hoffman would have to sup elsewhere with his celebrated guest.
Hoffman assumed his perch near the front door until the filmmaker arrived - and once greeted - proceeded to lead Benton up to his suite where he immediately committed to the project.
"I've always felt we should have given that Maitre d a commission," Benton cackled.
There were some stumbling blocks for Meryl Streep, too.
Although her star was on the rise, the respected actress was relatively unknown to many power-brokers in Hollywood.
The producers originally wanted to go with an actress with established box office appeal.
In spite of that reality staring Benton in the face, Meryl was invited to test for the part.
"When I saw the footage, I thought it was the worst cold-reading I'd ever seen," Benton softly noted to the rapt audience last night.
"She just sat there. And, sat there. Doin' nothing."
But, after reflecting on the scripted material and "Joanne's character" - particularly in respect to the opening scenes - the director suddenly realized her interpretation was exactly right!
"She didn't try to give a grand performance to impress us. She did what was appropriate for that scene; moreover, she had authority, which impressed me."
Understandably, I was awestruck by Robert Benton from the get-go.
Indeed, the man is not only a talented intuitive director - capable of drumming up solutions outside of-the-box - but one who is open and sensitive to the needs of his players.
For instance, a pivotal point in the film takes place when Meryl's character is on the witness stand.
It dawned on Benton one day that a speech he wrote was "written" by a man and from a male (or husband's) point of view. So, to combat the dilemma, he approached Meryl one day and asked that she rewrite the dialogue with the ultimate aim of better expressing a female sentiment in her own words.
"She nabbed it, too."
Streep's inclusion of the phrase - "I'm his Mommy" - was right on the money, asserted Benton.
"That is what a mother would say."
Benton also chose to shoot the scenes in sequence.
Undoubtedly, that was a costly aspect of the filmmaking process on Kramer vs. Kramer.
Producers usually schedule the shooting of scenes and the grouping of actors to be as cost effective as possible.
Benton took this route to ensure Justin Henry - a child actor on his first film project - would not become confused.
Moreover, this out-of-the-norm approach, allowed for the young performer to settle into his character scene-by-scene naturally.
"Probably the best scene in Kramer was not written by me," he humbly admitted.
"A pivotal scene with the chocolate-chip ice cream was improvised off-the-cuff with Dustin & Justin."
Also, the director (who co-wrote Bonnie & Clyde, by the way) gave direction for young Henry to Dustin to pass on to the child actor playing his son.
"I wanted the authority to come from Dustin, his father, so that bond was established early on."
The amusing man noted that he chose Justin Henry to play the role over a posse of other young hopefuls because the little cutie demonstrated in a sort-of "bull" session one day during the audition process that he could "push back" at Hoffman.
"Actors are cast in weights," he theorized.
"If you put a heavyweight with a middle-weight, then the middleweight has a struggle to come up to the other level. Or, the heavyweight is forced to drop to the lower weight to match it."
Benton was adamant that Henry and Hoffman were of equal weight.
Henry squirmed a little in his seat at this point.
In a bold-faced effort to downplay his talent, he joked:
"Oh, I was just playing. That was all it was to me."
The seasoned professional wasn't buying any of it.
In the final analysis, Benton was quite a revelation last night at the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills.
If ever I have the opportunity to be on one of his sets - or the good fortune to be offered a part in one of his films - I'll jump at the challenge.
I'd be a better actor and man for it, I just betcha!
