9:02 p.m. - Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2002
THE CALL
This was a fantastic Christmas! I got THE CALL from actor, Ryan Merriman this morning just a few seconds past 11 AM CST. I didn't get much sleep last night. I chatted online until around 1 AM. Then after I finally got to sleep I woke up a couple of times to go to the bathroom. I had drunk too much ice tea before going to bed, lol. I had my alarm set to go off at 10 AM, but I didn't need it after all. At 9 AM the phone rang and, since I don't have an extension in my bedroom, I jumped up and hurried into another room to grab the phone, thinking that Ryan might have decided to call early. I nearly killed myself getting to the phone! Yahahaha!
It was just a friend calling to wish me "Merry Christmas". I didn't go back to bed after that. I came to the computer and typed a short message on the message board. It was almost 10:30 AM. I was feeling anxious. Since 9 AM I had already begun going to the bathroom every fifteen minutes from nervousness. I wondered if Ryan would be right on time with the call or a little "fashionably" late. He must have been punching in the number right at 11 AM for just a few seconds past that the phone rang and the display said "Private".
I answered the phone, saying "Hello..." Ryan said, "Hello..." and then he coughed a short cough and again repeated "Hello..." Then I said "Hello..." for the second time, hahaha. Then Ryan said, "Hello, Belle?" I replied "Hello, Ryan!" He apologized for coughing and said he was trying to get a cold he thought. Then the conversation began.
First of all Ryan wished me a Merry Christmas and I responded back with the same. I was surprised at how terribly calm I was. It's almost like I couldn't really grasp the idea of who I was talkin' to. He could have been anyone, but I knew in my head he wasn't just anyone--This was my idol! The one and only! But I was calm. I didn't go wild. I didn't begin screeching and screaming, but I did feel some excitement inside. I wondered later what he must have thought about how calm I was.
I asked him where he was calling from (one of the questions on my list) and he replied that he was at home in Oklahoma. In fact, his mother, Nona Merriman, was there with him listening to the conversation or at least his end of it. I wondered if we might have been on a speaker phone but the line didn't have that open sound that it usually does with a speaker phone. So maybe we weren't. I know she was there, because at one point Ryan asked her about the answer to one of the questions and I heard her speaking to him.
I had a list of 23 questions typed out plus the names of all the people who had been involved on his message board over the past year whether they are still on there or not. I couldn'tape the conversation, due to my recorder not working, so I made lots of notes and it is from those notes that I will write about THE CALL. It surprised me that as I read the names of all the people on the message board to him, having explained that they all wished to say hello to him, he seemed familiar with a few of the names already. I figured at first that his publicist, Mr. Jamieson, must have filled Ryan in on some of the details, but later I found out that it may have been Ryan's own mother who filled him in. I don't know that for a fact, but from what was said I later realized that either one could have done it.
I will not always have the content of THE CALL written in the exact sequence or order that it happened, but all of the following topics were at some point in time discussed. And I am writing from memory on most of it so a lot of it cannot be exactly quoted. I am just reciting it the way I remember it.
Ryan seemed to be familiar already with Nia, who is from South America. He also seemed to know already about the tape of Rocket's Red Glare that she had taped and mailed to me because I couldn't get it here in the US. He remembered Nathalie from France who'd sent him a written interview for her site. He also seemed to be a little familiar with Dragon, surprise--surprise! When I brought up Dragon's name, Ryan commented that Dragon was the poet, wasn't he? I replied that Dragon did encourage all of us to write some poetry on NMG, Ryan's official message board. Ryan seemed quite impressed when I told him a little about Dragon.
I asked Ryan if he ever looked at his official message board and he said that he did now and then but that his mother (Nona Merriman) kept closer tabs on it and would sometimes print things out for him to read from it. Interesting revelation. I asked Ryan if he ever looked at any of the fan web sites that had been built in honor of him and he replied (as I remember it) that he didn't look at any of those because the sites were more personal based on the person's particular interests and viewpoints about him mostly. Remember this is not an exact quote, just how I remember him speaking of it. But he most certainly said he did not visit fan sites about himself.
I explained that I had a list of questions that all of us had worked on together and I wrote down some of the answers to them so that I definitely could recall them correctly. One of the questions I asked was if his nose had ever been broken? That is a question that I've always wondered about so I took the time to find out from Ryan directly. I was not prepared for Ryan to seem as stunned as he was by that particular question. He had to ask Mrs. Merriman about it too and that's when I found out that she was there with him. Following the consultation with his mother, Ryan answered that his nose had never been broken. Then he seemed flustered that anyone would think it had been and I had to dance all around that one to reassure him that he was still as handsome as ever to all of his fans and that the question had at one time come up and that was all.
Q: What kind of cologne do you wear?
A: Very Sexy from Victoria's Secret for men. Also Versace and Acqua Di Gio (*also from Victoria's Secret for men*)
Q: What kind of car or truck are you driving now?
A: An F-250 super-duty diesel with a 6" lift (*whatever that is*). Also the Jeep Cherokee and the Harley Davidson.
Q: Is your girlfriend, Micol, from Oklahoma also?
A: Yes, she's a local girl.
Q: Do you plan to resume your college studies online?
A: No. With Veritas being filmed and other things in the works, I can't foresee getting back to college any time soon. In fact, with the money that I'm making now, I really see no need to get back to it right away. (*This is how I remember him saying this--keep in mind that it's not an exact quote*)
Q: What kind of music do you enjoy listening to?
A: Country, Hip-hop, Rock....
Q: Who was your favorite co-star to work with and do you ever stay in touch with any of the people you work with?
A: Delta Burke (Dangerous Child), Michelle Pfeiffer (Deep End of the Ocean)...Lots of others, but no, I don't stay in contact with them because working as I do it's very difficult to maintain contacts. I do still have contact with Jared Padelecki from Ring of Endless Light...
Q: Do you still have local friends?
A: Yes, the friendships of the guys that I grew up with are vital to me. So I do see them when I am home and we are all still very close friends.
Q: In regard to the mini-series Taken: Was the scene in the woods or forest just a set or was it filmed in a real forest?
A: Taken was filmed actually in a real forest. We had the cabin that burned up built in the woods. As soon as the scene with the burning cabin was shot the fire was put out immediately. But the part where the reflection of the blaze flickers in my eyes was the real blaze in the cabin. The shot of my eyes was filmed with a special zoom lens. So that was a reflection of real fire that you saw in my eyes. And again, the fire was put out immediately after the scene was shot. There was no damage to the forest.
Q: At the end of the cabin scene was that you screaming or someone else?
A: That was someone else.
Q: What was it like to work with Steven Spielberg?
A: Well, actually I didn't work directly with Steven Spielberg. He was the producer, so I didn't see him, but I did work with a lot of wonderful people who work for him.
Q: Of all the various character parts that you have done so far, do you have a favorite kind of role that you like doing best, horror, comedy or drama?
A: No, not really. I have enjoyed doing a lot of different roles and I can't say that I have a favorite. But I will say that the character of Nikko in Veritas will be the most fun to portray, I think, because he is more like me as my normal self. So I will get to have some fun with him, I think.
Q: Will Nikko have a love interest in the show?
A: Nothing serious, but he will be involved a little with Juliet and another girl in the show.
Q: Do you have any other shows or movies waiting in the wings to be done at a later time that you know of?
A: Well, I have a few things....(*answered kind of hesitantly, IMO*), but I don't want to reveal anything just yet,...sort of bad luck to do that....
My reply: I understand completely. That's ok.
Q: Do you plan to keep your hair long for Veritas? You looked so fantastic with it longer in Taken.
A: Some people like my hair better long and others, short. It will be long in the first part of Veritas but then once I'm out of school as Nikko it will be cut short. So I'm going back to the shorter style.
Q: What kind of character will Nikko be? Will he have a Dangerous Child kind of attitude a bit?
A: Nikko will be a little on the wild side. A rebel. He will be a lot like me. (*Ryan may have laughed here, or I'm imagining that he did*)
Q: Some of your fans have written to you but have not received an answer back yet. Can you give us some insight into the reason? Maybe just not enough time with the filming?...
A: I think it is all about the filtering process. The letters are checked by my publicist and then are sent on to me. And it may take time to get through them all. I am getting a lot more fan mail now. (*To me, Ryan seemed quite concerned in regard to this question. I think his fans are ultra important to him.*)
Q: Many of your fans have been with you for a long time now. I have personally been following your career since Dangerous Child. When you are a huge success and a big name on screen, will you still remember the people who were with you from the beginning?
A: Yes! I will definitely remember those people who have been with me from early on. They are special to me.
Q: How can your fans help to make sure that Veritas will remain on tv when the season begins?
A: Just make sure to watch the show. The first month and a half are very important to the ratings and the ratings are what they go by to decide whether to keep a show on air or not. So it's really important that as many people watch Veritas as possibly can for the first month and a half.
There were a couple of questions that I missed from the list or questions that Ryan preferred to leave unanswered for the present. One was: "What was it like to be filming in Canada?" I overlooked that and I'm so sorry. Some others had to do with answers to rumors floating around about him. Also there were personal questions that I wanted to know about for myself that will remain in my heart, not to be shared.
Ryan was very nice. He was patient with me, allowing me to ask all the questions that I wanted to including the last one,lol:
Q: And have you been a goood little boy this year, Ryan?
A: Oh yeah...and for Christmas I got some new CDs and DVDs, a wine bottle opener and a new shower radio with a CD player in it. I really like that gift!
We said "Merry Christmas" to each other again. He thanked me for the donation to charity for THE CALL. I thanked Ryan for calling me and making my Christmas the very best ever! We both said "Bye" to each other and he was gone. It was over. I had plenty of time with Ryan on the phone this morning and he was sweet and gentle and extremely pleasant. He was patient. He didn't rush me at all. He let me take all the time I needed. He was very easy to talk to. And he sounded soooo sexy!!!
