A ‘ TERRIFYING’ CHICAGO GOOF
Matthew Modine steered his bicycle into LSD traffic
LOS ANGELES — Some of Matthew Modine’s many films have included “some darn scary scenes,” as in his shark thriller “47 Meters Down” ( opening Friday). Yet Modine admitted “one of the most frightening things that ever happened to me — even if not shark scary — happened in Chicago.”
The environmentally conscious actor recalled an evening when he decided to ride his bicycle to a dinner party on the Gold Coast. “It was the stupidest thing I ever did,” admitted Modine. “I didn’t realize that I was suddenly pedaling up what looked like the on- ramp to a freeway! It turned out to be the Outer Drive — Lake Shore Drive. There was no getting off of it. It was terrifying. The road was very wet because it was raining — very hard. It’s a miracle I didn’t get killed.”
This took place back in 2004, when the “Full Metal Jacket” actor starred in
Arthur Miller’s “Finishing the Picture” at the Goodman Theatre with Harris Yulin, Frances Fisher, Stacy Keach, Linda Lavin, Scott Glenn and Heather Prete. The dinner party for the cast was hosted by Fisher’s cousin, Chicagoan Catherine Hamilton.
As for “47 Meters Down,” Modine admitted his role as the American expat who provides shark cage thrills for tourists in Mexico “was a piece of cake compared to riding on Lake Shore Drive on a bike!” While his costars — Mandy Moore and
Claire Holt — are the ones who plunge to the bottom of the sea when the cage’s cable snaps, “I really only got to watch all that, and mostly am heard [ talking to the women on their underwater radio] rather than seen in the film.”
‘ Orange’ star bleeds NU purple
As soon as “Orange Is the New Black” star Adri
enne C. Moore heard she was about to be interviewed by someone from Chicago, the Northwestern University alum started singing the Wildcats’ fight song.
“Go U Northwestern! La, la, la, la, la,” sang Moore, suddenly bursting into laughter as we met up in New York. “Unfortunately, that’s all that I remember.”
Best known these days for portraying Cindy Hayes on the hit Netflix series, which last week launched its fifth season, Moore has great memories of her time spent at the school in the 1990s, where she did not major in theater or a related subject. “I studied psychology, history and religion. I was a heady girl,” added the actress with a wink. Moore’s research for the series took her to a prison in Georgia, where she met some inmates. “I remember one woman in particular. What led her to jail reminded me of what happened to Piper [ Chap
man, the real- life person who inspired the series, portrayed on ‘ Orange’ by
Taylor Schilling]. When I asked her what she had learned from her experiences in prison, she said, ‘ It’s very simple. I have learned I have an addiction. In my case it’s an addiction to fast money — and that landed me in jail.’
“‘ But everyone has an addiction of some kind. You have one. The guards in this prison have them. Almost every one is addicted to something. For most it’s simple stuff, like smoking or baseball or other stuff that isn’t illegal. But addictions are more universal than you’d think. And addictions can be very crippling.’
“I think about those words of wisdom from that incarcerated woman every single day.”
Why Owen Wilson might finally return to Chicago
Owen Wilson’s only memory of visiting Our Town was when he was promoting one of his first feature films, “Bottle Rocket,” released in 1996.
“I have so many friends, or folks I’ve worked with, who are from Chicago and love it so much — like Billy
Zane and Vince Vaughn. said the actor, who reprises his Lightning McQueen voice role in “Cars 3” ( opening Fri-
day). “I don’t know your city, but I’ve got to get there”
Wilson particularly is interested in great architecture and loves Frank Lloyd
Wright’s work. When he learned that this is the 150th anniversary of the iconic architect’s birth — and that there are special events happening to celebrate that — Wilson said, “Well then, this is definitely the year I need to come discover Chicago. I’d love to go out and see his houses and buildings in the Chicago area.”