|
Paper Heart (2009)
Has anyone been in love?
Have you ever been in love? There's not a soul in the world that wants to talk to me. Whoo! Viva Las Vegas! Whoo! That's funny. - What you got there, honey? - It's a microphone. Is it? What do you want me to say? - You look good. - Oh, thank you. You don't know what love is? No. Oh, well, that's a shame. Are you looking for love? No, not really. I'm kind of content. I like all these backup people you got here. Thanks. There's tons of guys out here. If you go out here, you can find your soulmate. I just think love is a hard thing to find. When you find it, keep it. Hold on to it. - Love? - Love? - Yeah. - Yeah, I love LA. Is love a good thing? Yeah, a very good thing. Cool. Cool. Thank you. Thank you. - Bye. - Bye. Ladies and gentlemen, Charlyne Yi! Argh! Argh! Argh! Charlyne Yi! Charlyne Yi! Charlyne Yi! I do. So you say you don't believe in love now, but have you always felt that way? I believed in it when I was a kid, but again, all my ideas about love kind of came from movies and fairy tales. And as I grew up I realized that life is nothing like that. Was that 'cause you had your heart broken? No. I've only ever had one boyfriend. I thought I really liked him. I thought he was all dark and mysterious and he had shadows under his eyes. But then I realized that was only because he was on drugs. Hey, Gill, this is Nick. We're making a documentary about Charlyne and love. We were wondering if we could ask you some questions. Awesome. Do you think I'll learn something? Do you think it's possible? Why? You're probably thinking, "Is this how Charlyne really is?" This hair... it's a wig. It's not my hair. Made you think it was a wig. Made you think it wasn't my hair. Looks nothing like that. So you don't know what love is. You've never felt it, so you claim. And you also know for sure that you will never be in love. - Yeah. - I'm dumbfounded. I've never been in love, ever, so I'm not sure if I'm capable of it. Well, why do you think that you would be someone who wasn't capable of it? You're a very loving person. That's what you think. You're dedicated to creative things. There's passion inside you. Your love glass is half full. You're very optimistic. - You've never been in love? - No. And it's... This is gonna come out, probably, wrong, but is it because you're not lovable? You think I'm not lovable, Demetri? No, I'm asking, do you feel not loveable? Do you feel not valuable? 'Cause I think you're potentially valuable. I think if Charlyne ever falls in love - she'll keep it very close to herself. - Yeah, private. I don't think she's gonna make it public to anybody. Do you think that Charlyne believes in love even though she says she doesn't? You think Charlyne will ever find love? I hope so too. Bye, Gill. So why do you want to make a documentary about love then? Well, I think everyone means something to someone. And we're all a bit skeptical, but I don't want to end up a lonely old spinster. I don't think anyone wants to. So we're gonna go on the road and talk to people and hear their stories and see if that changes the way you think about love. - Yep, we'll see. - That's right. We will see. Have you ever been married? Yes, I was married for 11 years. And then I got divorced. And it was the first time I was married too. I didn't get married till I was 43 years old. I met this young lady and we got married. And then, eh, she just didn't want to be married anymore. I don't understand it, but, you know, she had to do what was best for her. And why wouldn't you get married again? Because I don't want to go through the hurt again. When I took those vows, for me it was for life, you know, as far as I was concerned. But it wasn't. People fall out of love. People change. And what they want and what the other person wants... it's just different. Rack 'em up. We're tied. When you get older, you have all this experience and then you start thinking about, you know, your past loves. And true love is a whole different thing. That only comes once in a while... once in a lifetime, I think. - Have you had that? - Yes, I have. Was that with your ex-wife? No, as a matter of fact. It was... God, it must be, like, 20 years ago, but every time I hear her name immediately the image of her pops in my head and I get those little butterflies and everything like that. Why didn't it work out? She was dating somebody else at the time and she just... she was, like, this close to giving it up and being with me, and she just couldn't do it. And did you know she was dating someone at the time? Yeah, but what does that matter? If they're not married or engaged, they're fair game. - You think so? - You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, it's just a boyfriend. 'Cause, I mean, you could be the one she's really looking for, right? But I think the problem with true love is that it has to be on both sides. That's what makes it so difficult. Like she might have been my true love, but maybe I wasn't her true love. See, you got me talking about love and I can't even shoot pool anymore. While we're talking about love and true love, how do you know if you ever found love? Well, I'll tell you a little story. Last May I took a trip up to Alaska to go grizzly hunting. And I was 130 miles north of the Arctic Circle on horseback for two weeks. And it was just me, my guide and my wrangler. So we were riding along and we had to cross this river. And it was late spring, so the water was very very high and very very cold. There were big chunks of ice in the river and it was freezing. So anyway, we were crossing this river and I almost made it to the other side when my horse lost its footing and rolled, and me and the horse went down the river. The water was moving really really fast. It overtook me and it held me under the water for a good 30 seconds... And I remember it being very serene, a very pretty color. And I was just floating there, like in space. And I was saying to myself, "I can't die like this. This isn't the way to go." And then all of a sudden I saw Sarah's face... my ex-wife. And she didn't say anything to me. She didn't look at me. And that's when I started reaching for it and I power-swam to the top and popped out of the top of the river, grabbed onto a little branch and got out. And my guide had a big bonfire going. And I'm here to tell the story, so obviously I survived. But the point of the story is that the love from that marriage was still there. And when I came home I told Sarah the story and she said that she was sitting there working on her computer, and that's the profile I would have seen of her just sitting there at her desk. And like I was saying before about the one true love that might have been, I didn't see her face when I was almost dying, but it was Sarah's face that I saw. So going back and looking at that, maybe she was the true one love. And I guess I'll just never know. So what's gonna be your opening question? "What's your name?" Hello, Charlyne. I'm Professor Bill Hase of Texas Tech University. Hi. Let's talk about what love is first. Love is, I guess, an affection towards somebody and it's a feeling that's a pleasant feeling. And chemists would say that something's being triggered in terms of molecules interacting. - In my brain? - In the brain. Yeah, love is not here, even though we have it there... the heart. It's actually going on right up here. The biochemist, or the anatomist and physiologist would say things like, "Well, as we fall in love, we know, we've recorded that there's additional serotonin release in neurons in the brain. We know that there's endorphins that help us to feel better." And we feel this euphoria when we're falling in love. In fact, sometimes so much so, it's almost similar to a drug-induced sort of state where we may not even be using rational behaviors and things like that. Do you think some people can be born without those chemicals? I think, not the chemicals but the processing of them... that's exactly right. But I think it would not be unusual or abnormal to think that there are some people... the chemistry is such that it's difficult for them to love someone else. I wonder if that's what's wrong with me. Oh, I don't think so. You seem like a very pleasant person, right? If love is such a strong emotion... probably because it provides us with something good. How does that benefit us evolutionarily? Offspring. It's kind of hard to tell... do we really perceive that what we're trying to do is to successfully rear offspring, or do we view love as the end-all and be-all? There are plenty of couples who love each other very much who don't have kids of their own. - Yeah. - And they stay married even though they know forthem there's no reproductive benefit. You know, I'd also want to be careful not to get so scientific that we forget about just the pure joy and maybe the mystical aspects of love. There's something... there is something there. There may be evolutionary mechanisms and there are certainly biochemical mechanisms, but somehow there's a little bit of magic to it too. - Hey. - Nice to see you. I always think that if I was in love I would be married by now. But I'm not. Well, have you ever said "I love you" to somebody? I'm pretty quick to say "I love you" just 'cause I feel like I don't want them to run away. Really? - Yeah, I fell like... - Does it work or does it scare them? Well, I'm single, so I don't know. What are you guys filming? A documentary. What is it about? It's about me. Your life? No, it's about how I don't believe in love. Cool. Awesome. Are you interviewing people tonight for it? - Or what are you filming tonight? - Some people. Oh, nice. Do you want to be interviewed, Mike? No. Will this be in the movie... this scene? - Probably not. - Yeah. How long have you played guitar for? How do you know I play guitar? You don't play? I do. I thought you did. Well, how have you been, man? Good. I'm glad you're here. It's good to see you. - It's really good seeing you. - Yeah, I haven't seen you since probably when we were playing Frisbee. I don't think I've played since we played. Yeah, this is cool. How do you guys know each other? I saw her do a show about, probably, a year ago, - and we just started hanging out. - Started talking? Cool. She's cool, man. How do you know Chuck? I don't... I've never... I only met her just now, tonight, yeah. - Do I have any advice for you? - Yeah. Yes. Every time you meet a boy look him in the eyes. - Okay. - Because when you meet the guy, when you meet the love of your life, you look him in the eyes, you'll know right away. I don't know. I don't know if I can like anyone. Really? I mean, I've had crushes, but I don't know if I can genuinely like someone. I think first I have to like someone and then see if I could fall in love. - Do you like spooning? - What's that? # Waiting for you # # I'll always be your friend. # Hey, Charlyne. Hey, Charlyne. - Do you want to play guitar? - Uh... Play one song. Come on, don't be shy. I'm not. I'm scared. What's the movie gonna be like, funny? - Well, we'll see, man. - Romantic? - Yeah, we'll see. It's basically... - Quirky? - Yeah. - A quirky comedy? Yeah, it's like... it's a really quirky comedy, - a real quirky comedy, man. - That's perfect. - I mean, the whole idea... - That's just what America needs. The whole idea is she said that she doesn't believe that love exists. - Yeah. I like your coat. - And so... Thanks, man. I got it at Burlington Coat Factory. It's nice. That's the kind of coat that will last you, like, 50 years. You know what I'm actually gonna do with this, man? I'm gonna dry-clean it. Yeah, you need to respect your clothes. That's a nice pair. Thanks, man. You got a nice pair on too. I was noticing the pattern. So Charlyne... I'm pretty interested in Charlyne. She's pretty fascinating. - Do you know her very well? - I don't think so. I think I know her more than most people know her, but... She's pretty mysterious. Yeah, she's pretty mysterious. You guys are similar like that. - You guys are a pretty good match. - I really like her. I told you he likes you. But he didn't even talk to me. He doesn't even know me. How could he like me? You guys talked a little bit. I mean, he just said you seemed really cool. He could just be a friend, but if he calls I'd say give the guy a shot. Well, if I see a number I don't recognize I'm not gonna answer it. I'll tell him to call back. I'll just turn off my phone. Well, he's a very nice guy. And that's true. And you guys are a good match. - Hey, how are you? I'm Nick. - How's it going? - Nick, Brendan. Nice to meet you. - This is Charlyne; Charlyne, Brendan. Nice to meet you. So what up, man? What are we doing? So here's what we're thinking. We would love to get inside, kind of get set up and then she'll ask you some questions - and whatever comes out, comes out. - Okay, cool. Come on in. Perfect. Thank you. What's happening, Jack? How are you? - How's it going? - Good good. - We put it up there just as a joke. - That's your forehead. They superimposed it. I know. There was a guest... they go, "Can you hold my baby?" So I held the baby and our photographer superimposed my glasses and my head. It looks sick. It looks like some weird doll. - Yeah, I was like... - If the family ever saw it they'd be like, "What did you do to my daughter?" Valentine's Day, New Year's Eve, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July... all the time people come here to get married... sometimes 10 a day, sometimes five a day, at least 300 a month. Do you have any favorite stories from working here? I've been here 491/2 years at the Little White Chapel and do I have favorite stories? Every one of them is a favorite story to me. Everybody that gets married here is very very special. We had this guy, and what he did was when he was asked "Do you take this bride to be your lawful wedded wife?" He took this coin out and he flicked this coin and he went..."I do." - Wasn't that funny? - Yeah, that was funny. And I thought, "You're in so much trouble." He is still suffering to this day for that one, you know. But he thought it was funny. Two weeks ago a guy comes in. He goes, "Elvis, come here." He calls me up to the front. He goes... I go, "Where's your bride?" He goes, "In the bathroom. But come here, I got a problem." I go, "What's the problem?" He goes, "I don't know her last name." I said, "You don't know whose last name?" He's like, "My bride." I said, "You don't know her last name? How long have you been together?" When I saw him look at his watch I thought, "Here we go." He goes, "About 21/2 hours." I said, "Sir, that's a minor detail. You learn that on the honeymoon. Right now you get married and you'll deal with the small stuff like the last name later." As long as the check clears... hey hey! Thank you very much. No. So when you get married would you like to come here? If I get married. If I find somebody. What would you like? Just pretend you're getting married. Just pretend I'm getting married? - I like that one that you pulled out. - This one? - Yeah. - Are you gonna try that one on? - Okay. - Come on. Congratulations. - Thank you. - Nice to see you. All you have to remember is "I do," and then "Yes, dear," for the rest of your life, okay? All rise for the bride. Thank you. You can be seated. By the powers vested in me by the State of Nevada, and as minister of the Wee Kirk o' the Heather Wedding Chapel, I now pronounce you and present you as husband and wife. And, Chuck, here's the best part... you may kiss your bride. Love is 30 minutes in bed with a Harley. Hey, you ever drink a Jgerbomb? You drink enough of these... you'll wake up with an ugly girl and be happy. They come here every day. It's a love of friendship. These people will go out of their way. If you need a motorcycle part and I got it, I'm gonna give it to you. I'm gonna go in my tool bag and I'm gonna give you the tool. I'll give you what I got. I'm not asking nothing for it, but next time you see me messed up you're gonna help me. It's a love that's better than family, 'cause most of my family's here. Thanksgiving dinner is here. Christmas dinner is here. And that's true love right there. - That's what love is here. - We love each other. Sometimes we can't stand each other, but we love each other. We fight and cuss one another, but we all love one another here. Yeah, I love you too. So that's the kind of love you need to know. Love to other people that don't know bikers is different. I love my wife, but if you ask anybody around here, I treat her like shit. Yeah, he does. When I stop picking on her, she gets worried. I don't know nothing about relationships. I know I love my wife. We have a love-hate relationship... I love to beat her; she hates the beatings. That's a joke. So do you believe in love now? - Uh, no no. - No? Are you ready to go for that motorcycle ride? Really? - Let's go. - Okay. You might accidentally get out there and fall in love with old Jester. Okay. - No. - Chuck, hold on tight. Please, God, let me live. - I lived. - You probably have bugs in your... I've never seen her smile so big. You just made her world. What do you think? You want to ride a Harley now? - Yeah, I want to get one. - Tattoos and shit too? Yeah. Come on. Who are you instant-messaging with? Michael. Michael Cera? Yep. What are you and Michael Cera instant-messaging about? He says... I don't know, he's being annoying. He said if I wanted to elope and I said... He asked if you wanted to elope? "No, I don't know you." That's pretty cool. Why is it pretty cool? I didn't know you and Mike were kind of like that. I thought you guys were more just friends. What? I didn't do anything. I didn't ask him to get married. I just said... Easy easy. I'll drop it. I'll drop it. - Well, we're here at the Los Angeles Zoo... - Zoo. Because Charlyne... ...had a brilliant idea to come here and hopefully capture how animals express their version of love. How do you think we're gonna go about doing that? Do you have any ideas what the scenes are gonna be? Yeah, I'm gonna stay far and watch from a distance so I don't interrupt. So we're at the zoo observing Charlyne observing the animals, right? Yes. Wow, they're so in love. I see movement. They're breathing. All right, Chuck, you want to wrap it up, dude? Now I'm not sure exactly what they're talking about. - Hey, there's Mike. - One can... Hey, Ben, you want to grab Mike coming up too? Hey. - Hey, man. - Hey, man. - What's up? - Good seeing you. - How's it going? - Everybody remembers Mike? - Hey. - You remember Charlyne, of course. - How's it going? - Good, man. Thanks for making it out. You guys have been getting some lion footage? Yeah, I'm just looking at them. He's being trying to make love to Cookie, and she's not that interested. Oh, yeah? That's too bad. I know how that goes. Um, I don't want to interrupt. - Well, hang back. - Yeah, keep going. Do you want to just do one more and we'll go see the chimps? Uh, well, where were we, guys? So you guys have been looking at these lions for a while? Yeah, about 45 minutes. - They've just been lying there? - Yeah. - So this is a deleted scene. - Yeah. - This will never be in the movie. - Yeah, right. I see why people put chimps on gift cards and things. And I want to think of, like, a clever thing to say about how his legs are crossed, like, "Working on my novel." I want to put that on a gift card. We're not doing anything, are we? No, I think we're just getting a B-roll. Cool. Do you mind if we just take a snack break? No, take your time. - Are you getting food? - A snack break. - Yeah, I'll go. - Okay. I'm gonna get some food too. I haven't eaten. Anything all day? No, just this water. Is it delicious? Yeah, just not as filling as one might hope. What if you moved a little bit more that way, so everything she says you get the giraffes in the background too? Guys, sorry, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna take off. - You're taking off? - Yeah yeah, bye, guys. - Thanks for coming by, man. - Yeah, no problem. Bye. I'll call you tomorrow about the weekend. Okay. What's going on this weekend? We're gonna go eat and watch a movie. You and Mike are gonna go eat and watch a movie? - Yeah. - Just the two of you? - Yeah. - For real? What? That's awesome. You guys are going on a date. No, It's not a date. We're just gonna hang out and eat. You guys are gonna go eat, the two of you, and go see a movie, just the two of you, and that's not a date? No. We eat and watch movies all the time. That's different. Jay, a guy and a girl decide to go out and get dinner and see a movie? What would you call that? - That would be a date, sir. - That'd be a date. Let's try to get that date out of your head and just shoot this scene. - Can I have this? - Yeah. You can have as many as you want, incidentally. - Do you want this one? - No. - You can have it. - No, your finger's been... Here. No, don't. So are you from LA? No. I'm from Fontana. It's an hour and a half away from here. You from LA? No, I'm from Toronto. Cool. Do you live around here? I don't want to tell you where I live. I don't trust you. Oh, okay. You don't have to. I can look it up. Look it up? Is it on the internet? I can ask someone. - You would do that? - Probably. How did you know my name when I met you? I had seen your show. And then when I saw you at Evan's I knew your name. Yeah, I was really scared. I thought maybe... I was like, "Do I know this guy?" I'm, like, the worst at names. You were like, "Hey, Charlyne, come here." - I normally wouldn't... - I'm like, "I don't know you. - Okay, I must know you maybe. - Normally I wouldn't have even said hello. Why? 'Cause, you know, it's difficult to. Yeah, but anyway, that's how I knew your name and I was excited to see you. So you're leaving in a few days? In two days. I'll be gone for, like, four and a half. - I'll call you tomorrow. - Okay. Talk on the phone, have a phone chat. - Okay. - Okay. Are you okay to drive? - Do I...? - You're not high? - Do I look high? - No. Do you need to take my microphone? Yeah, thanks, Mike. - You want me to turn around? - All right, this is kind of awkward. - Is it in your shirt? - Just slip it off. Okay. It's caught. It's caught. It's caught. I'll call you. I'll call you. Okay. Bye. Do you remember your first date? Yes. I invited him to my birthday party at 14. What began as an infatuation bloomed into full love. And he proposed our junior year in high school. Do you remember how you proposed to her? - No, do you? - No. I'm sure I wasn't on my knees. No. My mom and dad were not for me marrying that early, but they knew that I loved him and that we wanted to be together. And they had to sign for me to be married because I was only 17. - Oh, yeah? - So they did. I think the young love can sometimes be the most important. I know that many... people now are waiting until later to get married, but I think you lose something. We could have chosen not to marry before he went to college, but waiting five years would have lost much of the magnetism that we had for each other. I'm not advising everyone to get married at 17, but it can work. It sure is not for everybody. We had a lot of friends who got married young, and it didn't work out for them. But it did for us. How did you guys know that you were in love if you've never been in love before? Wait for the lightning bolt. I've been saying that all of our lives. Sometimes it's slow and it grows and all of a sudden you realize it's there. Many times it happens in the beginning like it did with us. Yeah. We'd like to share one thing in asking what events might have stuck out in our mind through the years. I was ready to deliver our second son when he had to go to the reserve camp. I was in the reserves and I'd spent two weeks at Fort Polk. And even though we knew our son was coming, I still had to go to camp. But they did send me back when our child was born. We had a pretty dramatic birth with several dangers involved with myself and my son, so I was especially excited to hear the clomp of his army boots running down the hall. I knew he was there. We were all okay. He runs into the room, saw that we were okay, and immediately passed out on the floor. And we will always remember that birth. We got laundry on the third floor. That doesn't interest me. You all ready for the interviews today? Uh, yeah. You have a few basic kind of questions? Yeah, I have some really good questions. I was thinking about asking... - I can't hear you, Chuck. - What? I couldn't hear you. Oh, I just said... Charlyne, Chuck, you gotta turn it off. What are you thinking? I just want to know what you're asking. I'm sorry. What? You have a few basic...? Do you have a few...? Okay. So are you all set for the interviews? Yeah, I have everything set, boss. - Great. - Thanks. Good. What are you gonna ask? Romance is written for women, mostly by women, although we have male readers and I have fan mail from guys. But romance is really targeted for women. And it's the emotional bonding that goes on that women tend to enjoy discussing and hearing about and reading and watching on TV and in the movies. And that's what romance is. People think there's a formula to romance novels and there's not. The only thing that romance has to have is, they have to have a relationship between two people and they have to have some kind of conflict or struggle that they overcome and then they live happily ever after, we call it. It's an "HEA ending"... happily ever after. There's always something where the characters are sacrificing... one is sacrificing for the other and that's their sign that they're really in love with that person. So at some point the character has to make some kind of a personal sacrifice for the other character. And that's the sign. That's the sign that they're in love. Hey, Charlyne, will you tell the camera what you told me last night on the phone? What did I tell you last night? When we were on the phone, talking about the shoot, and then you said... I don't know. Remind me. You don't remember what we were talking about last night? - No, remind me. - We were talking about the shoot. And we were both getting excited and then Charlyne says, "You know, Nick, I'm starting to really like Michael." - Did I say that? - You did. I did say it. And I said, "Really?" And she goes, "Yeah." And I was like, "Like a boyfriend?" And she goes, "Yeah." And so we've made an agreement that we're gonna have to start filming everything so we don't miss that, because their relationship is definitely part of the movie now. Greetings, ladies. What are you gonna get? I think I'm gonna get the BLT, minus the B, plus the PC. Plus the PC? Pickles and cheese. - What? - That's not a BLT. It's BLT, minus the bacon, plus pickles and cheese. I think the whole fun of ordering the BL is saying, "I'll have a BLT," and the simplicity of it, - and they know what you want. - Well, mine is pretty simple. It just doesn't have the bacon. It has cheese and pickles. The sandwich is simple, but ordering it isn't simple, I mean. So just order your weird pickle cheese sandwich... Whatever. ...and say, "Can you bring me all the fixings?" What are you gonna get? I think I'm gonna get the Mexican beach salad. I want to say that to the waiter. Yeah, sounds very exotic. A Mexican beach salad, yeah. He'll look at me and think, "Oh, this guy gets around." Pretend I'm the waiter. Hi, can I take your order, please? - A Mexican beach salad. - You got it. Now. I really didn't like you when I first met you. Yeah, I know. How could you tell? Well, it was pretty obvious. Yeah? You were pretty hasty with your judgment. - Was I? - Little did you know that I would be someone that would be taking you out to lunch. And you kept avoiding me. And you kept walking away from me. You really didn't like me. Yes. Okay, I won't waste your time. Hey. Sorry that took so long. That didn't go as I planned. - You're a jerk. You're awful. - I didn't think it would take that long. I had to walk all the way around. I just thought it would be a quick thing. Sorry. Did you think I really left? Yeah. Funny, though, right? I'll pay for your lunch. You're bribing me? You're bribing my heart? Yeah. That's right. Oh. - Turn turn turn! - Wow. Argh! Whoa. Give it a throw. There it is. Oh. Hey, guys, you guys want to do anything like... anything like an arm around each other or a kiss or anything? This is fine. - Forget it then. - Thanks for the tip. Keep going, whatever you guys wanna do. They weren't into it. How did you guys meet? First time we didn't meet, actually. - First time we didn't meet. - He stood me up. - Really? Why? - I didn't. I was supposed to meet him at a restaurant. Go ahead and tell the story, or the lie. - You tell the lie. - Yeah, go for it. He never lets me forget this. We set out to meet. I had just moved to town. He said, "Do you know this place?" I said, "Yeah." I didn't know the place. I went to the wrong restaurant and I'm like, "That's not the restaurant I thought it was." And so I had to think quick on my feet. I just like called, "Uh, I had to take my nephew to the hospital. Sorry." So I lied. So I meet him a week later and I was like, "Oh, so how is your nephew doing?" He's like, "What do you mean?" - Busted. - I'm a really bad liar. Your second date, when you actually met, what happened there? I think we had sex. - Second date... yeah, I think, yeah. - Oh. - We're gay. That's what you do. - Yeah, no. - Really? - Not really. I don't know, maybe. Not all gay guys, but we do. I think it was something really charming - like a parking lot. - No, it wasn't. - Yeah, it was. - Not me. You guys met at a parking lot and you guys did it? No, not in the parking lot, no. We went back to his house and watched a movie, I think. Check this out... when I'm in his house... - I forgot how much dirt he has on me. ...you're looking at the shit people have on their mantel and stuff, and like, "Oh, books books, tchotchke, dead boyfriend, books, books, tchotchke." - He had his dead boyfriend cremated... - His ashes. - Oh, man. - So I almost flipped out. I was like, "That's a little creepy." It was really creepy. Do you guys want to get married? He proposed. I said no. People that I know are married aren't happy, most of them, the straight ones. And the gay ones aren't really happy either. It's like, what's the point? And for us it's not real. And you believe in marriage? Basically if a piece of paper says that he can be covered by my insurance... - that's a good thing. - Yeah. And we've been together 10 years. He doesn't have insurance. Have you guys ever had your heart broken? Um, a lot, actually. When you're gay and, like, you... I'm not really attracted to effeminate dudes, so when you're in high school, you're growing up, you're in college or whatever, you tend to fall for the straight guy. And that doesn't tend to work out. What about you? I didn't have my heart broken so much. You know, I had an ex in a box. It wasn't like he broke my heart... - Yeah. ...did anything to me, but, you know, he died on me, the bastard. It's like, you could have just said, "I don't like you anymore," and left. But no, he had to die. I can't with my left hand. Jab jab, boom! Good, come at me now. One, two, strike! The other night I had this dream. And I was onstage and a spotlight hit me, and when I looked down I was wearing this beautiful pink dress and my hair was all blonde and curly. I tried to do magic before my song, but it didn't work. It was like... it was like I'd lost my zing. Do you think it's 'cause you're with Mike and you're afraid you're becoming, like, all girlie and stuff? I don't know. I've never been one of the girls, you know? - Yeah. - I want to be his girlfriend, but I don't want to be "the girlfriend." I mean, no one ever remembers "the girlfriend." Sure. You want to be one of the dudes. I am one of the dudes. Well... How would you define a divorce? I think probably the best definition of divorce is the taking of two people who once proclaimed their love for each other and separating them as far as you can apart. Why is there so many divorces? Well, one thing is they're not getting to know each other enough before they decide to get married, and they get married too quick. That could be one thing. And another thing is, you know, we're not a very patient society. And so I think that maybe people get into relationships, and if they're not exactly the way they want them and there's no quick fix, they just give up. Do you think that this job has given you perspective on love or changed it at all? Oh, absolutely. I mean, the people I see in here... makes me realize that there are many many people more dysfunctional than I. That's nice. That's reassuring. When we go home at night, we've spent all day hearing clients, or people in his court, you know, say terrible things about each other and talk about the terrible ways they're treated each other. We both go home at night and think, "Whew, aren't we lucky? We don't have all those problems." And it really gives you a different perspective, I think. If you can hang in there and you really love 'em, it gets better all the time. Well, that, and the learning to overlook other people's shortcomings. We all have bad breath when we wake up in the morning. That's true. Accepting the fact that just because he says, "Pull this finger," and giggles... you can get along with that. Sally and I met in Houston in, oh, I guess, 1980. I was working as an associate judge down there in one of the family law courts in Houston, in Harris County, and she was practicing law in that court. And I thought that I would really like to go out with her, not to mess up our professional relationship. And I hinted to her boss that I would like to do so, and I think she put pressure on Sally to do that, to go out with me. - True? - Yes, she did. She threatened to fire me if I didn't go out with him. And I did not want to go out with him at all. I had another boyfriend at the time. I was not interested in dating, but... The other boyfriend never talked, though. Well, that is true. But in order to keep my job, yes, I did go out with him. And I had a fairly decent time. But what really convinced me that I wanted to go out with him again was a little later. Maybe a week or two later after our date it was a downpour in Houston. And I was at the courthouse. I was wearing a pair of Gucci loafers that I had just purchased the weekend before. And I spent more money on those Gucci loafers than I had ever spent in my life on a pair of shoes. I think they might have been $154. I was just devastated because I had parked several blocks away from the courthouse and I had to leave and it was pouring down rain. And as I left his court, I think I probably said something like, "Well, I sure don't want to ruin my new shoes, but I guess it's pouring down rain." And it was just a gullywasher. And I remember Don saying, "Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it." He goes, "You just wait right here." And he said, "I'll be right back." He went and got in his car, which was a Jeep, and he drove it up onto the plaza in front of the family law courts building in Houston and drove up under the porch. And so he opened the door and said, "Hop in." And I just walked dry, under the porch, got in his Jeep and we drove off. And he took me to my car. And I thought, "Now that's cool. Who would drive up on downtown Houston up onto the plaza of the family law courts building?" And I thought, "You know what? I think I'd better stick with him." Then I had to move to Amarillo because I lost my job over that. No, he did not. That is not true. We moved to Amarillo because we wanted to. True enough. You want me to make you dinner, Charlyne? Really? Yeah. Do you have any food? I know how to make a few things. What do you feel like? Um, I don't know. That's enough. Thank you. - We can go grocery shopping together. - Okay. - Want to go right now? - Okay. - Let's not make any plans. - Be spontaneous. - Yeah. - Real wild. Let's finish this real quick. I feel awful now. You didn't have to do that. - Do you want to go right now? - Yeah. - Are they gonna come? - Um... - It might be a little embarrassing. - We'll catch up. - You want to come? - Yeah. Sorry. It's okay. We'll be quick. - You guys want to catch up? - Just go. Okay. - What do you want to get? - I don't know. Maybe when we look around it will give us some ideas. Yeah. I don't know what to make you since you don't eat meat. We can make grilled cheese, quesadillas. This is all dog food. Not true... puppy. Puppy food, dog food and nylon stockings. Yeah, we're not gonna find our dinner in this aisle. I think I'm so hungry that I don't know what I feel like. - Same here. - Nothing sounds good enough. We've been here a half-hour now I'm not even hungry anymore. We should be eating by now. Let's look in the frozen food section. That might be our best bet. There... cheese. "Crisp Crust." Party pizza? We can order a pizza faster than that. I think we should order one. Hey, Charlyne. How's it going? How are you doing? Did you enjoy the pizza that we got? Should we kiss? Okay. Seems appropriate. - What are you laughing at? - Nothing. - Why are you laughing? - I'm just laughing. It's out of the way now. Now what should we do? Ooh, this is pretty fun, man. Yeah. Uh, I was wondering... if we always have to shoot me and Michael. We haven't had any privacy, you know, since the moment we've met. Everything's under a magnifying glass... me, you and all of them. Charlyne, I mean, we did agree to do this. We said we were gonna make a documentary and we were gonna film everything, and that's where the story's going now. Yeah. Let's say you and Mike went on a date and we decided not to film you and you guys had an amazing night and it was the first time you ever told each other you loved each other - and we didn't get it. - Don't worry, that's not gonna happen. Okay, but just like the principle of it... we need to. I feel awkward about it. I know Mike does. But I honestly don't know what else to do. We're making a movie. Yeah. If we're shooting everything, how come we're not shooting me, you know, sleeping? We'll shoot you sleeping. We'll do a night of it. Could be fun. - Serious? - Seriously. Awesome. - We got a deal, Chuck Yi. - My life just got a lot more interesting. I do two general readings and I'll tell you what's going on with you and kind of where you're headed. Okay. Okay, here we go. Okay, emotion, breakup... love, difficulty. Separation from someone you love. And to me this is romantic. Highs and lows, so good and bad. So it's almost like your life is a rollercoaster. Okay, are you seeing somebody right now? Yeah. Okay, all I need is just his first name. - Michael. - Michael, okay. Okay, Mike. Romantic... definitely romantic, absolutely. He's got a big heart. He's very sensitive. A nice guy. I get a really good energy for him. Well, he does love you, that's for sure, so I do get that. But he's kind of interested in you for money reasons, okay? 'Cause of all the money that comes up here. But I have no money. I keep getting financial, so business, financial, career. You have a key to him building his career, okay? But he is more successful than me. That's what I'm telling you. I'm saying, what does he think of you? He does love you, he does care for you, but there's still some business connection, or that he can succeed or you can succeed or he can help you. That's fine. I'm gonna just leave that out there. You think about it, okay? You know what? It's a good chemistry, it really is, between you and him, but it's not gonna work. I have to tell you that. Do you know why? Oh, that's a good question. Let me see why. It will end, but, okay, let me see. Okay. It's just you're each gonna go down your own roads. You will outgrow each other and have different philosophies and go down different roads eventually. You're meant to be together now and it's great. It works now, so good. Okay? Anything else? Do you think it was real? No. And I apologize for saying I wanted you to go to a con artist. I thought it was going to be a lot more fun and funny and I think seeing what a clear scam it was, it was just kind of dirty. It kind of made me really upset. It made me upset too... not about you and Mike, but just about humanity. Yeah. It's like you're sitting in this dump on the side of a highway lying to people. It's a load of crap. That's all it was. Ugh, man. I'm sorry, Chuck. Tomorrow's all yours. We can do whatever you want. Fireworks, Chuck! Fireworks! - Fireworks! - Fireworks! Fireworks! Get ready to run, Chuck. Okay. Go! Go, Chuck, go! Love in some cases is almost overrated. Totally. I think it gets too hung up on heat and passion and I think that "like" is really the most important thing for the longevity of a relationship. It's all about the "like." You have to really enjoy being around somebody. 'Cause there's people that can't stand each other that love each other on certain levels. How did you guys know that you loved each other? I just felt like I... I don't know if I can see myself in my life without Bill. I think that a relationship just has to evolve naturally too. - I don't think anything can be forced. - No. It just has to unfold. And I think too, like with your boyfriend, you know, there's things about him you really like, and probably if you didn't see him for a long time you would really miss it. And if you thought you were gonna lose him you might go, "Wait a minute, I don't think I want to live without this person." It's weird 'cause I think everyone's definition of love is so different. And, like, what you're saying... I'm like, "I don't think I'm in love," 'cause I do miss him and I miss certain things. Yeah, you know, you might be. It might just hit you one day. You might just wake up one day and go, "I don't know, I think I really love this guy." When you meet somebody and you just get that feeling like you'd known them forever and they're definitely a part of your life and you can't imagine life without them and you want to be with them every minute of every day and share everything with them, that's love. I remember asking my mom, "When do you know you're in love?" And she said, "It's when you can't stand to not be with that person." We just got engaged a few months ago. I mean, I've never felt this way about anybody and it's just like... it felt right and I think we're happy with it. Yeah, I really think it will work out, even though we're young. - I think we'll be good together. - We will. The world just looked better. I remember leaves looked brighter. I was driving back to college and I thought, "Oh my God, the world just looks wonderful." It just hit me when I talked to him. When I first saw him even, you know, I thought, "Wow." And then when I talked to him, I knew right away that that was the one. As far as, like, knowing it for sure, no one ever really knows anything about love, but you just gotta go with what feels right. When you've been married for a long time you have this history. Nobody can replace that. You know, you've got all these memories that you share together. It's worth really fighting for and working for. You can't replace that person. You can't. Well, it was 50 years ago, a little more than... when I first saw Bob at the airport. He parked his motorcycle right outside of my office window. He had these tight Levi's on. And I said, "Oh my God, I gotta meet this guy," because I was the only young, single female in this whole cargo area. I thought I was the star of the whole area. I'd take a cigarette out and 15 guys would run over to light it. I didn't know that he was there until he bought that Harley. And it was the purr of the Harley that got me. Yeah, I was there for six months before that with an old English bike... never saw her, never heard anything. So you guys out there, get a Harley. It's got a special sound to it that gets right to the heart of the matter. And then we courted on the motorcycle. And I lured him to a deserted beach on our first date. It was dark. It was quiet. The moon was out. The tide was coming in. You could hear the water lapping against the shore. It was really nice. And we sat on the beach and kissed for the first time. And it worked out to be a nice, happy ending. and it seems like it's only been a couple of years. It just goes by so fast. What do you got to say about that? You've covered everything. I wrote a song for Michael. One day I was hanging out with him and it wasn't even close to Christmas, but I was like, "Wow, I'm really happy hanging out with him. It's kind of like Christmas." And so I said he smells like Christmas in this song. But I don't really think he smells like Christmas. He just makes me happy. That's it. I'm so embarrassed right now. You guys are filming. I'm gonna record it and give it to him one day. # What's that smell I smell on you? # # Is it magic perfume? # # 'Cause I swearto God # # You smell just like Christmas # # To me # # Yeah, well, you # # Are my Christmas tree # # You mean everything to me # # You mean everything to me # # And you # # Are my shooting star # # If you shoot me in my heart # # Then I'll fall apart # # You lift me up when I'm down # # Ooh ooh ooh # # You pick me up off the ground # # Ahh ahh ahh # # And I don't know if it's such a good idea # # 'Cause you're way down now # # And I'm way up here # # Yeah, you have really long arms # # So why don't you use them to hold me tight? # This is great, Charlyne. I can show my family now what you look like. Or you can just come over and they can see your face. You should come to Toronto. I don't know if I can. I have to ask Nick. Don't look at me. We gotta finish shooting this movie, Chuck. - When you're done. - Yeah, when we're done. Yeah, that'd be cool. Yeah. You want to do that thing? Oh, you mean the thing. Mm-hmm. - Yeah? - Yeah. Ready? Go! Go get 'em! - Guys! - Too fast. - Don't fall. - Okay. Go as fast as you can, Jay. I'm gonna get them when they stop. Guys, guys, guys! Don't look back. - Guys! - Don't stop. Guys, guys. - Are they following? - Come on. - Are they following? - I don't know. So we're here with... Caitlyn Felder. ...and we're talking about love. Do you believe in true love, Caitlyn? Yes. And what do you think true love is? When they hug and kiss and be happy together. What's love? How do you spell it? L-O-V-E! Do you guys believe in true love? Yes! - Do you guys believe in true love? - Yes. Why? - Because I have a boyfriend. - No, you don't. - Do you guys say, "I love you"? - Yeah. What is true love? True love is when you love somebody so-o-o much, like us girls love Chris Brown. You don't know him. What's a perfect date? You need to take somebody to Applebee's and get them hot wings. - Are you picking your nose? - Eww! Give me that. Give me that. That's gross. Give me that. A dinner and a movie. But before that you'll watch the sunset on the beach. And the restaurant that you will go to is a French Riviera restaurant that only sells seafood. That's a good date. On the count of three you gotta act like a chicken. One, two, three! - Do you have a boyfriend? - No, ma'am. - Have you had a boyfriend? - No, ma'am. You like Tory? Yow! What's your ideal husband? Masculine and cute. - Do you want to get married? - No. - Why not? - Because. - It's gross? - Yes. Do you want to get married? - Say yes. - Say no. - To me? - No. Why don't you guys ask her about her boyfriend Mike? What? You had a boyfriend all this time and you didn't tell us? How cruel. Have you ever smooched at the movies? Not at the movies 'cause it's gross. Okay, where have you? Argh! Sit in the tickle chair, young lady. All right, so you're in love. I'm not in love. You're in love with Chris Brown. At least I admitted it. She got you on that one, Chuck. What would your advice be for someone who isn't sure if they're in love and will find love? Well, I would say take a minute and look at your life. Look at the person that you think likes you. Find out for yourself. All right. I think we're like an hour away now. Do you want me to drive the rest of the way? No, it's okay. I can drive. - Are you sure? - Mm-hmm. - You look tired. - No, I'm not tired. It's gonna be fun. I'm excited. I've never been to a drive-in before. What should we talk about? What do you mean? I never know what to say when the cameras are here. You don't have to say anything. I just feel more comfortable when they're not around. It's a given. I think everyone feels that way. Well, I mean, why are we being taped then? You knew from the beginning, like, everywhere I go the cameras go too. That's the way it's been since we met. I mean, I don't mean to make you uncomfortable, but that's just the situation right now. I know. I just, you know... it might have been more fun if we could just go together. Yeah, it would have been, but I don't really have a choice, at least right now. Mm-hmm. Try to have fun? Yeah. - What's with the globe? - Well, it's for my announcement. First of all, thank you guys for coming over. And the production has decided to pay for a trip to... France. Paris. We're going to Paris in four and a half weeks. We leave on a Thursday night. We come back on a Sunday night. So we have a whole weekend in Paris to do whatever we want. - So it's gonna be filmed? - Yeah, well, the whole crew's coming. - What are we doing? - Whatever you guys want. I think we could get, like, for the end of the documentary... that we can get a nice shot of you two guys in Paris just doing whatever you guys are gonna do. It's like you guys in this magical city of love. So why am I going? It's kind of just... Well, 'cause you guys are dating. So it's kind of me and Charlyne hanging out in Paris? - That's exactly what it is. - That's all... That's all it is. That's the only plan. I think it's a real great, natural end of, like, you guys just exactly where you guys are at in your relationship... nothing's forced... but just in Paris. - And that's the ending? - Yeah. I mean, what do you think people will get from that? What are you trying to show? L... If we're being sent there, it's different than ifjust the two of us went and you guys filmed it. You know, it seems like we're being sent there so that you can get some kind of footage. I don't think I thought about it that much. I just kind of thought it would be a nice location to end it... you guys kind of walking around in what I consider the most beautiful city in the world. I just... I don't understand what the point of us going there is. It's just kind of like a sweet, hopeful ending to the movie. Hoping that... Just that you have what you have in real life, that you're happy... that, like, you found love. But I didn't. A free trip? - I've never been to Paris. - Yeah, me neither. Me either. So let's go to Paris. Charlyne called saying to come by, so we'll see what it is. Well, we're here. I brought the crew. All right. Well, you got us out here, Chuck. What's up? Uh, so... Michael called me afterwards and we talked for a long time and he basically said that he didn't want to do this anymore. He didn't want to do what anymore? This? We already kind of shot so much. He didn't want to be with me anymore. What did he say? I don't know. He didn't give a reason? No, he gave reasons, but I just don't understand. I'm sorry to hear that, Charlyne. I mean it. Yeah, me too. You know, let's have fun. You want to order a pizza and hang out, make a night of it? Okay. Play video games? Let's play every video game and every instrument you have. You don't know how to play anything. I will just strum on anything and make an ass of myself. Okay. # See, it's real love # # Real love # # If I knew what I know now # # Back then. # I mainly write about love and I've been in a long-distance relationship for the last two years. My girlfriend lives in Taiwan, in Taipei. And she came here for three weeks and, I don't know, I guess I thought that she was gonna come here and stay here. I thought that up until she was gone. And I don't think I'm ever gonna see her again. If you knew that by her leaving... you loved her. If you knew it before she left, what would you have done differently? I would have asked her to stay. I would have, you know. I would have, you know, stopped thinking about all the details of it, you know. Why can't you just go after her if you still feel as passionate as you did then? I don't know, you know. Maybe because I'm still the same person that let her go then. And that song is about how I totally blew it, you know. Chuck. Hey, Chuck. Hey, Charlyne we've got work to do. We got hot chocolate for you. It's a nice enough room. All right, Chuck, check this out. Wow. It's gorgeous. Wow. Man, that is incredible. Unbelievable. Dude, I could live here. This is amazing. You should. I'd consider it... hang out in cafs all the time, drink cappuccinos, work on my novel. You're stupid. Are you feeling okay, Chuck? Eh... I mean, it's not ideal, but I figure we'll just go around, shoot some footage. We're in Paris. You know, it is gorgeous. Let's get to it, Chuck. What do you say? I would say "Shower up" and stuff, but I know you. Maybe throw some pants on. Trois. Interview that guy. Merci. Nick, can we just go to the hotel? Please just keep walking, Chuck, and we can cut this together. I don't feel good. I feel sick. Okay, I'm actually begging you just to keep going. No no, we have to go now. I'm cold. I'm tired. We've been doing this for 12 hours. It's not about cold and tired. I understand... I know what's kind of happening here. This is about your breakup. And you're freaking out. - You're stressed out. - No, this has nothing to do with Mike. - I'm not sad about Mike. - Okay, I know that you're sad about Mike, Charlyne. And I just need you to do this once and just really help me finish this. And we're both gonna be so happy. I promise you. I'm not sad about Mike. I'm not sad about anything. I'm just sad that he wants me to love him and I can't. I can't. I can't just lie and pretend I love him. All right. You want to go back to the hotel? Let's go back to the hotel. I think we're good. Hey, Chuck. What's going on? I just woke up. How did you sleep? Are you okay? Eh, so-so. So-so? Yeah, me too. Sorry if I was mean to you yesterday. I apologize. It's okay. It's not your fault. I'm just really overwhelmed right now. Yeah, I hear you. Everything okay? I don't know. I mean, I know I'm not in love right now, but that doesn't mean I'll never fall in love. I just know that I don't want to lose Michael. We should probably get going. All right, it's coming up. Yeah, this is it. Okay, are you ready? Watch out. It's slippery. Well, we're here. This is it. Okay. Good luck, amiga. Don't slip. Hey. Hey. Hi, Mike. - Hey. How is it going? - Hey. It's going okay. How are you doing? I'm pretty good. Are you busy? No, just hanging out. What are you doing? Just hanging out. Yeah. So you guys are in Brampton? Yeah. It's kind of cold. - Yeah. - Yeah. You want to come inside? It's warmer. Okay. Um, you guys should probably stay out here. You want us to stay out here? Okay. Cool. Okay. - You want to take off your shoes? - Yeah. How long are you gonna be in Brampton? Just today. Charlyne's mike's still on, Nick, if you want me to keep rolling. - I can hear both of them. - You want a warm drink? Um, I really missed you. Yeah. Me too. She just told Mike she missed him. Cut the tape, Jay. There I was, on the road again. I was holding tight to my motorcycle and Michael was holding tight to my muscles. This wasn't the end of our journey. We still had a long long way back to sunny California, just me and my man. And being the wild horse that I was, I couldn't help but drive really fast... so fast, in fact... That the cops began to chase us. I didn't know what to do, but I knew I couldn't have let them stop me. I'd come too far. I zigzagged, spelled my name in cursive, I went up on one wheel, then I went up on no wheels... nothing. Bullets whizzed by on both sides. I turned to Michael and said, "If you want to turn back now, baby, I'll understand. You've gotten yourself involved with a very dangerous broad." "No, I don't want to turn back now. I kind of like danger." Perfect. They fired off one last shot and this time it didn't miss. With fire behind me, I got up, bruised and battered from the horrible crash. The cops pointed their guns at me. I looked at Michael. He was hurt. He was hurt bad. The captain yelled through his megaphone, threatening to shoot, but I didn't care. And I told them that too. I told them, "I don't care! Life is too short to be wondering what if! Sometimes you just gotta live and see what happens, even if you get hurt. Sometimes you can only feel something if you take a risk. And I, Charlyne Yi, am taking that risk. Arghh-hh-hh!" And with that, the captain took off his sunglasses to reveal a single tear. I looked around and all the cops were crying. The captain looked at me and said, "Go on, get the hell out of here, you crazy kid." And so I threw Michael over my shoulder and walked off into the distance, never looking back. And, um, that's pretty much what happened. Right? Yeah, that's exactly what happened. # What's that smell I smell on you? # # Is it magic perfume? # # 'Cause I swearto God # # You smell just like Christmas # # To me # # Yeah, well, you # # Are my Christmas tree # # You mean everything to me # # You mean everything to me # # And you # # Are my shooting star # # If you shoot me in my heart # # Then I'll fall apart # # You lift me up when I'm down # # Ooh ooh ooh # # You pick me up off the ground # # Ahh ahh ahh # # And I don't know if it's such a good idea # # 'Cause you're way down now # # And I'm way up here # # Yeah, you have really long arms # # So why don't you use them to hold me tight? # Thank you very much. |
|