Albert Finney, who just died at the age of 52, left behind plenty of fans in Alabama from when he filmed Tim Burton’s “Big Fish” in the Montgomery area a little more than 15 years ago. He was not only a great actor, a five-time Oscar nominee, but a classy one.
He told a hilarious and wonderfully self-effacing story about having lunch with Ewan McGregor at Sinclairs, the restaurant that used to be across from Montgomery’s independent theater, the Capri. As they went in and sat down, they walked past a table of 20-something women, and one screamed “Oh my God, is that Ewan McGregor?” Several came by the table to say hello, and none seemed to have any idea who he was. Once they’d eaten, they made their way out of the restaurant just as a group of women in their 60s and 70s were coming in. Finney said he was almost through the door when he heard one exclaim “Oh my God, that was Albert Finney.”
I (Rick Harmon) was covering the film for the local paper “The Montgomery Advertiser” and had a long interview with Finney. At one point I was writing so fast, my pen flew out of my hand, landing a couple feet away on the floor. I started to get up to pick it up, but before I could Finney had gotten up, grabbed it and handed it to me before sitting back down to finish his answer. There aren’t too many stars who would do that.
“Big Fish” had an incredible cast. One star came across as strange and very Hollywood, most – including McGregor – came off as surprisingly nice people, but Finney and Steve Buscemi were so amazingly kind that few of the people who met them will ever forget them.
Alabama Film Office Blog 