The Real Joan Cusack

It was an exciting time in Halifax. A big Hollywood movie production company was coming to town to shoot a blockbuster thriller. It meant big things for the city and a chance for people to possibly run into big stars like George Clooney or Will Smith. For one Halifax citizen, this movie changed her life.

Joan Cusack was a stay at home mom with three children. The children were all under the age of seven so Joan was a very busy woman throughout the day. Between school, daycare, and extra curricular activities, Joan hardly had time to stop, breath and take a moment for herself. Once the weekends came, it was Joan’s time to do what she wanted to do. Her husband would take the kids for the day allowing Joan to hit the town and treat herself.

This particular Saturday, Joan was in downtown Halifax spending too much money at stores that were obviously overpriced. But this was Joan’s day, which meant anything goes. While in the change room at Biscuit trying on a ridiculously glamourous evening gown, Joan’s cell phone started ringing. When she looked at the caller ID she was hardly shocked. It was her husband.

She assumed one of the kids was crying or the older one beat up the middle child so she decided to let him deal with it for now, and go about her shopping. After leaving the store, Joan decided to call her husband back and talk him through whatever crisis he was overreacting about. He answered the phone and with no screaming children in the background, Joan knew that there was no tragedy at home. Joan had gotten a phone call from a strange man, which usually would not go over well with her hubby, but the subject matter intrigued him.

“I’m looking for Joan Cusack, we need her down at Pier 21 right away. It’s very important that she get down here as soon as possible,” the strange man told her husband. Pier 21? Joan had no idea who that could have been or why they wanted her down at Pier 21 right away. She decided that since this was her day to do what she wanted, she would take a trip down to Pier 21 to see what was going on. It’s a public place so she was sure she would be fine. He husband gave her the “Be safe,” speech and she made her way to the pier.

As she approached the area, she noticed that there was a lot of commotion. Trailers lined the streets and there were people wearing headsets buzzing around. She approached a few people to tell them her name and that she was called to come down to Pier 21 but each person sent her to see someone else. She finally found a security guard who she thought might lead her in the right direction. She told the security guard her name and he immediately grabbed her by the arm and rushed her into the middle of all the madness. He ushered her into a trailer and before she had a chance to say she didn’t know what was happening, he was gone and she was once again all alone and confused.

A woman stuck her head in the trailer while Joan was exploring the trailer and called out her name. When Joan responded, the woman simply said, “Just seeing if you were here,” and shut the door again. Joan was starting to get freaked out. People knew her and were expecting her, yet she was completely oblivious as to what was going on. She thought about leaving without talking to another person, but something about the whole situation was so enticing that she decided to explore some more.

The trailer was filled with food, make-up, and hair products. Before she was able to explore too much, the woman who stuck her head in before appeared again and came in the trailer. This time there was a man with her. This startled Joan, but only for an instant, because she noticed their faces were just as surprised to see her as she was to see them. The woman said in a confused tone, “Joan Cusack?” Joan replied with a yes, because that was her name but was equally confused. The man started to laugh, which at first made Joan extremely nervous and regret her decision to be adventurous.

The man must have recognized her nervousness because he immediately went from a laugh to a chuckle and started to explain who he was. “My name is Oliver Stone, I’m the director of the movie being shot here.” Joan was still confused because although that explained who he was, it still did not explain why Joan was in the trailer. Mr. Stone went on to explain the movies premise and the stars that were in the movie, one being Joan Cusack, famous actress and sister of fellow actor John Cusack. “My assistant definitely made a mistake,” Mr. Stone explained. “I asked him to look up Joan Cusack’s phone number and call her down to the set. I meant for him to look it up in my contact book, not the phone book. He obviously did not follow my direction properly, or want to keep his job.”

What a relief! Joan thought for sure that this was going to be her demise and she would be stuck in this trailer and driven over the border to the USA, never to be seen again. Instead she met a famous director, famous actors, and starred as a walk on in her first major motion picture. Mr. Stone invited Joan to stay on the set, which led to her being in the background of several scenes that day. Everyone was extremely nice and Joan even got to meet the woman who shares her name. Joan’s treat day turned into one of the most memorable days of her life.

She has since kept in touch with the famous Joan Cusack and is a hit at parties when she tells her story of her rise to stardom. This experience may not have made her a famous movie star or led to appearances on The Tonight Show or The View, but she was a hit with her friends and her family. Her kids no longer call her Mommy, she is now Mommy the movie star, which she is perfectly fine with.