EXCURSION
"If you're a fan of the movie The Perfect Storm and you want to see
where these people live, go 25 minutes from
Boston to Gloucester
and to The Crow's Nest. You want to go there for some chowder or a
sandwich and to have a drink, play a little pool, smell the fish
off the fishermen in there. But you also want to go to Halibut
Point, an amazing little seafood restaurant, where you're going to
get the best fish chowder, the best sandwiches. There is some
serious history in
Gloucester. It's amazing to go to the City Hall,
where you'll see the lists of Gloucester - all the names, the
memorials for the fishermen. I mean, there are probably 10,000
names on that wall of all the fishermen who have died at sea since
the 1890s."
ONE SEASICK DAY IN GLOUCESTER
"I went on a whale watch when I was doing
The Perfect Storm.
No, George [Clooney] didn't go. It was all fine and dandy until I
started getting sick. We went out in a Boston Whaler, these big
kind of trucks that are also flotation devices. So you kind of go
out right into the water, which is scary at first. Then, once you
start getting out there, you know, those floats aren't very stable,
so you get a little seasick. I was with long-liners and sword
fishermen. I got sick. We were at The Crow's Nest, which is the bar
in the movie, and we were having a bunch of beers and some fish
chowder, then went out there, and I just couldn't handle it. Well,
they cracked up and told everybody that I was a wimp, and they
didn't put it that nicely. They called me a movie star, a Hollywood
chump, and all that stuff. That's the last thing I ever want to be,
a fisherman, but I really admire those guys. They do some serious
work. You know, we never think about it when we're eating a piece
of fish, but I think about it every time I sit down at a table. I
think about, you know, some guy had to actually go out there and
risk his life."