25 Random Things About Me

This is a popular game on Facebook these days. But I’m posting on my site, because that’s the point of having your own site, right?

Take a look, and feel free to post your own list.

I have two older brothers. I have been told (not by my parents) that I was an attempt to have a girl, to be named Barbara.
My dad gave all of his kids’ multisyllabic names as a device to help us learn the alphabet.
My brother and I aren’t the first filmmakers in the Hudlin family. Our great-great granduncle, Richard Hudlin, made films at the turn of the century, during the film great film boom. We didn’t know about him until recently. Don’t know if any of his movies survive.
My kindergarten was later turned into the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Skating Rink in 1968. That name was later reduced to Skate King by the 80’s.
My first “favorite record” was LOUIE LOUIE by the Kingsmen. Apparently I would bounce up and down in my diaper, which amused by older brothers to no end. Two of the first 45s I bought were SCORPIO by Dennis Coffey, and YOU WANT IT, YOU GOT IT by the Detroit Emeralds. I can’t believe I can’t remember the third one I bought at the same time as the other two. First album was STAND by Sly and the Family Stone. The title song is still my favorite anthem. Play it at my funeral.
As a kid, I had a gold bicycle with purple banana seat. I also had a ten speed bike with no brakes. I’d go down steep hills into dead ends, swerve into heavy traffic, even got hit by a car once. God must love me because I should be dead.
As a kid, my best friends were Sanfus and Brian. Brian didn’t live across the street, but his grandma did, and he was over there all the time, usually mopping the floors with Pine-Sol. His grandma dipped snuff, and while we played “Laugh In” on the front porch, she would pop out the front door periodically and spit.
BTW, “Laugh In”, was our made up game where one person stood up and told jokes until someone else laughed, at which time they had to stand up and tell jokes until they got someone to replace them. A brutal training ground for comedy.
I’ve never gotten high or drunk, or had a perm, jheri-curl or a six-week blow out. Also, no tattoos, brands or piercings.
I went to a Catholic high school. Years later, when they found dangerous amounts of asbestos in the building, the only part of the state that could pay to remove it was the corrections department. So now my old high school is now a juvenile prison.
I never visited Harvard before arriving there for classes. I showed up alone with a bunch of heavy ass boxes. Going to visit the campus beforehand seemed like a waste of money. It didn’t matter what it looked like – if I got in, I was going, and that was that. I got into every school I applied to, but my brother, a Yalie, said I should go to Harvard. So I went.
On my third day there, there’s a mixer where all the freshmen meet the University president. Everyone there had on the same outfit – blue blazer, khaki pants, white shirt, red tie.
Except me. I had on a white jacket with collar popped and sleeves pushed up, and a loose knit tie…remember, this is the 80s GQ era.

I surveyed the room, and decided no one there knew how to dress but me.
I clearly remember my senior year when I realized I didn’t have what it took to be a filmmaker. I was checking out the camera from the equipment room and had to be reminded to make sure I had the light meter. The fact that I almost left without a key piece of equipment made me realize I was a complete incompetent. It was a moment of clarity, and as I carried the heavy equipment back to my dorm room, I felt terrible about wasting my parent’s money on a degree I didn’t deserve.
Since I couldn’t think anything better to do, I finished by senior thesis film, HOUSE PARTY. It worked out after all.
I’m grateful to have dated a model when I was still broke. Not dating a hot chick until you’re famous and/or rich leads to all kinds of anger and insecurity.
When I was a kid, my father warned me against using anti-perspirant every day. He said every once and a while it’s good just to let the body sweat it out. I ignored that nasty sounding piece of advice until I got ill from the aluminum or whatever it is in anti-perspirant and switched to deodorant that doesn’t have the same pore-plugging effect.
I’d gladly live twice as long. In good health, of course. I want to see how things work out. I also have a lot of stuff on my “to do” list. Too many books to read, movies to watch, places to visit and skills to acquire. I want to learn how to play piano and guitar, master another language or two, get a tennis game, score a goal in hockey.
My dad always wanted to go to the Rose Bowl Parade. I was too self-absorbed to invite him out and do it. I regret that all the time. I also have his Christmas present that I never got to give him because he passed away before the holiday. So now I just give people gifts when I feel like it. Don’t wait to share love.
Ex-girlfriends have given me some great advice. One said “The sooner you admit who you really are, the sooner you’ll get where you want to go”. Another said: “Maybe the problem isn’t that you don’t have enough control. Maybe the problem is you’ve got too much control”.
GREAT WHITE HYPE wasn’t a hit movie, but I got a lot out of it. My doctor, one of my best friends, my wife…sometimes good things can come from an unsuccessful product or venture.
I like living in a time that once looked like “the future” – cell phones, giant flat screen TVs, black president. Like most black people, I have no nostalgia about any other period of history. Sure, I’d like to meet Jesus and Thurgood Marshall and Jimi Hendrix…then step back into my time machine and go home.
Still pissed that we don’t have flying cars, though. That would be HOT.
I have very good taste in friends. I have maintained relationships from every period of my life, from childhood through college and living on both coasts. A few of them have self-destructed or done me wrong, but most of them are loyal, smart and interesting people to be around.
One of the nicest things about working at BET was making pop entertainment for three years without worrying about a “crossover audience”. That was a real luxury.
People always mistake kindness for weakness. Maybe I would go further in life being more ruthless. But I’ve always done well, and I think one of the reasons is because of who I am as a person.
I think the “nice guy/jerk” dynamic is the same in business as it is in relationships. When I was young, I wondered while jerks got the girls. Later I realize that jerks were assertive, and nice guys didn’t speak up. Same in business. You don’t have to be jerk to have your business tight.
Hollywood preys on the insecure. You can have a million dollars and feel broke. The only people who truly win this game by its own rules are psychopaths, and there are plenty of them. If you are not one of them, then don’t seek their approval. They are f*cking crazy.
When people call me “Mr. Hudlin”, I don’t think “that’s my dad”. No, I am Mr. Hudlin. I am a grown ass man and I’ve earned it.
I am in constant awe of my children.

Reginald Hudlin

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