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Spellbound director Jeff Blitz has a knack for quirky humor.

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a residency at a New York hospital,
where she met Blitz's father, a research
psychologist.
Blitz is the middle child, the second
of three boys; he says he has stam-
mered since he began talking as a baby.
"I would know exactly what I wanted
to say, but I would just shut down; I
couldn't force any sound out at all: he
says of his particular kind of stutter.
"I learned to 'slide' into sentences
from different angles, to flip a phrase
or to substitute another word for the
one that was blocked. I had to develop
a tremendous vocabulary, because I
needed an arsenal of words I could
choose from at a moment's notice.
"So I was never casual in my rela-
tionship with words; I was scared of
them, and in awe."
For much of his childhood, he says,
he was "pissed off" about his disability,
and "being so publicly unable to do
something that everyone else could do."
At first, he bombed miserably in
the debate club, going entire rounds
without saying a word. But it turned
out that the rapid-fire style of speak-
ing eventually tricked his brain into
cooperating. "It was like affecting an
accent, which works for some stutter-
ers, he says.
After graduating from USC's film
school, Blitz sought out projects that
would revolve in some way around
words. His Oscar-nominated 2002
movie, Spellbound, spotlighted the
national spelling bee and is one of the
top-grossing documentaries of all time.

Blitz's verbal adventures helped
inspire Rocket Science, but he insists
that only some of the film's emotions
— not the circumstances — are auto-
biographical.
Actor Thompson is not a stutterer,
so to help him convey the pain of the
disability, Blitz had him memorize a
second script, consisting of the words
Hal is unable to say.
"Just being around Jeff and talking
to him about his experience was most
helpful," Thompson said.
Before shooting a scene in which
Hal affects a Korean accent, for
example, Blitz described one of his
own unsuccessful attempts to speak
fluently. As a child, he said, he once
wore a headset that sent blaring tones
into his ears whenever he talked. "The
theory was that you wouldn't stutter if
you couldn't hear yourself speak, but
the thing just looked embarrassing
and gave me headaches:' Blitz says.
Even today, the filmmaker goes
through periods of struggling to speak
fluently. "As a stutterer, you're always
cautious because you know that things
can fall apart at any minute," he says.
"Someone once said that stutterers
tend to be skinny, because you have to
exude so much brain power just to get
through the day."

Dine Like a President at Il Posto Ristorante where
Executive Chef Matteo Giuffrida can cook our meal tableside!

Now featuring the new
TABLE D' HOTE LUNCH --, For only $18

Example Menu for the Day

Begin with a choice of
Soup of the Day Or Spring Italian Salad

Choice ofi
Pennette alle Zucchine e gamberi

Penne pasta, zucchini and tiger shrimp sauté in Chardonnay wine with tomatoes

Petto di Polo alla Fiorentina

Rocket Science is scheduled to

open Friday, Aug. 24, at the Main
Art Theatre. (248) 263-2111.

Breast of chicken stuffed with spinach and topped with mushroom sauce

Filetto Di Cernia Griglieto in Salsa Capperi

Grouper Filets in a caper and pinot grigio sauce

248.827.8070

piofsouthfield.com

All the Entrées are served with fresh vegetables and potatoes

August 23 • 2007

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