Free By Some Miracle I Made It Out of There: A Memoir by Tom Sizemore Page B

president in Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man —my second time working with Mickey Rourke.
    The amazing thing is that I wasn’t being pigeonholed at all. I was being used for both drama and comedy and I could go from playing a romantic lead in Love Is Like That to playing a gay serial killer in Where Sleeping Dogs Lie, with Sharon Stone. But it’s not like I was getting everything I tried out for. I auditioned some six times for the part of Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs . It came down to Steve Buscemi or me, and they wanted me to go to Sundance in Colorado and workshop it before they’d even cast me. Obviously they cast Buscemi.
    What I remember above all from that period is that on everymovie, the director would pull me aside for dinner or a talk and tell me that I should be aware that I had an incredible ability, and that I should never lose sight of it because I could become one of the greatest actors who ever lived. But I never dwelled on those things; I didn’t know how to handle hearing something like that. So I’d just go on to the next project.

CHAPTER 3
MAKING IT
    O NE OF MY FIRST leading roles was in a movie called Passenger 57, but honestly, what was most memorable about that entire experience was that it introduced me to Elizabeth Hurley. I remember when I first saw her, four days into the movie, at the table read in Orlando, Florida: I’d never seen a girl that beautiful in my life. She had stunningly flawless ivory skin, a beautiful voice, and a charming throaty laugh.
    Wesley Snipes, whom I’d known for a long time and was one of the stars of the film, saw her at the same time. He looked at me and said, “You can have the black girl,” meaning the actress who was playing the other stewardess. I saw that he might be serious about hitting on Elizabeth so right then I walked across the room to where Elizabeth was at a table getting a brownie or something. I started to introduce myself to her and she said, “I know who you are.” I think I stammered out, “What?” And she said, “I’m in room 219 and you’re in room 119. It’s on the cast list.”
    I said something like “I have to apologize but I’m kind of a neophyte when it comes to talking to women as beautiful as you.” Andshe said, “A neophyte? I love you.” I laughed and said, “It’s that easy?” and she said, “I’m sorry, I meant that I love the fact that you know the word neophyte .” I laughed and asked her to dinner, explaining that I was a neophyte at that, too.
    Later that night, we went to an Italian restaurant in central Florida, then went back to her room and drank wine and listened to the Beatles; we just kind of cuddled and sang the songs to each other and hung out, and then I went home. I didn’t even try to kiss her. I felt like she was just too pretty to kiss. To me, her beauty blocked everything out. It was actually really unhealthy because I let her beauty keep me in a subordinate position. I literally couldn’t conceal my awe or worshipful feelings for her.
    The next day she came by my room and said, “Come on, we’re going to get some magazines and books.” We drove to a Borders, and she bought Madame Bovary and a bunch of other books; I was impressed. That night we went back to her hotel room, which had a little kitchenette, and she made roasted chicken with green beans and broke out two bottles of wine. I think I was in love by the time I had my second glass. Then she went into the bedroom and came out in lingerie that would make her later outfits in the Austin Powers movies seem tame, and she got on the coffee table and stripped. And it was a goddamn good routine, too. She knew what she was doing because in the middle of it she looked at me and asked, “Is it too bright for you?” And then she got down and dimmed the lights and got back up and started dancing to the song again.
    I was twenty-six, which means that I had a hard-on if someone attractive breathed heavily across the room. So I could