the inspiration behind one hour photo
by mark romanek

summer.02

i used to live a few blocks away from a gigantic all-night drugstore in los angeles. i'd find myself wandering over there at odd hours just to nose around and pick up whatever i happened to need. i find myself attracted to these big consumer emporiums, with their too-bright florescent lighting, long aisles of colorfully arrayed merchandise, and muzak. i'm not sure why.

there was a clerk there that fascinated me. he worked the one-hour-photo, electric shaver, nose-hair trimmer, alarm-clock counter. tellingly, i can't remember the man's name, which makes me feel guilty. (it might've been "stewart.") he wore the store's blue vest over unfashionable clothes. he was bout forty-five and his jet-black hair was carefully groomed in a 1940s style. he spoke with a distinct brooklyn accent, which was odd to hear in l.a. and made me curious why he had ended up in california.

the thing that really stood out about him was that he was very loud and effusive-overly so. but, not in an obnoxious way, more in a trying-too-hard-to-be-friendly way. he seemed to be "playing to the cheap seats" as they say. i think this endeared him to some people. they were his "regulars." (he was the kind of guy, i imagined, who took great pride in the fact that he had "regulars.") he called everyone by their first name and usually said, "seeya next time" when they left. in this way, he was the star of the all-night drugstore. (he reminded me of a character actor in an old gangster film who really over-acted, but the over-acting sort of made you feel bad for him because you realized how hard he was trying to be good in the role.)

most people came in to get a prescription filled or to buy some tampons or something. but, in "stewart's" mind, i'm sure he thought that some people came in just to see him.

anyway, it's not a very glamorous job, yet he did it with such nerdy energy and enthusiasm that there was something compelling to me about the whole scenario.

the point of telling you all of this is that this guy struck a chord. and years later, when it occurred to me that a story about a lonely one-hour photo clerk who became envious of some of his customers' happy-snapshot-lives might be an intriguing premise for a psychological drama, i realized that "stewart" and his unique manner planted the seed for that idea.

the film eventually got made and, amazingly enough, robin williams ended up playing the role of the photo clerk "seymour parrish" (or "sy, the photo guy"). it was fascinating to see such a charismatic actor disappear into such an everyday character. he doesn't particularly look like that much like "stewart," but he captured that subtle thing that i found so compelling about him and it drives the whole movie.

one day i went into the store and "stewart" was no longer there, and he wasn't there the next time or the time after that. then, the corporation that owned the chain of stores changed hands. the clerks' vests went from blue to red. i never saw him again.

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