I was taking a
road trip with my brother Matt to
Austin, Texas. We were driving from Florida to see a college
musical that, for some reason, would star
Matthew Broderick for one night only.
We got there just in time to see the star of the show walk through the crowd towards the stage, so everyone could rub shoulders with him. I tapped him on the shoulder and said "Hey, man, I like your work." He kept moving and someone in the crowd asked me "But what's he *been* in?" I mentioned Biloxi Blues, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying!, and a few other stage productions, but I don't think I mentioned any movie-only things like, say, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
About halfway through the show, in the middle of a number (or maybe an aria) in Latin, the crowd burst to their feet and applauded wildly. I thought, incredulously, "Has the mob's sporting taste altered overnight?" (Apparently I quote Chess in my dreams.)
Nope. They were doing the celebrity thing. They had all jumped up to applaud a fellow up in the sound booth -- James Cameron, who was apparently the director or composer or something. And they were completely ignoring his work to applaud *him* in the middle of it!
Rex mundi, my ass.