Confession

I am the inspiration for Arnie’s character in the Hollywood fictional movie, “True Lies”.

In case you don’t remember, this is the wildly dramatic spy thriller where the main character kept his secret agent role and international shoot-em-ups secret from family and friends for several decades before his wife stumbled onto the truth.

Anita and I lived the story that inspired this Hollywood creation.

(In actual fact, this weekend I am “deep under cover” and if I told you where and what I was doing, well, you know what I’d have to do to you.)

And while I’m fessing up about the movie, I will reveal that Jamie originally turned down the part of the wife in this movie because, when she met us in person (see picture above), she feared her looks, intelligence and spunk just couldn’t measure up to the real Mrs Skinner.

But I will say that Jamie made very admirable efforts.

Anita and I both found the movie to be “most entertaining” and we are pleased that our lives have provided some small inspiration for this sometimes preposterous and humorous work.

** Picture Notes**

This photograph was taken with us and our now good friends, Arnie and Jamie, just before the “let’s get acquainted” dinner meeting we had with them before they started this film.

It’s somewhat difficult to tell now but, in this image, Richard M. Nixon was first Photoshop’d in to replace Anita and myself for security reasons before it was released to the Hollywood studio.

They, in turn, replaced Dickie with a picture of John Cameron, the film’s director.

Personally, I think the second editing was botched – note the “high right” lighting on Cam’s face versus the low source of light on Arnie’s cheek.

And just to make matters worse, the studio claims ownership of this image even though it was taken by one of my long-time associates using my personal camera. (So, should this image be removed, you’ll at least have some idea of the parties involved. [Sheesh!])