Member-only story

Keepin’ It Real With Peyton (List)

“It’s all about kids and dogs”

William Mersey
3 min readJul 9, 2022
courtesy of AD (Architectural Design magazine)

Picture the scene. I’m one of 100 movie extras on set for the second day of a production which stars a young female actor named Peyton List. I’m 72 years of age and not particularly in touch with millennial culture. In fact, if I look at a guest list of celebrities on any given late-night interview show, I probably won’t know who the guest is. Predictably, I didn’t know anything about Payton before hiring on as an extra for her latest project.

Placed on a railing that overlooks the building’s lobby below, I am very near Peyton as she ascends a staircase over and over again for the shot. And way down below in the lobby, I spy a little girl vogueing and waving at all the people above — and particularly miming Payton — clearly in awe of the queen of cinema (in her young mind).

The little girl’s mother is obviously the building security guard who has been seated at a desk in the lobby all night. I’d already seen her sleeping a few hours before. Bored beyond comprehension as I often find myself with the slow pace of movie-making, I find this tyke too cute for words. And as Peyton waits to climb the stairs for the 10th time, I call down to her “I think you have a fan in the lobby.”

To my surprise, Peyton does not ignore me and looks over to where my gaze is…

--

--

William Mersey
William Mersey

Written by William Mersey

"The spry old guy on a bike." New York Greenwich Village ex-hippy. Daily Beast, NY Daily News, Daily Mail, Independent contributor. I've been around the block.

Responses (1)