Eric the Passionless Midget

Last week Howard negotiated a small part for Eric the Midget on the NBC show “American Dreams” with producer Jonathan Prince. Today both Eric and Jonathan called in because Jonathan had Eric’s script ready and Howard wanted to do a read through with Eric on the air. Howard said that Eric was very lucky because he’s acting with Daphne Zuniga, who, despite being 42, is still smoking hot. Howard was looking at recent pictures of her and said that no time machine was necessary for him to want to hook up with her. Before they even started going through the lines Howard noticed how Eric seemed very blas?bout the whole thing. Howard had just gotten him a part on a major TV show, at Eric’s request, but Eric didn’t seem excited about it at all. Prince said that after talking to Eric on the air last week they decided to make his character not be excited about anything either. So he wrote him a dramatic scene where Eric has to go on an airplane and complains about there being no wheelchair access in 1966. Howard said it’s a dramatic scene. Reading from the script, Howard played Daphne’s part as well as the part of Eric’s character’s mother. Howard read the first line, “We’re going to Chicago we have family there?” After a long pause, Howard told Eric that was his cue. Eric said he didn’t realize it. Prince said that that scared him. Eric read his line, then Howard read another and then Eric delivered a line about how he and his brother were supposed to go to Cubs game out there. Howard said that Eric put no excitement into that line. He almost sounded angry about it. Prince said that he hopes Eric can speed up his delivery when they actually scene and put more energy into it. Prince joked that the next time Howard finds someone this excited to be on national television, he should be sure to give him a call.