Going Hollywood

BY LINDA SMITH HANCHARICK
WEST MILFORD — It takes a lot to intimidate James Warden. This 35-year veteran of CBS and award-winning technical director has been in the control room and on location for countless television events, including World Series games and Super Bowls. He was in the control room to cover the death of Princess Diana, when the Challenger disaster occurred and on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001 during the morning news broadcast.
Last February, Warden, 60, got a call to come to one of the big control rooms; a movie company was there scouting a location and needed advice.
“In the control room, there are lots of movie people. This woman walks up to me and starts asking me questions,” Warden said. “I realized it was Jodie Foster. I'm like ‘Wow, this is Jodie Foster!’ And I'm not easily starstruck.”
She was directing a movie entitled “Money Monster,” a thriller set, in part, in a television studio where an irate gunman takes over the studio while they are filming a financial advice show. George Clooney plays the host and Julia Roberts plays the producer of the show.

Foster and company came back six more times over the next month, still scouting, getting TV technical advice from Warden. Then she surprised him. They had hired an actor for the part of the technical director for the movie but Foster wanted Warden to screen test for the role. She knew it would be difficult for an actor to pick up on the technical work, he said.
“I definitely wanted to do it,” said Warden. “I’ve been very blessed with my career at CBS. Earlier, I had wanted to be in front of the camera but I always ended up behind it."
He got some “sides” to memorize and did the screen test. Shortly after he got a call, “What size suit do you wear?”
He was now in the cast.
One day they were working in the control room when the door opens and this beautiful woman walks in, he recalled.
“‘Where's my Jim?’ she said. It was Julia Roberts! Her first words to me were ‘I'm Julia’,” said Warden.
As if he didn’t know.
She asked him technical questions - and some good ones, he admits. He helped her with the lingo and how a television control room is run, and she made him comfortable with acting.
One of the things she asked was if he had ever been on air in crisis. Yes, he had, on Sept. 11, 2001. “They were enthralled,” he said as he described it to them.
So here he was now sitting between Jodie Foster and Julia Roberts in his own control room.
“They're both huge stars. I was just waiting for the ego to kick in. But it never did. They were lovely,” he said.
But he was a little intimidated.
“The first day, I felt intimidated. I’ve been doing Super Bowls, World Series games, the NBA, the Masters. I was never intimidated,” he said. “I have to say I was intimidated sitting next to Julia Roberts with Jodie Foster’s hand on my shoulder.”
If Warden thought shooting a movie and working in television were similar, he quickly learned they weren't.
He works on the John Oliver show where they shoot an hour show in just about an hour. That’s not how it goes in movies. They can take hours just to set up a shot.
“I definitely have respect for what they do,” Warden said. “Movie making is tedious.”
After working for several weeks, 15 hours a day, most of the work was done for Warden. He did get called to do some scenes earlier this year. He ended up being in three quarters of the movie, in various ways, he said.
In addition to his long career at CBS, where he is an Emmy Award-winning technical director, Warden, a former West Milford councilman, also is the president and CEO of Robovision, a robotic camera company that has pioneered remote control cameras for sporting and political events. And he won a Peabody Award in 2015 for his work on the John Oliver Show. He is also involved in the “Drive for Autism” event, founded by his friend and colleague, the late Steve Byrnes. Warden received the Steve Byrnes Going the Distance Award for his involvement.
Now, Warden is thinking about taking acting lessons. He’s already learned a lot from some of the best in the business.
He admits he learned from the best in his television career too, and he looks back fondly on what he's accomplished over the last 35 plus years.
All that said, 2015 was the best year yet for him professionally.
“I actually had a great career,” Warden said. “And in the 35th year, this happens. It was a blast.”
Editor's note: "Money Monster" opens next Friday, May 13, in the United States. Warden will be walking his first red carpet. And he'll be wearing Armani.
For more photos, go to westmilfordmessenger.com.