I SAW HIM at an office party. He was huddled in a circle with a few other professionals in white shirts, hunched over with one elbow on his knee. I recognized him immediately. I said, “Hey, you’re Matthew Broderick.” He looked up with a concerned face. As if to acknowledge he had been discovered again. The party was taking place in what looked like a stock office building set. Like Allie McBeal crossed with The Drew Carey Show with Third Rock tossed in.

I was worried I had disturbed Mr. Broderick. Wasn’t he always accosted by fans, some of them stalkers, who referred to his wife by her first names, as if they knew her? Wasn’t he tired of posing for photos while teenagers recited back his line, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it”? But after sizing me up, he determined I was harmless. He came over and extended his hand. When I shook it, I noticed it was small. Not abnormally small, but on the small side. Who knew that the man had such tiny hands? “You’ve got one minute,” he said. “Now, tell me what your favorite Broderick film is.”

This was a tough one. I knew most people would reach for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Maybe some would opt for Godzilla or Inspector Gadget. Yet I was a Broderick connoisseur. I wanted to impress him. I said, “It’s a tough call between WarGames and Cable Guy. Election gets honorable mention. He nodded. “Good choices,” he said. “But I’m going to with Project X.”

He stepped back when he heard this, as if it was the first time he was hearing of the movie. “Oh, I remember making that film,” Broderick said. “But god that was ages ago!” “With Helen Hunt,” I remarked. “You were both young then. Both so effervescently young. I miss young Matthew and young Helen.” “Yeah,” said Broderick. “But tell me,” I went on. “Those monkeys that you liberated at the end of the movie. Were they really freed?” Broderick looked at me, as if he was about to divulge a secret. But then he said, “I don’t remember. Your minute is up.”

I became aware then that we were being filmed. I looked up and could see the camera suspended, I could see the faces of the audience. But where were we? When I walked out to the lip of the stage and looked down, I could see the floor was made of glass. Far below the glass, I could see the rooftops of Paris. Where was this place? I could see the Eiffel Tower. The Arc de Triomphe. Like child’s toys, with miniature cars honking their way down the avenues. We were hovering above the sky of Paris.