It was 2013, I was waiting to interview Jason Reitman at the Toronto International Film Festival about his new movie at the time, Labor Day. I remember the journalist who was interviewing Reitman before me, because, my gosh, he was such a chipper man. At this point in the film festival, I was glum and felt beaten down by a lack of sleep and an overbooked schedule. But then there’s this guy who looked like pure joy. While waiting, I was talking in the hallway with Jason Reitman’s publicist, Bebe Lerner.
“Who’s that guy?” I asked.
“That’s Joe Williams from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,” she answered.
All of a sudden I started getting really nervous – not because of my impending interview with Rietman – but because I was about to meet the Joe Williams. Having spent a substantial part of my life in St. Louis, I read a lot of Joe Williams, who had been with the Post-Dispatch since 1997. More than once I wondered how in the world someone could be so lucky to have his job. Williams was a native St. Louisan and a fellow Mizzou-grad who wrote about movies for the only newspaper I cared about at the time. In these early days of the Internet, I watched Roger Ebert on television, but I read Joe Williams. He was our critic.
To be honest, I think I kind of scared Joe as I fawned over him that day in a, “Who is this strange human who keeps telling me how great I am,” kind of way. He couldn’t have been a nicer guy — the enthusiasm dripped off of him — and we had kept in touch over the last couple of years (at least as much as someone who lives in New York and someone who lives in St. Louis can do), with a few emails here and a Twitter direct message there. He was always the consummate professional and just a great guy. Over this past weekend I even thought to myself that I should send Joe a note, to ask if I’d see him in Toronto this year.
So it was devastating to wake up this morning and learn that Joe had been killed in a one-car accident, on his way to see a movie of course. I am legitimately heartbroken.
Back in 2012, before I had met Joe, Indiewire ran a piece that was a collection of recommendations of “film writers we felt deserved wider recognition.” For my selection, I picked Joe Williams. I still feel that way. He represented everything this job should be. While the rest of us maybe spend a bit too much time complaining – myself included – there’d be Joe with that big smile on his face. He was seeing movies! He truly understood we have the best job in the world. I feel truly grateful to have known him.
Mike Ryan has written for The Huffington Post, Wired, Vanity Fair and New York magazine. He is senior entertainment writer at Uproxx. You can contact him directly on Twitter.
