Feldman glad he could 're-bond' with Haim in time

Actor/musician Corey Feldman arrived Thursday at Chicago's Lake Street Screening Room with a small entourage of friends, publicists and a beefy bodyguard who could have bench-pressed my face into the carpet.

“We ate at Rosebud,” he said, “and loved it.”

I complimented him on choosing a restaurant with such strong movie connections. He shot me a blank expression.

“Rosebud, like in ‘Citizen Kane'?” I offered.

“You know, I've never seen ‘Citizen Kane,' ” Feldman confessed.

Steve Kraus, the projectionist, gave the actor a quick overview of the significance of “Rosebud” from the classic Orson Welles movie.

“Plus,” I said, “Roger Ebert has ‘ROSEBUD' on his license plate, except he spells it ‘ROZEBUD,' probably because someone else already had the original word.”

“I didn't know that!” Feldman said.

The 39-year-old performer (he hits the big 4-0 on July 14) came to Chicago to introduce a mini-retrospective of his movies at both the Hollywood Palms Cinema in Naperville and at Hollywood Boulevard Cinema in Woodridge.

“Stand By Me,” “License to Drive,” “The Goonies” and “The Lost Boys” are being shown at both venues. (Go to atriptothemovies.com for schedules.)

I asked Feldman for the most important thing he learned from his late best friend, actor Corey Haim (star of “Lucas,” shot in Arlington Heights). Haim died March 10 at 38.

“Two things,” Feldman said. “How to laugh. Most people probably don't know this, but he was probably the funniest person I ever met, or ever will meet. His sense of humor was amazing. We would literally have ourselves on the floor, laughing hysterically, nonstop.

“The other thing he taught me is forgiveness. A lot of it had to do with his personal problems and the demise of our TV show and all the things that were the result of his addiction. I had to let him go with love. I had to take a walk. Separate ourselves. I didn't speak to him for a year.”

Feldman said Haim finally contacted him and told him that he needed his friend back. His mother was dying of leukemia.

“I put our personal problems aside, and thank God I did, because in the end, he's no longer with us. It gave us about six months to rekindle, re-bond and repair the damage of the friendship.

“I'm happy to say that in the end, he was clean and sober. We got more heart-to-heart, honest, brother time than we had had in years and years and years.”

I asked Feldman to tell me the single question he wishes he would never have to answer again.

He smiled.

“‘Are you making a sequel to ‘Goonies'?” he replied. “And the answer is still the same: I don't think so.

“It's one of those questions that you can't answer point-blank, because as soon as I say, ‘No, definitely not, it's never going to happen,' that's when they'll do it.

“On the other hand, I can't say yes. So it's always got to be a maybe.”