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PSILY Premiere
Dec. 10th, 2007 12:53 amHere's a report. Photos are crappy due to traffic and crowds. But overall it was a very fun evening. I have 9 bad pics on my site. Here's hoping all those press caught some good ones. http://oanimation.jaded-paradise.net/categories.php?cat_id=55
Happy Meal and I got there at a ridiculously early time. It sounded like the Butler fans were going to be there in good number but ends up none of them showed up until a couple hours after us. About 10:30ish am. So we hung out in the courtyard till then. Watched the guys put up the PSILY posters. Watched films canisters come in, probably The Film. And watched Dolby sound guys come into the theater as well. Once some of the Butler fans showed they started to grab spots across the street. I went over to grab a spot. The barricades weren’t up yet, so we had no clue if they would allow any fans to watch from the sides. About noon the barricades went up and Happy Meal found out that no, the fans had to watch from across the street. Which is the norm for Grauman’s. I was just hoping they would close down the Blvd to traffic. Which they unfortunately did not. Around one Lightdependent and P showed up and we just hung out and waited. It was freezing cold on that side of the street because it got absolutely no sun. After they finished setting everything up across the street and the sun started to set, I tested out my camera. The lights they had set up for the press helped for getting some shots. About this time we flipped the signs over the barricade. They had put out foamboards of the film poster. So we didn't want to put out the James signs too early in case the people in charge told us to not block the posters. Shortly after that Greenlady found us and joined our little James group. Carmen had come by earlier looking for Greenlady. But we didn’t know where she went to after that. Luckily we met up with her again after the premiere. But once the premiere began, traffic on Hollywood Blvd got completely jammed with the normal traffic mixed with everyone slowing down to see what was happening at the Grauman’s. So I almost missed James as he arrived. Looking through my 200mm lens I thought I saw his head get out of a car. But then traffic clogged up and I lost him. After a few minutes I found him again as was able to confirm it was him. There were four of us there for James at the time and we yelled like crazy for him. But he never heard. So I have a lot of pics of the back of his head. When he reached an area where I could see his face, there was a huge crowd of people so he was blocked by all their heads. And whenever the heads would move, traffic would come and block him. Luckily Happy Meal chose to stay up in a balcony area where she had a higher angle to get pics of him. And of course there were a huge amount of press taking shots so he should show up on some AP sites. He also did some very long interviews with many reporters. I couldn’t make out what network or program they were from. But hopefully that will turn up too. Overall the premiere happened like I thought it would if they didn’t close down the street. It wasn’t the best premiere I’ve been too. But on a cool note, Jeffrey Dean Morgan braved crossing the street and came right towards us. He asked how we were and I told him cold. :)
After all the stars went in, we found Carmen and another fan. We decided to grab something to eat at California Pizza Kitchen and then try to come back about the time the movie ended to see if we could grab James attention then. I did have both signs displayed during the premiere but he never looked over to the crowd across the street. After a very fun meal with new and old friends, we walked back to the theater. Ends up we timed it perfectly. No one was at the barricade and the movie was going to get out in ten minutes. So we waited, put up one of the signs (the PS we love you one) on the barricade. We saw Hillary Swank rush out of the theater very quickly. After some time we see Steve and James Publicist followed by James. We screamed his name and he heard us this time. He looked over and waved. And then seemed to recognize some and/or all of us and came over. As he was walking towards us he bent his finger in what I thought was a take a picture motion. It later dawned on us he was saying his finger was healed. He hugged some of us and chatted a bit about the film, saying it’s very good. His publicist pointed out the sign, saying “James did you see this.” He looked, let a big laugh, and said, “You guys make me feel like a star.” In which I replied you are a star. Though I don’t think he heard me. He signed an auto for someone to the side of us. I completely didn’t think to ask him to sign the sign, and I even had a sharpie on me. And he posed for some photos with some people to the other side of us. After he left the girls to the side of us said they didn’t even know who he was. I guess they just wanted a picture with a celebrity. James hugged Steve and his publicist before getting into the town car. Then Steve came and talked to us for a bit. I think he thanked us for coming out, but now I don’t remember for sure. We wished him a good night and good holiday. And that ended the premiere. So the premiere itself wasn’t a great chance to even really see James. But we managed to catch him afterwards.
Happy Meal and I got there at a ridiculously early time. It sounded like the Butler fans were going to be there in good number but ends up none of them showed up until a couple hours after us. About 10:30ish am. So we hung out in the courtyard till then. Watched the guys put up the PSILY posters. Watched films canisters come in, probably The Film. And watched Dolby sound guys come into the theater as well. Once some of the Butler fans showed they started to grab spots across the street. I went over to grab a spot. The barricades weren’t up yet, so we had no clue if they would allow any fans to watch from the sides. About noon the barricades went up and Happy Meal found out that no, the fans had to watch from across the street. Which is the norm for Grauman’s. I was just hoping they would close down the Blvd to traffic. Which they unfortunately did not. Around one Lightdependent and P showed up and we just hung out and waited. It was freezing cold on that side of the street because it got absolutely no sun. After they finished setting everything up across the street and the sun started to set, I tested out my camera. The lights they had set up for the press helped for getting some shots. About this time we flipped the signs over the barricade. They had put out foamboards of the film poster. So we didn't want to put out the James signs too early in case the people in charge told us to not block the posters. Shortly after that Greenlady found us and joined our little James group. Carmen had come by earlier looking for Greenlady. But we didn’t know where she went to after that. Luckily we met up with her again after the premiere. But once the premiere began, traffic on Hollywood Blvd got completely jammed with the normal traffic mixed with everyone slowing down to see what was happening at the Grauman’s. So I almost missed James as he arrived. Looking through my 200mm lens I thought I saw his head get out of a car. But then traffic clogged up and I lost him. After a few minutes I found him again as was able to confirm it was him. There were four of us there for James at the time and we yelled like crazy for him. But he never heard. So I have a lot of pics of the back of his head. When he reached an area where I could see his face, there was a huge crowd of people so he was blocked by all their heads. And whenever the heads would move, traffic would come and block him. Luckily Happy Meal chose to stay up in a balcony area where she had a higher angle to get pics of him. And of course there were a huge amount of press taking shots so he should show up on some AP sites. He also did some very long interviews with many reporters. I couldn’t make out what network or program they were from. But hopefully that will turn up too. Overall the premiere happened like I thought it would if they didn’t close down the street. It wasn’t the best premiere I’ve been too. But on a cool note, Jeffrey Dean Morgan braved crossing the street and came right towards us. He asked how we were and I told him cold. :)
After all the stars went in, we found Carmen and another fan. We decided to grab something to eat at California Pizza Kitchen and then try to come back about the time the movie ended to see if we could grab James attention then. I did have both signs displayed during the premiere but he never looked over to the crowd across the street. After a very fun meal with new and old friends, we walked back to the theater. Ends up we timed it perfectly. No one was at the barricade and the movie was going to get out in ten minutes. So we waited, put up one of the signs (the PS we love you one) on the barricade. We saw Hillary Swank rush out of the theater very quickly. After some time we see Steve and James Publicist followed by James. We screamed his name and he heard us this time. He looked over and waved. And then seemed to recognize some and/or all of us and came over. As he was walking towards us he bent his finger in what I thought was a take a picture motion. It later dawned on us he was saying his finger was healed. He hugged some of us and chatted a bit about the film, saying it’s very good. His publicist pointed out the sign, saying “James did you see this.” He looked, let a big laugh, and said, “You guys make me feel like a star.” In which I replied you are a star. Though I don’t think he heard me. He signed an auto for someone to the side of us. I completely didn’t think to ask him to sign the sign, and I even had a sharpie on me. And he posed for some photos with some people to the other side of us. After he left the girls to the side of us said they didn’t even know who he was. I guess they just wanted a picture with a celebrity. James hugged Steve and his publicist before getting into the town car. Then Steve came and talked to us for a bit. I think he thanked us for coming out, but now I don’t remember for sure. We wished him a good night and good holiday. And that ended the premiere. So the premiere itself wasn’t a great chance to even really see James. But we managed to catch him afterwards.