Adventures in Hollywood Part 2: The Red Carpet

So, the movie premiere of The Women was very cool. I shot some great video of the stars arriving. Meg Ryan, Candice Bergen, Eva Mendes, Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith were super cool and engaged with the fans. Annette Bening and Warren Beatty, not so much.

It’s interesting how the limos are “staged” for the arrivals. They have to stay in queue until they are called down by a security guy. I guess this is so the arriving star has enough time to make their entrance. And each star has about five minutes.

Well, somebody clearly messed up. Jada Pinkett Smith’s limo was called down and when her hubby Will Smith got out, there was a frenzy. Everyone went nuts. Then, like, 10 seconds later Annette Bening’s limo got called down and when HER hubby Warren Beatty got out everyone was like, “Dude, can you move so we can get more shots of Will Smith?!”

Ouch. He was crabby all night long. And after the movie he practically pushed Annette out of the theater almost knocking me down as we were leaving.

On the way in, I was stopped by a camera crew and they asked if they could “ask me a few questions about Eva Mendes.” I said sure, expecting that they’d be easy like – “what do you think of her hairdo?” (hated it) or “can you believe she just got out of rehab?”

Imagine my surprise when it was Eva Mendes TRIVIA. It went like this:

Interviewer: What movie was Eva’s big break?

Susan: (blank look and long period of silence) We Own the Night? (It was the only EM movie I could think of and the most recent which is why it was wrong!) Correct answer: Training Day.

Interviewer: What is Eva’s ancestry?

Susan: Latina? (This is so dumb – it’s like answering Caucasion) Correct Answer: Cuban

Interviewer: Where was Eva born?

Susan: (figuring he practically gave me the answer, I confidently answer…) CUBA! Correct answer: Miami. Doh!

Interviewer: What did Eva want to be when she grew up?

Susan: A cop? ( I had given up on this game by now.) Correct answer: a nun. (Wait, what?)

The crew was obviously disappointed in my trivia performance but they were very nice anyway. I signed a release allowing them to broadcast my segment (why?) and went on my way up the red carpet into the theater.

Walking the red carpet is an interesting experience. It takes people a minute to realize you’re not famous. You can see them thinking, “Is she famous? I don’t recognize her but who is she?” until they give up and move on to the person behind you.

All in all, it was a fun experience but I’m glad I’m not a movie star. Anonymity has its perks.