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After a week of endless screening and party attendances, speed-bonding with fellow crew, and a crash-course in Festival publicity, the 2008 Los Angeles Film Festival came to a close with another red carpet world premiere, a Family Day and an Awards Ceremony. It was a bittersweet feeling to walk that last red carpet during Awards Night. Most of my colleagues are moving on to new projects right after June 29, so it really was so long, farewell.
It all started Saturday night with the world premiere of Hellboy II. Highlights of the night: running into Selma Blair (the girl who taught my generation to french kiss), watching Guillermo del Toro’s whole family drive up in a huge, white limo van (Mexicans have large extended families) and Universal going all out for the afterparty that took up a whole street and parking lot, and catered food and cocktails for hundreds of people.
It might sound blasé, but believe me when I say that even red carpets and the celebrities that stroll them, lose their charm after you’ve seen a few. How great, overwhelming and fabulous it all is in the beginning, that’s how normal it gets after a while. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remind me how extraordinary it is what I am doing. It just grows on you and really becomes your job.
They say once you have done one Festival, you won’t want anything else and I can see now why that is. We’ll see how hard the withdrawal is when I stop working for Film Independent. In the meantime, here’s pictures of ‘just’ another red carpet… Journey to the Center of the Earth, premiering at Family Day: Brendan Fraser with the spray-on hair, pretty girls in pretty dresses, and photographers yelling at children to get their shot.
The very end was Awards Night with more red carpet and celebrities. Prince of Broadway won the Target Filmmaker Award for Best Narrative feature, Loot for Best Documentary. And Halle Berry snuck in through the back to honour Don Cheadle with the Spirit of Independence Award, a lifetime achievement award.
She is obsessed with all things French, drives a baby blue car and puts on gloves before she gets behind the wheel. We drove home one night with all car windows wide open to chase the heat of June Gloom. In the background an Italian pop song from the Sixties was playing. It was a mental picture moment, like a shot from an old movie… and many more followed.
It’s been busy, crazy, fun times so far. Work days around the clock, running from film premiere to screening to afterparty. None of the events have been as big as the Wanted premiere, but there is always a red carpet thing with some press if talent is scheduled to show up.
I am really getting acquainted with filmmakers and publicists now, and finally have a face connected to the name. In the beginning it was always a matter of scanning the movie-going crowd for the yellow press badges that are dangling from journalist necks. Now it’s more an act of saying hi and catching up with people, which is nice.
Every event here is networking in overdrive. Kodak Speed Dating, the Filmmaker Lunches, the Poolside chats, etc. all revolve around promoting connections between starting filmmakers and industry reps. Below are pictures of such a networking extravaganza: the Filmmaker Cocktail Reception at The W Hotel.
It is impossible for me to fully capture the last few days, but just to mention some anecdotes…
At the premiere of Finishing Heaven, Ruby Lynn Reyner was the perfect match for bad boy director Mark Mann. Striking the funniest poses on a tiny strip of red carpet, she finally got those 15 seconds of fame she had been waiting for her whole life. That is also the subject of the film, a heartfelt documentary about two lost souls who were part of Warhol’s Factory and started shooting an ambitious film project in those drug-fueled days of art-for-art. The hours and hours of footage never went in post-production. A quarter of a century later Ruby Lynn and her old boyfriend director Robert Feinberg are given a second chance at greatness. That is if they can overcome old fears and habits.
Seth Packard (both star and director of the film HottieBoombaLottie) is crazy talented and a real nice guy. He was one of the people I had been buggin’ with press matters for weeks, but never met in person until the premiere of his film. The movie is one of my Festival favorites and with the big studios circling around this indie project like hungry vultures, you might be seeing it at theaters near you soon.
Lori Petty, director of The Poker House, is quite a handful. When she started yelling at Festival volunteers, because her wallet was stolen at the World Premiere of her film, you could smell diva from afar…
Melvin Van Peebles speaks Dutch! We chated a little about his travels through Europe and how he lived in Amsterdam. We were there to represent the Festival during some interviews, but all of a sudden Melvin disappeared for an hour to have some family time. Yeah well, what can you do… I guess you cannot contain a man wearing red socks and plastic sandals.
WireImage covers the whole Festival and sometimes their photographers even catch me on film, as was the case at The Pleasure of Being Robbed premiere or the Prince of Broadway screening.
At night the place to be is the Target Red Room for the After Dark Fest. Dancing to tunes of downtown L.A. DJs, some cocktails and food, mingling with directors, actors and press. It’s the perfect closure after a long, long day.
The world premiere of Wanted opened the 2008 Los Angeles Film Festival with a bang and delivered everything you expect from Hollywood: limos riding up to the red carpet, dressed up celebrities crawling out, screaming fans, hundreds of photographers, film crews, … Very overwhelming for a first timer like me and the many directors who thought they were prepared for all that media glitz, until they stepped onto the carpet.
Some directors literally had drops of sweat rolling down their forehead. But that is where we came in: to calm them down, escort them on the red carpet, and ’sell’ them to the press, who were mostly there for the tabloid stars. Missing were Brangelina and Morgan Freeman (one getting ready to pop twins, the other on Broadway), but there was plenty to go around: James McAvoy, his wife and actress Anne-Marie Duff, Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov, Terence Stamp, Festival Honorary Director Melvin Van Peebles, and so many more.
I walked Philippe Petit down the carpet, star of the movie Man On Wire, which won the Grand Jury Prize and Documentary Audience Award at Sundance. Fascinating man (he walked on a line between the Twin Towers for Christ’s sake!), but obviously grown a little weary of the whole Festival experience. He gave up mid-press line and just wanted to go in the theater. I guess the deal was already sealed with the good reviews the film has been receiving and awards all around.
More in need of publicity support was Jennifer Phang, whose film Half-Life is premiering at the LA Film Fest. Same for PJ Raval and Jay Hodges, directors of Trinidad, a documentary on life in the transsexual capital of America. They are the people that will be big in five years from now, and it still feels surreal to be helping them get there.
Being one of the lucky people to get into the theater, I got the chance to see Bekmambetov’s daring cross-over into American cinema. Wanted is very in your face… all the time! The film is bloody, violent, and most importantly has a good sense of humor about it. It’s been done so many times before: the nerd with no life who becomes a superhero. But it’s the fast, art-house cinematography that makes it remarkable and puts it in the vein of Timur’s earlier Russian work.
The afterparty and the Universal VIP Lounge topped off the evening with cocktails and fine delicatesse.
It was an hour before the LACMA was closing its doors and I was rushing to pay a quick visit to the Hammer building, when a girl jumped out of a sideway door, screaming “War and Peace!”. She dragged me in, so I could get a glimpse of the Tolstoy-adapted masterpiece that was playing on the auditorium screen. After the name exchange and some intro talk, she and her friend asked me to discover the museum with them, and because I had nothing planned for the evening, I agreed. Something was up with this girl though. Her level of dopamine was a little (if not totally) through the roof, but for the time being I decided to go along with it. What followed became one of the craziest, most eventful days in L.A. I’ve had so far.
Minutes later I was striking my best pose for the camera, running around a field of street lanterns, and dancing around in a sound box, contrived as contemporary art. All of a sudden, every museum piece got more interesting and we sure made ourselves rememberable to all the guards.
For dinner we decided on left-over Persian food at her place, where two over-excited dogs kept jumping up my leg (they probably got the energy from her and not the other way around). She was house-sitting for a friend who had skipped town without leaving a date-of-return note, and was feeling out L.A. for the time-being. After a tour around the building (pool and hot tub incorporated), we drove to Silverlake to check out some of the more laidback, hipster bars there.
Everywhere we went, we got to know new people, which of course is not hard with a hyper-social chick by your side. She even started genuine conversation with someone on the street while asking for directions. Sometimes we just had to pull her away. After Carolyn left to catch her plane to Mexico, Nora and I got lost on our way back to L.A. A detour through Pasadena and Glendale made us drive by the El Rey Theatre where Tea Leaf Green was performing. We chated with one of the security people, got in for free, stood in front of the stage among old hippies and rockers, until we got in the mood for food, went to the IHOP (International House of Pancakes) and ended the night defending L.A. to three French guys. It was one of those wild days you only have abroad when you’re completely commited to new experiences and are in the company of some extraordinary people.
Malibu… the town where license plates read ‘A Way of Life’, where the Big Lebowski was filmed, and where the rich and famous have their beach houses. It is quite a ride up West from Mid-town L.A., but cruising the Pacific Coast Highway is already such an experience that it doesn’t matter anymore where and when you arrive.
I didn’t get to the nicest beaches yet, but Malibu town was enough satisfaction for one day. Basically just another Sunday at the beach. Why do I not get bored with it, you ask? Look at these shots and you’ll understand…
I have no idea if they have crossed over to Europe yet, but on this side of the Ocean, Brooklyn-based rockers MGMT are the band of the moment. On top of TV show licensing and sold-out club performances, their song ‘Time to Pretend’ is all over the radio stations. Lyrics brilliantly tap into Gen Y angst and their Hollywood Dream. Somehow relatable?
“I’m feeling rough, I’m feeling raw, I’m in the prime of my life.
Let’s make some music, make some money, find some models for wives. [...]
This is our decision, to live fast and die young.
We’ve got the vision, now let’s have some fun.”
Other album favorites are ‘Kids’ and ‘The Youth’. Get them on your iPod! And while you’re at it, also give Mates of State and The National a listen.
Yes, it is true what they say about L.A. People are health-crazy and the latest development in maintaining that youthful, fit body is pure water. Newspapers and magazines brought up the issue of pesticide and hormone traces in bottled water and consumers everywhere became in serious need of purification. Glaceau (the same company that produces VitaminWater) saw the unique opportunity and came up with SmartWater. Vapor distilled and one-upped with electrolytes, it is not your usual mineral liquid. And in good Glaceau tradition, they know how to sell it. Listen to what’s on the bottle:
“Is it just us or do clouds get a bad rap? While we admit they’re not as great to have around on a beach day, as say, the sun, clouds are unsung heroes because they contain nature’s purest source of water. Meanwhile, spring water comes from the ground and contains random stuff and whatever else the animals that swim in it leave behind. That’s why we copied our white puffy friends by creating SmartWater.”
Add Jennifer Aniston to that marketing mix and you’ve struck gold. As an official sponsor of the LA Film Fest, we have an unlimited supply of it at the office, and I have to admit, you taste the difference. SmartWater, the best thing since Diet Coke!
World premiere specials, HBO First Looks, countless billboards and articles announcing the long-anticipated release. It would have been a total fashion faux had it not been a smash hit. But Sex and the City The Movie pulled through and made $55.7 million at the box office in its opening weekend, the most ever made by an R-rated comedy. Opinions are divided. Too long, too moody, too high fashion and diseased by product placement,… ? Fact, however, is that people are still talking about it at the watercooler.
Because it is so far and Angelenos usually talk down on it, it’s taken me a while to get to Downtown, but now I am wondering why. Ok, during the evening it gets kind of shady: big empty streets with office buildings and plazas full of tramps and tents. But in the sun it is all eventful city fare: museums, concert halls, book stores, federal institutions, and street vendors, spread out over several areas like Chinatown, Little Tokyo, the Theater District, and Fashion District.
It feels like New York, but instead of the Puerto Rican touch, you have a little more Mexican thrown into the cultural jumble.
The Mexicans established El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles in 1781, and in a country where everything is relatively new, they sure treasure the few age-old artifacts they have. The old city center:
And just a step away the modern steel shows up again.
That evening we stuck with the NY vibe and hit the city’s ultimate socializing hotspot… the art gallery. Corey Helford had a new exhibition opening and the art crowd from all over town converged to see it.
Okay, I am ready to share the Hair with cyberspace. I’m practically used to it now, but I’m still getting comments everywhere and explaining why I cut it all off. Some say it’s a very American cut, others think I look even more standout European. The new hair was a good incentive to give my new camera a spin, and at the moment I’m still loving both.
To give you an idea of how big the organization of the LA Film Fest really is… a team photo. Find Wa(rna)ldo!
Third week in the office and three weeks before the Festival… things are getting crazy. The Publicity Office is at full speed and I am swamped in press releases. Days from 10am till 8pm, working my way through dozens of emails. All filmmakers, their publicists and crew are attending. Every possible major media outlet will be represented: The L.A. Times, Vogue, Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, BBC, … A lot of people to deal with.
As ‘Press Screenings Liaison’, I’m planning the advance previews for the media and keeping track of all press materials. Quite basic PR stuff and not much glamour there! Nice benefit of the job though is that I get to see all the movies before their premiere. And I get acquainted with the ‘VIP journalists’. Just a matter of knowing who to talk to at the Filmmaker Cocktail Party, Poolside Chats, Target Red Room, Kodak Speed Dating, Diversity Expo, Fast Track, … and the list goes on and on. So many events to announce, so little time.
