…It started out with a crazy, half-joking idea. Sitting in the food court of the mall with a group of my best friends I threw it out as a random, far-away-dream idea. What if we went to New York City for the premiere of Water for Elephants? It’s not in LA, and how often do things like this happen this “close” to home?? You see, I’m from Syracuse, NY so the Big Apple is practically my backyard…yeah right. It actually takes longer to get to NYC from my apartment than it would take to get to Philadelphia, which obviously isn’t even in the same state. But, everyone thinks it’s a quick trip down to the city, it must be, right? Well lucky for me it wasn’t my first time thinking about heading to NY – I’ve done bus trips to see my beloved Yankees play in both “Old” Yankee Stadium and “New” Yankee Stadium, I’d gone on those Christmas shopping adventures where they drop you off at Macy’s and let you lose for a day, and I’d even planned and executed a 4 day vacation with my 3 best friends in the world to explore the NY sights – Broadway, baseball, Ellis Island, shopping, food, adventure. This wasn’t my first trip to the circus that is the Big Apple. But, it was my first trip to New York to celebrate a new kind of circus – the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth.
Now, I have to take a step backward and explain how I got to the point of even considering driving all the way to New York City for a movie premiere. I love Twilight and all things related to the series and the movies. Don’t get me wrong, I’m 26 and in love with young adult vampire fiction, and I’m totally OK with it. I avoided Twilight and the hype for a long time – I have a problem with pop-culture fads and often try to avoid them so as to not become “one of those people” who is obsessed, just because everyone else is. I hadn’t read the books, hadn’t seen the movies, knew very little more about the story than the love triangle that existed between Edward, Bella, and Jacob. Come on, I knew that much, I don’t live under a rock after all. Then, on July 1, 2010, my 3 best friends convinced me, as I was 9 days away from my wedding, that I needed a break from the planning and running and organizing and needed to go see a movie and just relax. They took me to see Eclipse, with very little background information. As I sat in the theater waiting for the movie to start I turned to my friend Amy and asked if there was anything I needed to know and the explanation I got was, “well, you know who the main 3 characters are, right? Ok, good, so know that part and other than that, know that the red head is trying to kill Bella. That’s about all you’ll need to follow it.” So I went with it, sat back, and watched the movie. I fell in love and wanted to know more.
I owned a copy of the first book, well technically my then fiancé had a copy from a bet he had made with my old roommate. I picked it up that afternoon when I got home and proceeded to read until about 3 in the morning and I was half way through the book. I finished the book the next day and was chomping at the bit to get the next one. I held out for a bit, however, knowing that my wedding and last minute planning had to get finished. I threw myself into wedding planning, but in the back of my head I kept wanting to know what happened to Bella and Edward and Jacob and the rest of the “gang.” The wedding came and went and it was a wonderful, magical night. Everything went as planned and we headed off to our honeymoon, ate wonderful food, had fun, took on adventures, and enjoyed spending time together. My now husband had been offered a different position at work just before the wedding and upon his return to work after the time off he was headed out of town for training. I went along since I had summers off, being a teacher and all. While my husband was at training all day I read – and read – and read – and read. There happened to, conveniently enough, be a Borders across the street from our hotel, where I picked up the rest of the books and finished New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn in the 3 days we were out of town for his training. When I got home I borrowed the first two movies and proceeded to watch them both until it was time to give them back. I realized after the fourth run through of the movies on my own, that I was becoming completely obsessed. From day one, sitting in that theater, watching the opening of Eclipse I was firmly planted on “Team Edward” and never looked back. As my friend Amy explained the few key plot points I needed to know before the movie started, she threw in that Edward was played by an actor by the name of Robert Pattinson, and that he was extremely attractive. I’d seen pictures, of course (because as I mentioned, I don’t live under a rock) but hadn’t really paid attention to them too closely. After watching Eclipse, I understood.
That just about brings us to that night at the mall food court and my semi-joking suggesting of checking out the Water for Elephants premiere. My interest in all things Rob had been growing since my initial introduction to the world of Twilight and I had bought and watched all of his movies that I could get my hands on. I saw that he was going to be in a movie called Water for Elephants and that it was also a book. I took a chance and picked up a copy at Barnes and Noble and set to work reading. Twenty-four hours later I had finished the book (I simply couldn’t put it down) and was in love with world that the author had created. I teach middle school social studies and teach both the Prohibition and Great Depression eras. They are some of my favorite topics to cover because of just how much our country changed and the world of circuses surrounded by this era of hardship and loss fascinated me. The story made me lose myself in the word of Jacob and Marlena and I became increasingly excited for the film. Knowing Rob would be playing Jacob, I could create a picture of the movie in my head while I read. I passed on the book (and my love for it) to several friends and began searching out all kinds of information on the internet about the filming and production. When I read that the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City would be the site of the US premiere, part of me though, well, that could be fun…
…so one night, sitting in the food court of our mall after having seen Red Riding Hood (from Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke and starring Billy Burke, of course), I mentioned that it could be a fun adventure to try to go to the premiere. My friend Jen, my adventure buddy for years and years, looked me straight in the eye and “ok, let’s do it, I’m game!” My heart jumped a bit at the thought of this half-assed idea really happening. Like I said, we’d been to New York before. We knew how to get there, we knew how to get around, and we knew how much cheaper hotels in New Jersey were. We started discussing the trip in earnest and formulating ways to get there inexpensively, I made her promise that she wasn’t joking and that we would really do it, because now I was excited. The premiere was in a month, we had a lot to plan.
The event was set for April 17. The plan was to leave in the evening of the 16th so that we could get to NY in the very early morning hours. It was about a 4-hour drive to our hotel in Newark, NJ and then we’d have to take the train into NY. Our timing, as it turns out was perfect. We left Syracuse at about 9pm on Saturday evening. We sang, we chatted, and we watched Twitter feeds about the set up and news of the premiere – well Jen watched them and I listened as she read them to me, since I was driving. We drove through torrential downpours in Pennsylvania and hoped beyond hope that by the time we got to NY that the rain had stopped or that it wasn’t so bad in the City. We arrived in Newark around 2am and left our car at our hotel. We didn’t check-in. We wouldn’t be staying there Saturday night. We grabbed the hotel shuttle and headed for Newark Penn Station, hopped on the PATH train that would take us into New York and then found the Subway to take us to Times Square. We quickly found an open restaurant to use their facilities and then walked the 4 blocks to the theater. The line at 4am was already about 200 people long, some of whom had already been there for 12 or so hours. We headed to the back of the line to wait. We had no idea what the plan was with the line or how this whole premiere thing was going to go, we just got in line and waited. It was somewhat cool outside, but it felt good after the PATH, Subway and walking. This type of fly by the seat of your pants adventure is what Jen and I do best. We were there and we were making it happen, even if we didn’t know exactly how the whole day was going to work. It was 4am and we were on the streets of NY with 200 other fans waiting for whatever was going to come our way.
Around 4:30am, three lovely ladies with whom we quickly struck up a conversation joined us. Jen and I were alone in NY together and so meeting Megan, Fran, and Kassie was a stroke of luck. We chatted about what information we knew and exchanged what information we had. Soon, their friend Lisa also joined us, and conversation between the 6 of us flowed easily in the early NY morning hours. Twentieth Century Fox brought us Dunkin’ Donuts and bottled water and encouraged us to Tweet all about the premiere to get #WFENY to trend. We happily complied as we ate our breakfast and continued to chat. We became fast friends, realizing that not only did we have a love of Rob Pattinson in common, but a lot else as well. We quoted Rob’s movies all through the morning and listened to Rob’s music. It was a lovely morning shared with new friends.
We soon got word that at 9am the studio folks would be handing out wristbands to the first 200 fans in line. We weren’t sure where we were but it seemed like it was going to be close. Those fans who received wristbands would be allowed to stand in a special VIP section at the premiere to watch the Red Carpet extravaganza. As the time got closer and more people returned to their groups from having wandered to coffee houses, the bathroom, or their hotel rooms in the area, we weren’t sure we’d be in that group of 200. We still held out hope to be part of that VIP section. As that magical hour rolled around the line started to move and it became clear that we were right near that cut-off point. One of the Fox team walked down the line and asked what time we arrived in the line and nodded his head slowly when we told him we’d been there since 4am. Of course we adopted our new friends to our slightly earlier 4am time slot as they had arrived around 5. As we got toward the front of the line another representative from Fox told us that they’d decided to extend the wristbands to the first 250 fans instead of the first 200. We got to the front and I was handed wristband 222. Yes!! We wouldn’t have made it, were it not for our early arrival that morning and their decision to increase the number. We were all ecstatic. The best news with regard to the wristbands was that we now didn’t have to wait in line any longer. We were told to be back at the theater at 3:00 but that the time between now and then was ours. Our new friends invited us to their hotel, which was a godsend since we could use the bathroom and sit down, after we had been standing for almost 8 hours, and had been up for over 24. The group decided that lunch was in order and then we took a walk to Central Park and found the benches from Remember Me and did some people watching before we headed back to the Ziegfeld. We made sure to get back early. With about a half hour to spare we were put into a line by order of wristband numbers and then allowed to get into our VIP section, with those people with the lower numbers getting the front row spots. They deserved it so much, having sat outside for 16 or more hours in the rain and the cold. They were definitely line warriors.
That’s when the craziness began. The premiere was slated for a 5 o’clock start and at about 3 minutes after that start time we heard screams from the other end of the fan section. Rob had arrived and instead of walking the open side of the U-shaped Red Carpet, was instead walking the other side of the street, where the fans were all lined up. He began signing autographs and taking pictures with as many fans as possible and continued down the side of the street for over 45-minutes. Dean, his bodyguard, never left his side as Rob smiled, signed, and took pictures for and with fans. He often would take cameras from fans in the first rows and take the picture himself. That crooked grin that he is so famous for never left his face as he thanked one fan after another for coming and signed hundreds of pictures, books, magazines, and posters. He was truly gracious and although we were toward the back of the VIP section, and as such didn’t get an autograph we were able to get some awesome pictures and just being that close and personal to such a big star was amazing. Reese Witherspoon followed close behind Rob as he signed for fans and did the same. She is so pretty in person! She graciously signed autographs for fans as well, thanking everyone for coming out to support the film.
After signing hundreds of autographs and taking pictures, Rob and Reese headed across the street to the press portion of the red carpet, smiling, posing, and answering questions. The headed down the red carpet behind Christoph Waltz and Hal Holbrook and other members of the cast, as well as Sara Gruen (the book’s author) and her family. As everyone finally entered the theater we were told that was the end and that we could go. Although we had held out some hope of being offered a chance to see the movie too – since it is a big theater – we weren’t and so Jen and I headed off to find food and get some sleep.
Half-assed ideas being what they are, about 2 days before we left for NYC, I mentioned that Rob was going to be on the Today Show Monday morning and that we could (I mean, come on, it’d be fine with me) go to that before heading home. Jen, as the great adventure buddy that she is quickly decided that yes, we should definitely check out the Today Show and reminded me that she’d been to the show before and knew how their plaza process worked. We got up at an ungodly 3:30am and headed back to the PATH train into the city. By the time we got to Rockefeller Plaza, it was almost time for the show to start – between showering, walking to the train, and walking from the Subway, not to mention the train rides themselves, it took us a good 3 hours to get to the Today Show and we arrived around 6:30 in the morning. Lucky for us, we had met some friends the morning before…
…we had planned to meet Kassie, Fran, and Megan at the Today Show so when we arrived they had some space saved for us – in what turned out to be an awesome spot. We were just along the window side of the studio and right outside the door where the guests come out to the plaza. We were also right behind the front row of fans - so super close to the action. It was amazing.
Rob came out to the plaza first to sign autographs for fans and spent almost 45 minutes out there in the semi-cold weather signing books, posters, pictures, magazines, what-have-you. Fran wanted to get her poster signed - that her students had helped make - and when she asked if he would sign it, he looked up and right at me and said “I’d love to sign whichever poster, but I don’t know what I’m looking for….” I reached up above my head (where her poster was) and pulled down the corner and somehow found my voice to say “she’d like you to sign this.” He thanked me and happily signed the poster. After which I asked for him to sign my book - because I didn’t want to miss the opportunity by giving him someone else’s item to sign (sorry Fran!). He smiled and said that he would and then moved on to sign more and take more photos.
They had to actually drag him away from the fans to head inside for the interview. That was more cement in the foundation of why I enjoy being a fan as much as I do. He’s kind to fans and goes out of his way to make their experiences great. Even if he (as he’s said in interviews) doesn’t understand why we’re all there.
Jen looked at me and just said “holy shit - we just met Robert Pattinson.” And yep. That was totally it for me.
Now I’m a totally insane, blogging, tweeting, super-fan, and in the end, I’m totally ok with it. And he’s so great to his fans that he makes it easy to stay that way. That was the weekend I met a movie star...and it changed so many thing. I’m still (4 years later…) great friends with much of the group we met in line that morning - as well as a couple others that I’ve met through them. I’ve visited other parts of the country to see them - stories of which, you’ll find here later on - and we talk almost daily through email, text, and sometimes even Skype. I’ve also found myself in a bigger world of all kinds of fandom folks, reading and writing, blogging, internet culture, and it has encouraged me to take on adventures for other events that I’m excited about as well. This was the beginning...and the end of the insanity, thankfully, is nowhere in sight :)
Check back soon to hear about some cool stuff that I’ve gotten to see more recently...Alton Brown’s Live Tour and a fantastic production of Green Day’s American Idiot...and some older stuff I’ll be working on stories of as well.
Safe travels - and I’ll see you all soon!
