What a Movie Premiere Is Really Like
Come be my plus-one
I have a friend who worked for a major movie studio where his job was to organize all the red carpet movie premieres and star-studded after-parties. Most of them were in Hollywood, but there were plenty in New York, where I lived. So often when he came to New York, if the guest list wasn’t already full, he would invite me to attend.
I don’t know how many premieres I attended. Maybe nine or ten? But since it’s not an experience everyone gets to have, I thought I’d write up a bit about what it’s like to attend a movie premiere.
Arrival
Most of the New York premieres I attended were at the Ziegfeld Theater, a large single-screen movie theater on West 54th St with enough seats for about 1,100 people. I would arrive, meet up with my plus-one and any other friends who got invites, and check out the red carpet leading to the main entrance. Then I would go straight to the will-call tent to pick up my tickets. I’d give them my name and they’d hand me an envelope with two postcard-size tickets to the movie, and two passes to attend the after-party.
Since the red carpet is really for the press to get soundbites and images that will promote the film, most people who attend the movie don’t actually walk the red carpet. There’s another entrance nearby for us normal people.
From there, I’d head up the escalator, grab a free popcorn and soda from the concessions area, and look around wondering who everyone is and what their role in the film is. Who was on the crew? Who was on screen? Who was just here because they won a radio contest? And who was a random nobody like me?
Then I’d find my assigned seat and wait, while the stars of the movie were still outside doing their red carpet thing.
The movies almost never started at their designated time. The longest I had to wait, I think, was at the premiere of Cradle 2 the Grave, an action film starring DMX and Jet Li, which started almost an hour late. It seemed like everyone was seated except for DMX. What was taking him so long? It’s hard to complain about a free movie, but DMX was really eating into my night. Finally he came in with his entourage and things got started.
The Movie Itself
Once everyone is seated, the director or stars of the film might stand at the front of the theater and say a few words about how great it was to work on this movie, how excited they are to see the culmination of everybody’s efforts, and thank everyone.
Sometimes, the stars of the move slip out at this point. They’ve already seen it. They don’t need to see it again. At least, that’s what I hear. I never actually saw anyone leave.
Then the movie starts. And for the most part, the experience is just like watching any movie in any theater. And that means that if it’s a bad movie, you’re just sitting there watching a bad movie and you kind of forget that you’re at a movie premiere.
And then all of a sudden a minor character shows up on-screen for the first time and there’s a little round of applause from one section of the theater where that actor is sitting and you remember, Oh yeah, I’m watching this movie with all the people who made it and thats pretty cool.
The one time that attending a premiere made a bad movie great was Sex and the City 2. This one was at Radio City Music Hall and there was excitement in the air. I was seated two rows ahead of Liza Minelli, and I felt her presence behind me the whole time I was watching. And this movie was terrible. But watching it with everyone who made it was a joyful experience. When they were laughing, I felt like they were laughing together at themselves for making this campy movie, and not at the jokes, which weren’t all that funny. And they were laughing so hard, I couldn’t help but laugh along. It was a unique experience, being in the room with them to watch this movie that I would never have enjoyed otherwise. I kind of wished everyone would get to watch it that way.
Someone took a blurry video that captures a bit of the energy in the room:
At the end of a movie premiere, the lights come on, and everyone claps and shuffles out of the theater. Some people go home. And some people go to…
The After-Party
Depending on how big the movie is, the after-party might be at a nearby lounge or a much larger venue. Usually it’s not too far, and there are busses waiting to shuttle people from the movie theater to the after-party. Some people walk. I usually took the busses.
At the venue, there’s an open bar, and caterers wandering around offering h'ordeuvres.
Often, there is a VIP section, so the normal people like me don’t interact with the celebrities. One of the first premieres I went to was Analyze That!, the not-very-good sequel to Analyze This!, and I thought I would get to see Robert De Niro or Billy Crystal. But I never saw either of them. I did, however, see Aida Turturro hanging out with the rest of us in the non-VIP section. I don’t know why. I don’t think she was even in the movie. But I was glad to see not every famous person felt the need to stay in the velvet ropes area.
Sometimes, the VIP section just can’t contain all the stardom. One of the most surreal after-parties was the one I attended for the movie Troy, starring Brad Pitt. When my friend invited me to the premiere, I told him I couldn’t make it because I had a shoot that night. So he suggested I just come to the party afterwards when I’m done with work. It never occurred to me that I could even do that. I sure wish I’d known earlier. I might have skipped watching Analyze That!
The after-party for Troy was at Cipriani, a restaurant in a grand former bank in midtown. It was all one giant open space. And although I heard that there was a VIP section where Brad and Jennifer were hanging out, most of the celebrities were wandering around mingling with the rest of us, and it was the most random assortment of people. Everywhere I turned I saw famous people from different parts of culture.
Oh, look! There’s Will Smith with an entourage walking right past me. And there’s Jeff Probst from Survivor talking to one of the Olsen twins. And right next to them is Mickey Dolenz from the Monkees for some reason. Just everywhere I turned, another famous person.
The premiere for Phantom of the Opera was another one like Troy where there wasn’t a clear VIP area. My friends and I sat at one table with our finger foods, and at the table next to us sat Andrew Lloyd Webber, Barry Humphries, and someone who I remember as being Sofia Loren but come to think of it may not have been. The stars of the movie, Gerard Butler and Patrick Wilson, were friendly and wandered around chatting with everyone. I don’t remember seeing Phantom star Emmy Rossum at the party, but by coincidence I had a lot of Emmy Rossum run-ins that year in other contexts. It was like my Year of Emmy Rossum. Or maybe it was her Year of David Friedman.
Impressing My Date
Taking a date to a movie isn’t the most original idea. But take a date to a star-studded movie premiere? I mean, that’s bound to make an impression. But the movie premiere schedule wasn’t up to me, and it didn’t always work out that I was seeing someone when I got invited to one. But then finally it happened.
My friend invited me to the premiere of the new M. Night Shyamalan movie, Lady in the Water. And unlike most other premieres, this one wasn’t going to be at the Ziegfeld but someplace far more interesting. In keeping with the theme of being “in the water,” the movie would premiere at the American Museum of Natural History and the after-party was going to take place under the giant blue whale in the Hall of Ocean Life.
So I invited the woman I was dating at the time. Except the thing is, she happened to actually work at the American Museum of Natural History. And in that role she had attended plenty of events under the giant blue whale in the Hall of Ocean Life. My big plan of wowing her with a star-studded movie premiere basically amounted to taking her to an event at her work.
But I guess like all Shyamalan movies, this story has a twist ending, too: She married me anyway.
And that’s it for another newsletter! Like I suspect is true for most of you, I haven’t been to movie theater since before the pandemic. I miss going and seeing movies on the big screen. Please wear a mask, and get vaccinated if you haven’t already. I don’t want omicron to be another delta. Let’s try to nip this one in the bud and maybe we can get back to seeing movies on the big screen again.
Until next time!
David
You took her to go see "Lady in the Water" and she STILL married you! You really found someone special.