TTT LA Premiere Report

As I had been planning to do for some time now, Sunday, Dec. 15, I went down to LA for The Two Towers premiere. And boy was it worth it!

I got there at about 12:00 with my brother. There weren't too many people there yet, so we walked around a bit and then came back. At that point we were right near the beginning of the red carpet, but were told that we would eventually have to move, either across the street or behind some barriers that were set up on the other side of the theater. So we made our way over there and were actually in a pretty good position, near the front with a clear view of the red carpet. I wouldn't be surprised if I saw some of the people who post on here without knowing it, but I spent most of my time talking with my brother and listening to music.

I also met an... Interesting Individual. But this post is long enough as it is.

After waiting for a couple of hours, we were told that we would have to move across the street (this was unfortunate, but the, uh, "security guards" were nice, chatting with people and answering questions). Everyone ran across the street and secured a spot. On the upside, we had more room to move around; on the downside, we were much farther away from the red carpet, traffic was now in our way, and as the press starting setting up I could see that it would be very difficult to see anyone as they came down the red carpet.

As time went on camera crews came over and encouraged us to scream and yell, and did a couple of interviews. Someone had a sign that said something like, "Orlando rocks our socks," for example, and it looks like they'll probably be showing up on the local news.

At around 5:00, the limos started arriving. We really weren't in the best place -- as I said, traffic wasn't blocked off, and so cars, trucks, and buses were constantly whizzing by, and the press was all crowded together on the red carpet, further obstructing our view. Worse yet, there was a bunch of water gushing out onto the street where we were waiting, and cars parked in front of us; to come sign autographs, the stars would have to come all the way across the street and get their shoes all wet, so, even though we were told that some people may come over, it didn't look promising.

Anyway, the first few limos started to arrive, and as is usually the case, no one was recognizable, at first. Then, Billy Boyd arrived. Thank God I thought to bring my binoculars. I wouldn't have been able to see anyone from that distance otherwise. Once again he was dressed in a kilt, and waved over at us. John Rhys-Davies showed up, and was gracious enough to walk across the street and greet everyone, thanking them for coming, so I got a couple of nice pictures of him. Several people thanked him for being nice enough to walk across the street to see us. A while later, Dom also came over (all I can tell you was that he was wearing a white shirt and had spiky hair), but unfortunately he didn't walk all the way down; he spent a long time in one area and then went back across the street (I guess he didn't have time to make his way all the way down). This, of course, disappointed the people around me greatly, prompting some to yell out "no!!!" when they some him leaving (uh, I guess it would have been nice to get a couple of pictures, but he's not the person I came to see, so I wasn't too bummed).

I saw Andy Serkis arrive, and at some point I heard some people shouting "Elijah!", but for the life of me, I couldn't see him, not even with the binoculars. And then... the highlight of the night for me. A limo pops up, someone gets out, and people started screaming "Orlando!". I couldn't see it myself, but my brother, said that some guy got out of the limo with Orlando. Anyway, I searched frantically for OB with my binoculars, but all I could see was the back of his head. Then a while later there was a sudden commotion in the crowd, yelling and screaming... Orlando was crossing the street, coming over to greet us (!!).

Now, because of what happened with Dom, no one was taking any chances... we all ran over to where he was as fast as possible, just in case he didn't make it all the way down. Let me tell you, he was so sweet... he went all the way down the line, signing things and giving hugs. It was really hectic, with people screaming "Orlando I love you," and whatever else and fighting to get their stuff signed... I even saw a couple of girls squealing uncontrollably and crying (not that I don't understand why). That said, everyone was respectful, I think, and no one grabbed him or anything, even though he was *so* close... you literally could have reached out and touched him. (Then again, security did have to tell people to stop leaning on the barricades several times.)

His hair was back in a hasty ponytail (I was close enough to see that it wasn't neatly combed, just kind of pulled back), as it was at the NY premiere, and I think he was wearing... I want to say a black shirt and black pants with a black jacket, and the same black and white shoes he wore at the NY premiere (I can't think of what they're called), but don't hold me to that.

I'm so glad my brother was there... he's tall, and so he was able to get several pictures for me (even though I myself took at least 10 or so), and also managed to get Orlando's autograph, which was quite a feat. Everyone was thrusting stuff at Orlando, and he was kind of signing a couple of things and then moving along. As a result, everyone was following him as he went, and my brother had to struggle to put my pad right in front of him about four times before he finally got around to it... I'll be grateful to him for that forever! The autograph's in black marker and illegible, save for the "O" and the "B". I almost wish I had managed to do it myself, because Orlando looked right up into my brother's eyes at one point.

I was even lucky enough to hear his voice . I couldn't hear everything he said, but I know that at one point he said something like, "They [the security guards who were with him] say I have to go fast". After a while he said something like, "I'm going to have to go soon," and then he trotted back across the street to the red carpet, turning and waving back at us. After that it was more difficult to see him, and he was too far for me to take any more pictures, but with my binoculars I could see him talking and gesturing to interviewers. And then... I left. I'm sure some people waited around to see if they could catch him afterwards, but I had to go home.

Still, it was great... here I was thinking that I would be lucky to even catch a glimpse of him, and it turns out that I got to gawk at him for several minutes on end, just inches away from me. I do appreciate the fact that he came over... he definitely gave us the most of his time out of anyone at the premiere (Orlando, John-Rhys, and Dom were the only ones to come over). And to think, I had told my brother before that I didn't even expect him to come over. I know that others around me were appreciative as well, saying that he was so sweet to take time out for us and that he was just great.

Other than that, I saw Viggo, Mirando Otto, Brad Dourif, and Bernard Hill. Apparently Jill Hennessy from Crossing Jordan showed up as well, though I didn't see her. There may have been others, but I missed them as I was too busy gawking at Orlando.