JC Goes to Hollywood, Pt. 3

Finally, the long-awaited conclusion (yeah, right) of JC Goes to Hollywood!

I mentioned previously that there was free popcorn at the premiere. Pretty cool, no? Only one problem though – it was stale. Did that keep me from eating the entire bag? Nope. I have no pride.

After the screening of the movie, the plan was to head to the party that was scheduled to take place down the street. There were actual tickets issued for the party too. My sister and I headed down the street toward the party. The sidewalk was still blocked off by barricades, which were jammed with people hoping to see someone famous. By the time we headed for the party, the sidewalk was pretty empty, so we got the full attention of the crowd as they tried to determine whether we were worth taking photos of. Apparently we weren’t. Unfortunately they kept our tickets as we handed them over to get into the party.

We thought the party would be taking place at a club, but upon entering we found a different scene. A parking lot had been transformed into basically an open-air club. It was most impressive. Right at the entrance was a Cadillac like the one in the movie that had copious amounts of smoke coming from the inside. There was a large area in the center of the space that had been made to look like a growhouse. There were tables set up in various locations that had a wide variety of munchies. Several bars were set up as well, and one of them had an ice sculpture of a bee (it took us a while to figure out that the bee was the logo of the sponsor providing the booze). There were pineapples all over the place, and bricks of fake weed.

There was a DJ spinning tunes, and some stairs that led up to another area that had a bar, a bunch of stalls where you could play Rock Band, and a police car with flashing lights decked out to look like one from a certain scene in the movie. There was also an area where you could get your photo taken with all of these props that they had lying around. My sister and I got our photo taken, which you can view below.

I wasn’t very hungry, so I actually didn’t eat much of the food that was there. But I couldn’t turn down free booze!

Shortly after arriving I got to talk to my friend briefly. I think he had a hard time believing that all of this was for a movie that he had made. My sister and I did a quick walkaround to see what was going on, and I saw Mike D again. He looked freaked out again, so maybe that’s just how he looks.

Most of the famous people were hanging out around some reserved tables on either side of the main bar on the lower level. We spent quite a bit of time sitting at my friend’s table, which gave us a good view of a lot of people. Most of the cast was there, although we didn’t see Seth Rogen until pretty late. My friend introduced me to Danny McBride, who I think will be a big deal at some point. I think if you see the movie you will understand why. They have been friends since their college days.

James Franco arrived about an hour after we got there, and he was soon being asked for photos and autographs. I had heard that he didn’t like posing for photos, but he seemed to oblige everyone who asked. He was standing right next to the other side of the table we were sitting at, so we got to see him do his celebrity thing for about an hour and a half. He looked super-grungy in the movie, but at the party he was back to his usual teen dream self. And I know I'm a dude, but I can still admit that James Franco is a handsome man.

Speaking of teen dreams, while we were sitting next to the James Franco receiving line, someone started to squeeze past our table and I looked up to see who it was. To my surprise it was Emile Hirsch. It was really weird seeing him because I hadn’t seen him on the red carpet or at the movie (although he was there), and also because I just watched “Into The Wild” not that long ago. I really enjoyed that movie, and it was strange to see that face that I so identify with that movie in real life. I didn’t talk to him, but I kind of wish that I had. He is also a handsome man.

I decided not to be a celebri-pest for the most part. I think a lot of that had to do with how bad I would have felt if someone blew me off, so I decided not to give them the chance (hmm, sounds a lot like why I never ask any women out). So I mostly contented myself with eyeballing folks from near or far. And I eyeballed Amber Heard quite a bit (dig that dress!) since she was nearby. Despite my best gawking efforts, she seemed impervious to my charms.

This guy was in the movie and was nearby at the party. All I could think of every time I would see him was “Hey, that’s the guy who had to keep stirring the pasta sauce in Goodfellas!”

I did make one exception to the celebri-pest policy in talking to Stanley from The Office (Leslie Baker). My sister wanted me to take a photo of her with him using her camera phone, and I got the feeling that he would be cool with it. So we approached him and I got a photo of my sister with him. I wish I had had her take one of me. He was really nice. We had resolved that we were going to approach Huey Lewis while waiting in line to get our photo made, but by the time we were done he had left. Darnit.

My sister saw Edward Norton sitting at a table late in the evening, and she told me she was going to ask him if she could get a photo with him. I kinda got a vibe from him that he might say “no”, so I told her “Don’t be disappointed if he says no”. Well, he said “no”. Actually he said “No, I don’t do that. But thanks for asking”. I interpret “thanks for asking” to mean “thanks for not taking a photo without my permission”. Although it was kind of a disappointment, I gotta say that I can’t really blame the guy. I would probably do the same thing if I was in his shoes. If he let one person do it, then someone else would come over, and the whole thing would snowball. That’s pretty much what happened to James Franco (while his date sat at a table patiently waiting for him to finish). Famous people gotta chill too, ya know?

We stayed until the bitter end. The “bitter end” being that part of the evening when the bar ran out of alcohol. First they ran out of the tequila that they were using in the mixed drinks that they created for the premiere, and then they ran out of beer. When we asked what was left the bartender found some rum and made us a couple of very strong rum and Cokes, which I think we both came to regret the next day.

It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience, and I’m really thankful to my friend for making it possible for us to be there.

The End!

This is me and my sister in the photo booth thing. I wanted to pose with the bong, but it conveniently disappeared before we got up there.