Tuesday, July 20, 2010

"Dinner For Schmucks" Premiere

Last night Eric and I met up in front of the Ziegfeld Theater to watch a little more red carpet action. We've really gotten hooked on these red carpets! This one was for the Dinner for Schmucks premiere, starring Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, and Zack Galifianakis.

 Ziegfeld Theater, set up for the Dinner for Schmucks premiere

We actually thought our red carpet watching might be a bust because they had the whole carpet enclosed with plastic sheets for some reason (you can see it a little in the above picture), but we were able to see people as they arrived, and once they turned on all the lights along the carpet we could see through the plastic with no trouble. This premiere didn't draw nearly the celebrity turnout that the Sex and the City 2 premiere did, but we still saw a few people including all three of the above-mentioned stars plus Ron Livingston (Office Space guy) and Bill Hader (from SNL). And, the lighter star list meant lighter crowds, which is always nice!

Plus, all three of the main stars (Steve, Paul and Zack) came over to greet the crowd, take pictures and sign autographs. Paul Rudd was the nicest - he really took his time and went through the crowd, all the way to the end of the line. Steve Carell went about halfway down the line (unfortunately he stopped right before he got to us) and Zack Galifianakis only went to the first few people. Regardless of how far they went, I always think it's nice when celebrities greet the fans at this type of an event, and few of them seem to do it. At the Sex and the City 2 premiere, only Sarah Jessica Parker and David Eigenberg (Steve) came over, and at the Tony Awards Daniel Radcliffe was the only one to greet the fans. I just think it's nice when they acknowledge all the people lined up to see them, you know?

Here comes Steve Carell! Like his crazy blue jacket?

Zack Galifianakis running over

Someone asked Paul Rudd for a picture, so he offered to take it for them! Ha! I don't think that's what they meant.

Me with Paul Rudd and his awesome beard

Bill Hader snuck past all the red carpet craziness and went straight into the theater

Ron Livingston doing an interview on the red carpet

The premiere almost turned into even more fun for us - after the red carpet was finished, someone from the theater came over to the fans and started handing out tickets to the premiere that hadn't been picked up! They were giving them out in groups of two, and we were so close to getting some! There was a girl right in front of us asking for just one ticket because her two friends already had theirs. You could see that the ticket-giver-outer-guy didn't want to split up a pair, but he did it. Then it was our turn and we asked for two, but all he had was that one left over from the split pair, nothing else! We were so close! We've been wanting to see a movie at the Ziegfeld anyway (it's on our NYC To-Do List), so it would have been awesome to get to see a premiere, and for free, too! Oh well.

On a somewhat related note (if we're talking Steve Carell performances), did you know that someone on the cast or crew of The Office is apparently a Florida Gators fan? Eric and I were watching an episode the other night (the one where they hire Ben Franklin to be a "stripper" for Phyllis's office bridal shower), and Michael Scott was in the kitchen talking to someone when I noticed a magnet on the fridge behind his head. I thought I made out the letters "A T O R S" and I thought, "huh, that looks like it could say 'Gators.'" So I rewound a bit and sure enough, that time around not only did I see "Gators" plain as day, but also saw that wonderful Gator head logo. I knew I liked The Office for a reason! Go Gators!

Well, well, well...what is that on the fridge there?

A closer look - Go Gators, indeed!

All in all it was a fun evening, and now we'll definitely want to hit up more of these smaller movie premieres - less crowded, better chance of the stars coming over to the fans, and the possibility of tickets to the premiere! What's not to like about that?

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