Thursday, December 12, 2002
Another New York Fan Report - Xoanon @ 00:26 PST
IrishAngel writes:

Yeah, this is in 3rd person. We wrote it together and we couldn't figure out any other way to write it lol. Anyways, this is the account of our night on Thursday the 5th and our incredibly lucky visit to Ziegfeld theater. OO, and speaking of. If anyone has any pictures of PJ from the premiere (we're looking for the pic of him signing things right before he went inside to the after party) could you email one of us a copy, cause that would be neat. Irishangel258@aol.com would be the place to send it, thanks. Enjoy.

Thursday started off with an omen both good and bad: a snow day. Good due to the lack of school, bad because we were worried how the weather might affect our night. But we hoped for the best anyway. We went to Lauren's house with our friend Erica, and we had a snowball fight against Lauren's sister and her friend. Erica had to go home around 2:00, so we decided to start getting ready to go, even though we weren't leaving for 2 more hours.

Lauren went to get her "Wee Scarvie",(which is a seven-inch long piece of braided yarn made to look like the Pippin scarf. Someone on the LotR board we go to makes them and gives them to everyone, and it's a way to recognize people from the site) but she had managed to lose it. We spent an hour looking for that damn thing- checking garbage, under beds, everywhere. We had finally given up, and Lauren turned to sit on her bed, when Sarah screamed, "Lauren!" She jumped and said, "What? What?" Sarah started laughing hysterically and said, "It's tied to your pants!" She had tied it to her belt loop earlier so she wouldn't lose it. We decided to take the finding of the Scarvie as a sign of good luck.

So anyway, by 4:45 we were on the train. We couldn't believe we were finally going (after planning this for about 6 months) so we recited "The Cow Jumped Over the Moon" poem from FotR to let off steam (yes, we memorized it among other songs.) Once in the city, it took us a good 15 or 20 minutes to find Ziegfield Theatre, where the premiere was being held. We stood with a group of fans across the street from the theatre, cause we actually had a better view from there than from the area next to the red carpet. Something we are always happy about is how nice and how friendly LotR fans are. We had a lot of fun just waiting there.

Anyway, the first limo pulled up and sat there for a while. Then the window pulled down a bit and the "mystery person" waved then rolled the window back up. (Lauren was watching her tape of the premiere and didn't notice the hand till then). We caught sight of a very short (buzz-cut) haircut through the closed window. We thought it was Dom, but someone pointed out the Elijah had "shaved" his head. But then the window rolled back down and sure enough, Elijah stuck his head out the window for a moment then ducked down (We believe we scared him). He then popped his head back out, waved, and then closed the window. Right after he got out waved again and headed into the swarm of press. After followed Sean Astin who waved for a while and then blew a kiss. After him a very large FedEx truck passed blocking the view. What has to be kept in mind is that at random parts during the tape we made there is a lot of shrieking because huge trucks would pass by and block the view of the limos. We personally found it hilarious to watch the tape because everyone would start screaming, "MOVE" like it was nobody's business. Quite funny.

Next, John Rhys-Davies came out of a limo. He took one look at us and put on this face, like he was going to say, "You've got to be kidding me." He thought for a second and then turned around and started to walk across the street. It was icy and snowing and cars were going by, not to mention he was still using a cane to walk around from his earlier accident, but he walked right over to us and said (We quote), "What are you sickos doing out here, don't they have shelters for you homeless people." Now that we've typed that it doesn't sound so nice, but when he said it he obviously meant it as a joke. A couple of people talked to him about him feeling better and he walked over to a few more people. We want to write him thanking him for talking to us, because he's the only person who did so all night. He was still over there when Billy arrived and though we feel kind of bad, we obviously weren't going to let Billy walk away so Lauren said, "Billy" and the people around us looked up and started shouting for him. He waved a bit and moved on. We promptly launched into the Drinking Song, which was excellent. We were sad he didn't come over, cause he owes us a hug (long story, lol)

Next (Lauren's personal favorite) Peter Jackson got out of the car. She was just so excited cause she looks up to him, being an aspiring director, and was very happy to see him. The next couple of limos were people we either didn't recognize or didn't know. Anne Hathaway got out of a car and not long afterward so did Howard Shore, who seemed very pleased when we cheered and yelled "Howard! We love your music!" The next actor out of a limo was Dom. He got out of the car and being like him self turned right to the fans and put his hands in the air and then gave a peace sign. He then walked a bit and then turned back around. He gave us a round of applause and made some bowing-like motions and then headed back into the press. The applause and bowing seem to be some sort of way of thanking us for braving the weather to see them.

After him we believe Rick Porras, the associate producer got out. Miranda Otto followed. We had to shout, "Miranda" for a while before she waved back One of the fans shouted (We quote) "Wave back! You have fans now! Get used to it! We're gonna watch the movie like 30 times!" Bernard Hill (King Theoden) later followed with a nice wave to the crowd. Hugo Weaving got out, but we all missed him cause a car went by blocking our view. Andy Serkis also waved when he got out (wearing a completely white suit) and headed into the press. We hear that Yoko Ono also got out of a limo briefly after Andy, (a truck blocked our view) and David Wenham (Faramir) appeared after her.

The next limo got a bunch of shouts when we realized that Orli had stepped out. His hair was grown out (I'm assuming for his next movie The Kelly Gang with Heath Ledger) and was pulled back in a ponytail. This we only have from memory because when he came out Lauren stopped looking in the camera and realizes now that he isn't in the shot. Silly Lauren. Oh well. Karl Urban got out of a limo after him and waved a bit. Liv Tyler got out next and she looked gorgeous. There is no way she wasn't cold in the dress she was wearing, though. Barry Osbourne and Richard Taylor came out after we had crossed the street to see better (we ended up right next to the carpet, but they had all gone in by then). Ian McKellen and Viggo Mortensen couldn't make it although we heard they were in NYC, which is a shame cause it would have been nice to see them.

After everyone was inside, we hung out for a bit talking to other fans about fan fictions. We had fun discussing Cassandra Claire's "Very Secret Diaries" and another fan fic in which the characters discover slash about themselves. We also talked to a camera, and Sarah informed him that "Frodo Lives", which caused a girl next to us to say, "Yes, Frodo does live. He's in there, and they won't let us see him!" When we asked the guy where he was from, he said, "Montreal." So that was a bit depressing, since we won't see it. Ah well.

Just as we were getting ready to go we heard, "Lauren!" over from her dad. He said it very meaningfully, so Lauren swiftly grabbed Sarah's arm and headed towards his voice. He was standing by a table by the entrance with a woman with a head set on, with a few other people raising their hands. When we got there her dad said, "Raise your hands", so we did, feeling very confused. The others when in, and the woman at the door said "Can we fit three? … OK, you can go." Lauren's dad grabbed us and walked forward. We were utterly confused to where we might be going. We had tried getting tickets to this premiere for almost two or three months and nothing happened for us, so it didn't click that it might be happening now, but there we were, standing there with seven other people on the basically empty red carpet. And we walked in… through the empty tent… through the halls… we grabbed some popcorn and soda… we were in such shock. We refused to believe we were actually going to see the movie. Sarah actually thought it was some courtesy thing for fans, to let them see the cast and crew in the theatre. We got into the theatre, and Peter Jackson was onstage, making a speech, and he called all the major cast and crew members up one at a time until they were all lined up on stage. It was when they lead us into the huge theater with everyone lined up onstage at once that changed our minds about miracles. After Peter finished talking and everybody had finished applauding they lead us to our seats. OUR SEATS! We couldn't process in our heads what was going on. They were leading us to OUR seats in theater for the world premier of Two Towers. We were just waiting to wake up. We had horrible seats- fourth row, all the way on the right- but we definitely weren't being picky.

The next three hours were some of the greatest we'll probably ever have. All we can say is that it was AWESOME. We won't give anything away, although there was one moment that completely shocked us, cause we really did not see it coming, even after reading the books twice. In truth, we barely remember the first twenty minutes because we were in such a state of shock. Helm's Deep, however, was so amazing that it in itself is reason to see the movie. It was just wonderful, and horribly scary as well. They bring back a really good joke from FotR. Gimli became the comic relief in this movie rather than Pippin, and he was hilarious. It would be getting really tense, and then Gimli would say something and the whole theatre would laugh. Speaking of which, that was the best audience ever, and not just cause the cast and crew was in it. Everyone applauded when something good happened, or when there was a particularly amazing effect, and they all laughed at the right moments. No one like said anything to be rude or anything. It was literally the perfect crowd. Also, Gollum was just amazing, but he can't be described; you have to see him for yourself. Sarah would also like to say that as a die-hard Merry fan she was immensely happy with his part in the movie. We won't say more, but she was so, so pleased that she wanted to run up to Dom and PJ and hug them to death.

After it was over, we left the theater in an odd daze. We were trying to get over the shock. We couldn't believe that we had just seen the movie that we'd been waiting to see all year. We then followed the crowd to the buses going to the after-party. We didn't have passes, but no one was checking, so we decided to try it. The bus took us to the after party, which was exactly where we wanted to be. Unfortunately, they were checking for party passes there, so we just stood outside among the fans and press. We just missed Phillipa Boyens, one of the screenwriters, who Sarah had really hoped to meet because she wants to write screenplays someday.

The first autograph we got was from Howard Shore. We repeatedly told him how wonderful his music was, and we must have thanked him about five times. (We are definitely buying the soundtrack right away) After Mr. Shore passed through we got Bernard Hill's autograph, which was cool. He did such an awesome job as Théoden, and we told him so.

Then… we heard cameras clicking behind us, so we turned around, and who was there but the man himself. Peter Jackson. We were so shocked that the man who brought the books to life was standing right in front of us. We went up to him, saying very eloquently, "Mr. J-Jackson, p-please, please can we have an autograph?" And you know what? He gave us both autographs. While he signed them we told him how much we had loved the movie and thanked him endlessly, and he actually thanked us for saying so. As far as we know, we were the only people he signed autographs for on his way in, which made us feel even more special. We honestly couldn't have asked for anything more. We really look up to Peter and it meant more then he could guess that he signed our books.

Then we saw Liv Tyler, Miranda Otto, and Andy Serkis walk in, but we couldn't get to them. Liv's shoes were so high and awkward she couldn't walk, and two people had to support her as she went up the stairs. To be fair, the shoes looked really, really nice, despite the pain they must have caused her feet.

Richard Taylor came over to us, though, and signed our books. He was so nice. He asked for our names (which is really cool of an actor or cast member to do) when he signed our books. He wrote us each a short message as well. (Lauren got "all the best" and Sarah got "cheers from Weta") When we told him that we really enjoyed the movie that night, he looked generally surprised and thanked us. We don't remember how we reacted to that cause we were just so surprised. It amazed us how many people thanked us, because it was supposed to be us thanking them.

We waited outside for a while longer before people started to come out again. There was a photographer there that was really nice who we want to thank if he reads this. We don't know what he was affiliated with, but whenever we asked for an autograph (more specifically, when we asked for Peter Jackson's autograph) he would say, "These girls here. They really want an autograph." So we want to say thanks in case he reads this cause that was cool of him. Later we went and stood next to a girl we had stood next to outside the theatre. She goes to our LotR board as well. We had fun bugging this one staff member and asking him if he could go inside and ask people to come out.

By the time people started to come out of the library it was maybe 11:45, and we couldn't feel our toes, and it was getting kind of hard to move our fingers. We were lucky enough to catch John Rhys-Davies on his way out. He called us sickos again, and we laughingly informed him that this was the second time he had called us that. He signed our books and talked to the ten of us who were standing there for a while. He then thanked us all for being such wonderful fans and walked off.

We stood there and froze for maybe another 45 minutes. While we were, there we did meet Jack Black (who signed our books) and Anne Hathaway, which was neat cause she grew up in our town and went to our high school. When we told her that, she got really excited and asked where in the town we live. She also promised us that our high school gets better (since we're only sophomores). We remember her saying that she wasn't worthy of signing our copies of FotR, which was nice (she signed them anyway, of course). We liked meeting her, cause she's living proof that it is possible to get out of this town and make something of your life.

Another big thing was that some people that came out of the party started talking to each other and saying, "Yeah give it to them." The suddenly a guy walked over to Lauren and handed her a party pass. We looked at it and were just like, "Oh my god." She quickly ran around the barriers and we heard people whispering, "She got a pass", "Someone just gave her a pass". She walked up about 12 steps and the guard stopped her, so she showed him the pass, but guess what. He wouldn't let her in. It was horrible. He must have seen her get it from the man who gave it to her. So she turned around and saw everyone one go "O" in a sympathetic way. She went back behind the bars with everyone else. We were planning on having her go inside and find the stars we hadn't met yet and ask if they would come out for a minute to talk to the people freezing to death outside. Either that or she would have asked guests if she could borrow their passes in order to get Sarah and the girl we were with inside. But it didn't work out. Oh well. By the way, in case that guy ends up reading this, thanks for giving us that chance to try to get inside.

Finally, it was so cold that Lauren's dad and Sarah were getting ready to leave, but Lauren insisted on waiting until 12:30. And you know what? At exactly 12:30 Sean Astin walked outside. We made a beeline for him, whipping out our books. He signed everyone's book and talked for a bit. People were thanking him for making Sam such a wonderful character, and he thanked us for standing outside and insisted on shaking everyone's hands. He was impressed that we had braved the cold for so long just to meet him and the others. Finally someone pulled him away, because he had to go somewhere else, but it was so sweet of him to stop and talk.

Then we really had to leave. It was just so cold, and we were already late getting home and were very tired. So we took the train home (which took forever, really) and we went to straight to bed. The only regret we have about that night is that we missed seeing Elijah, Dom, Billy, and Orli, because we would have dearly loved to get their autographs. But otherwise, it was quite literally the best night either of us has ever had. We have had daydreams about getting into the premiere for months, but we never believed it would actually happen. Thursday was really a Mary-Sue come to life, and neither of us would trade it in for anything.