For the last fortnight on Twitter and various forums, I’ve been raving about my attendance at the Australian gala premiere of the new Dreamworks animated film Kung Fu Panda 2 in Sydney on June 13th. This would be the first time I have actually attended a film premiere. At last, I went with a friend of mine on Monday night, and here’s how it went:
I stepped out of the cab at the George Street cinema about an hour before the scheduled screening time of 6:30 pm. I had earlier forgotten to take my ticket and had to ask the first cab to turn around and take a new one. I was aware that there would be a red carpet event where the star guests would make their appearance, but I didn’t anticipate the sheer number of curious onlookers and Jack Black fans that would clog the sidewalks.
Naturally, for crowd control, there were an army of burly security guards who kept hollering at us to “move along” and “not block the stairways”. If you so much as stop to take pictures or stand gawking, they would instantly spot you, so I was literally walking up and down the street so that they would have no reason to bother me.
Then the limousines arrived. The director Jennifer Yuh Nelson emerged from the first car with Jeffrey Katzenberg, the infamous Dreamworks CEO every animation fan loves to hate (well, I like to think of him like so, anyway). Hardly anyone noticed them except for the press photographers and journalists. Then Lucy Liu’s car pulled up, and the whole crowd went berserk. The press rats kept baying her name and camera flashes and shutters were on rapid-fire. The voice actress for ‘Master Viper’ was immaculately dressed in a black and white checkered dress that, um, accentuated her cleavage.
But the ‘main event’ was Jack Black’s apperance. When his limo arrived, there were ear-piercing shrieks and cheers, as the security guards fought valiantly against the tide of people all cramming and craning to get a glimpse of him. You’ve got to give him credit; he really knows how to play to the crowd, hamming it up for the camera with kung-fu poses, and signing the fans’ DVDs (although he ignored one enthusastic fan’s request to sign his poster).
It was around this time that I found my friend, and we decided to go in. Like those who bought their tickets, we got to walk along the red carpet. The soundtrack was playing over the speakers, and we walked past miniature models of pagoda gates, a replica food cart and trishaw, and under a string of lanterns. At one point, my friend called me to turn around, and when I did, I saw Lucy Liu standing barely a feet away from me! But her back was turned and she was talking to a reporter. Unfortunately, I was hustled away by an unpleasant-looking bodyguard, but boy, was it was exhilarating, to think that I shared the red carpet with her and that I was so close, I could have tapped her shoulder (Don’t get any ideas now)!
So we reached the entrance point, the ushers ripped our tickets, and we took the escalator upstairs to VMax 2 (a large-screen format theatre hall). The place was packed; I had earlier checked online before I left to find that all the tickets were sold out. We sat somewhere near the middle in the first few rows and checked out our souvenir bookmark and 3D glasses. The red carpet proceedings were broadcast live onto the screen, and my friend and I were pretty miffed that the stars were still signing autographs and posting for fan pictures while we were held captive in the theatre, but we consoled ourselves that we got good seats.
After the press junkets and the group photos, the starts finally made their way to the back of the theatre. The Sydney Film Festival coordinator introduced each guest, and they each said a few words about the movie. Jeffrey was being his usual patronising self (he sounded pretty insincere and fake to me, but maybe that’s just me and he was honestly enthusaistic about it). After Baldie had waffled on a bit, Jennifer said a few words and was done. She was humble to the point of extreme brevity, and I couldn’t remember anything remarkable said by her. Same with Lucy, who gave an air of succinty and was short with her speech. Last but definitely not least, Jack made his grand entrance singing a few lines of ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ before praising the movie as well. He capped it off with a spectacular demonstration of ‘Ting-Tong Sala-Mala Ding-Dong’ (“a very dangerous kung-fu move”) before thanking the audience and kicking off the movie.
All in all, a totally awesome and unforgettable night for the debut of Dreamworks’ best sequel so far. You can read my review about the film a few posts back, check out photos I took on my brand-new Flickr account (including the one where I was within arm’s reach of Lucy), and watch videos of the event on my Youtube channel.
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thedriveintheatre posted this
