Prancing with the Stars

Oy, I can't believe I'm following Jenna's touching account of Camp Kesem with this one, but here goes...

Wow. What a whacky day/ night. So I guess this is the new-fangled “glamour” that they talk about. Today was the HP5 premiere (aka Harry Potter 5), and oh my-lanta. I was staffing it the whole time and didn’t even get to watch the movie, and I was basically on my now-blistered feet for the last 9 hours… but it was so sweet!

First, at the premiere itself, I walked along the red carpet lined with hundreds of screaming fans holding signs (I thought one sign said “Dan, blow me” – for Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry – but I realized it actually said “Dan, blow me a kiss” upon second glance), and pretended to be important. My first job was to take guests to their seats in the theater, including Antonio Sabato Jr. (so hot in real life), Seth Green (so short, but funny), and Jeff Foxworthy (quite friendly), among others whose faces I recognized but didn’t know their names. And I was like 5 feet away from Rick Fox (soooo hot) and AnnaSophia Robb (I don’t even know who that is, but people told me she was famous, in “The Reaping” or something).

And then there was the after-party, which was beautiful but such a ridiculous way to spend so much money. They had a huge 3D cake in the shape of Hogwarts, flat-screen TVs on the walls to look like the moving photographs in the Harry Potter stories, and a huge platform behind the bar that spit green fire every few minutes (to name just a few of the spectacles). I was responsible for guarding the VIP area, making sure that all the important people had everything they needed, and keeping out the “riff-raff.” I rubbed elbows with Emma Watson (pretty, but very petite), and yes, Harry Potter himself said hi to me (he’s so tiny!). Everyone who talked to him said he was funny and warm.

Perhaps the most noteworthy part of the evening was when I was talking to this British guy for a decent amount of time, explaining to him why he wasn’t allowed in the VIP area, asking if he liked the movie, and such. But when he said he was in LA just for the film, it well, hit me, and I said, “Wait, were you, uh, in this movie?” He cracked up, and told me that yes, in fact, he was one of the semi-leads in it (he played Cedric Diggory). Oops!! I was mortified. But he was drunk enough not to care, joked that he was barely in this one anyway, and we continued talking for a while after. I wonder if that was 100% insulting, or somewhat refreshing to him?

In addition to the celebrity factor of which I am bragging about so disgustingly, it was fun to talk to other WB people I hadn’t met yet, and even the security guards and waiters were cool. So overall, although it terrifies me to admit this, I really enjoyed myself.