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e. arrives and we tell an Artisan rep our situation. Turn out she runs blairwitch.com and as soon as we say "A&e." she knows who we are. We do a little webmaster bonding. Always pays to be friendly to the people who may be able to get you into the theater. The next person we have to deal with is the press corps matador, who asks reasonably politely who the hell A. is and what she thinks she's doing in the press section. She says "Well, we did some work with Steve Oldfield from Fox, and he really wanted to get some footage of the premiere, but he can't be in New York, so since we were going to the premiere he told me to bring my camera and get some shots." He lets us stay; much later, at the party, we overhear someone saying they overheard him saying "She wouldn't be telling me that story, in that dress, with that camera, if she didn't really know Steve." The life of A&e.: you can't make this stuff up.
While we're waiting, A. spots Tom Williams, Michael Williams' brother - she recognizes him from the Sci Fi special (and also he's holding a ticket envelope saying "T. Williams"). We introduce ourselves to the Williams family and give Tom what is probably his first taste of fandom (hey, why should Mike get all the attention in the family?)
We still don't know if we're actually going to get into the movie when People start arriving. The first one to get the flashbulbs popping is Lisa Not-Matenapoulos, of The View, and as the ET people interview her A. realizes she can shoot right over their shoulders and get great headshots - the sound's probably not good, but hey, you're not supposed to steal interviews anyway.
Then Haxan people start arriving: Ed and Dan get out of their limo and are whisked onto the red carpet as flashbulbs go off like fireworks. Julia, Dan's girlfriend, is wearing a stunning dress with an openwork strappy back - the straps are in the shape of a stickman- too cool. We signal her to find out about getting into the theater. She says she'll talk to Rob. Meanwhile Ed and Dan have come over to the video side and A. is getting great shots of them courtesy of her prime location behind the ET crew. Some of the photographers don't know who anyone is, so A. becomes the walking Font O' Blair Witch Info: "That's Ed Sanchez and Dan Myrick, the directors….M-Y-R-I-C-K….Ed's the tall one in the blue shirt, Dan's got the Blair Witch shirt…." (Also very cool that they don't show up in suits or tuxes; Ed, as mentioned, has a bright blue print shirt, and Dan's wearing a buttondown shirt over a black Blair Witch t-shirt.)
When the other Haxan people arrive (Mike Monello is sporting intriguingly maroon highlights in his hair - well why not?), we do get through to Rob, who says he'll take care of everything. We relax. A little. Because now the cast is arriving. Heather makes a real star entrance, in a two-piece yellow gown designed by her friend Bonnie Whitney. It has a floor-length pale yellow ball skirt and a very pale yellow sequined top, with a bit of midriff showing. Her hair is much lighter than it was in the movie, and held back by two daisies. She looks lovely, fresh, and ALIVE. Josh shows up looking almost unrecognizeable - haircut, less facial hair, total Calvin Klein model look - while Mike Williams is instantly recognizeable and really fun to watch, so happy to be there and so excited. (And ALIVE!) The cast is photographed, interviewed, told to "look over here, come over here, hey, Heather! Another shot! Please?"
A few more names show up - Q-Tip, of whom I have not personally previously heard, but I assume from the name that he is not an investment banker (and he does get points for the pink camouflage hat); Melissa Joan Hart, not quite a witchiechick, and not too popular with the paparazzi, because she just does a few poses, a few interviews (she makes a beeline for ET, so A. gets great footage - nyah-nyah!), and then won't do anymore.
When ET wraps, we break down our setup (yeah, we fold up the tripod and stick the camera in the bag…but it sounds more impressive to say "break down the set") - and worry about getting in. Artisan reps at the door do not want to let us in. Fortunately, the fair Julia comes out and says that she and Dan won't be watching the movie, so we can have their tickets. It takes a while to convince the Artisan reps of this. They keep saying "There's no seats left," and Julia says "Listen, I'm the director's girlfriend, and he and I have reserved seats, but we won't be using them, so we're giving them to our friends." The Artisan guy says "I'll have to see what they say." Doesn't he know that Julia is "they"? But at last director's-girlfriend clout comes through and Julia leads us to our seats. Which are….
Um, let's see if I can do this without screaming, right here in the hotel bar where I'm typing….
Okay. RIGHT NEXT TO MIKE. RIGHT ACROSS THE AISLE FROM HEATHER. We take a deep breath before taking our seats....
Coming soon: Part III - The Movie