Movie Memories: Hot Fuzz

It's March 2007, and I'm outside my beloved Brattle Theater with a group of friends. The occasion is a free preview screening of Hot Fuzz, and we could not be more excited. We all love Shaun of the Dead, with some being "Spaced" fans as well (I hopped on that bandwagon later). Not only that, but director Edgar Wright and stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost will be in attendance!

We get there probably about two hours early - eating, schmoozing, and goofing around in the (thankfully!) nice weather. The line of nerds grows longer and longer as we wait. A few promo people cruise through the line, and while a couple of my cohorts are out getting food the rest of us score T-shirts that inexplicably read "Grow your fanbase without having to sleep with gross people!" It was advertising something - not sure what, but it hardly matters. (I still have the shirt somewhere - I could check, but why ruin the mystery?) Our friends were mad jealous of our oversized duds when they got back.


And then, release the nerds! We crowd into the vintage theatre, scoring less-than-ideal seats even after being so early. We settle in the watch the flick and it couldn't be better - I even liked it more than Shaun, to be honest (seriously, if you like...anything, see this movie). The crowd is great too, responding enthusiastically to the action, comedy, and gross-outs. Afterwards, there's a Q&A with the three Brits (of which I can't claim to remember much), and then they indulge the crowd in requests for autographs and photos. This is where my absurdly bad luck reared its ugly head.

I push myself into the pulsating mob of geeks - I have nothing I want autographed but I'm vying for a picture with Pegg. A slight semblance of order and hierarchy forms, and I wait patiently as various fans get their DVDs and posters signed (including my friends - my now-boyfriend's boxset of "Spaced" bears the John Hancocks of two of the three lads, I believe). Then I hear the distant voice of the event organizer saying that the guys have to wrap it up. My turn hasn't come yet, and I might have resorted to some light pushing and shoving. It seems like I can still make it. Finally, I'm next - but then Simon declares the girl before me to be his last and starts walking away!

I panic, and since I still want something to show for my efforts but have no interest in physically dragging a celebrity into a photo op, I quickly toss my camera to one of my friends and say dammit, just get me and him in the same frame. He did, just as Pegg was making his exit across the stage. I got my picture with him...sort of.

I've posted the resulting picture below, which I find kind of hilarious. It makes it seem like I'm posing in front of animals at the zoo that I know damn well would never make an effort to pose with me. Due to being somewhat uncomfortable with plastering pictures of myself across the internet and/or destroying the illusion that I'm blindingly hot, I've blacked out my face. I promise I'm not on any wanted posters...just a bit shy in the photo department. I also added a couple of other pics from the event. Sorry for the low quality!

 

Pegg is the fellow with the hat that appears to be emerging from the right side of my head, Frost is the one is the blue striped shirt. Click to enlarge! I promise it's really them!

Blurry Nick Frost.

Three Amigos

For more proof the universe hates me, this wasn't even the first time that this had happened - a couple of years before, I was just squeezed out of an elevator (as in I would be the first person too many) containing Denis Leary. And one of my friends was in there, thinking the whole time that he was Willem Dafoe. Clearly I deserved to be there more than her! (But I'm not bitter).

Tune in next time, when I will regale you with a Movie Memory involving a much more minor celebrity...