The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies Black Carpet Premiere in Los Angeles!

Hello everyone! It is finally time to talk about The Hobbit Part 3: The Battle of Five Armies. I’m pretty sure that’s not the EXACT title but meh, order that’s what I’ll call it. I’ve been so MASSIVELY busy this week and I’m finally ready to share my awesome day at the premiere!

I was so excited to finally go to a Hobbit premiere and I’m sad because it was the very last one. It was a very bittersweet feeling, even though I’d never been before.

IMG_0008

Setting up for the black carpet. They had all these posters and white trees and it looked really awesome.

IMG_0011

I spent the day with my girls Cassandra and Ally. The premiere took place at the Dolby Theater on Hollywood boulevard. Its right next door to the Chinese Theater and home of many movie premieres and the Oscars. Premieres there are always kind of wacky so we lined up across the street. We spent lots of hours there, as per usual.

IMG_0013_2

They had a MASSIVE jumbotron. They showed the trailer for the movie, and then showed the action on the black carpet once the actual carpet event started.

IMG_0021

We waited awhile to see what the deal was going to be. We talked to our friends from SPEC, who run the security and they told us our  best bet was to go across the street so that’s exactly what we did. By this time, we were tired, dirty from the LA streets haha and just ready for the carpet to start already.

IMG_0026

Before the carpet started, there were all kinds of people handing out things. They had these really cool flags that had the hashtag #OneLastTime. I wanted one SO bad but they completely skipped us and so I didn’t get my hands on one, unfortunately. Then I spotted people giving away wristbands. I had NO idea what they were for, but I knew I wanted one. The people handing them out seemed to be looking for something in particular, while handing them out. I noticed that they seemed to be going for Hobbit stuff. Luckily, I was wearing my Thorin shirt for the premiere and I pointed it out to them. I totally guessed right and they came right up to me, asked how many people were in my party. The wristbands were for the screening immediately after the carpet! Yay!

IMG_0044

Fangirling SO hard. Meeting the great Andy Serkis. In the LoTR and Hobbit sagas, he plays Gollum/Smeagol. He’s just all around BADASS. He was the first person that I met on the carpet and I was STOKED.

IMG_0069

The absolutely GORGEOUS Lee Pace, who plays Thranduil in the film. He was pretty much my #1 goal to meet once we had figured out that Benedict, Martin and Ian weren’t coming to the premiere. Look at that face. Seriously. YUM.

IMG_0048

This is Mark Hadlow, who plays the dwarf, Dori.

IMG_0054

The lovely Stephen Hunter, who plays Bombur!

IMG_0073

MY LIFE. I adore Evangline Lilly. I think she’s one of the first actresses that I had a crush on before I realized I also liked girls. I used to watch the first few seasons of Lost and she plays a seriously badass female elf, Tauriel. I was SO excited to meet her and get her autograph. I liked her in the second movie, but I had some issues, but after seeing the movie, I’m so sold on her character. She was even better in the third one.

IMG_0074

I fangirled SO hard on this. I’ve had a crush on Orlando Bloom since he played Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean, when I was like 13 years old. I was a little bummed that he didn’t sign my book. I’ve heard that he doesn’t really do that. Not sure why. But I got a picture with him and that was pretty awesome. He plays Legolas, of course.

IMG_0075

My awkward, blurry selfie with Richard Armitage in the background. He, of course, plays Thorin Oakenshield. He signed for us, but wasn’t taking pictures so I had to do this. I get creative sometimes ;)

IMG_0077

William Kircher, who was a totally sweetheart. I seriously adore him. He plays the elf, Bifur, and I’m just massively in love with him. He was really just SO nice.

Also, mad props to that photo bomber in the background haha.

IMG_0078

Jed Brophy, who plays Nori! He was such a delightful guy!

IMG_0079

Me and Cassie and Graham McTavish, who plays the badass dwarf, Dwalin in the film. Apparently he is also in Outlander as well but I haven’t had a chance to watch that show yet. He was seriously awesome in his kilt!

IMG_0091

Be still, my fangirl heart! Meeting Peter Jackson was INCREDIBLE. He wasn’t doing pictures so hence the super awkward, blurry, funky selfie but I’m stoked beyond belief that I got to meet him and get his autograph. I mean, he’s the brains behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit trilogy and he’s just genius. My mind is still BLOWN that I met him.

IMG_0110

My beautiful beautiful beautiful book signed by:

Andy Serkis (Gollum)
Lee Pace (Thranduil)
Richard Armitage (Thorin)
Mark Hadlow (Dori)
Stephen Hunter (Bombur)
William Kircher (Bifur)
Jed Brophy (Nori)
Graham McTavish (Dwalin)
Evangeline Lilly (Tauriel)
Peter Jackson (Director)

I was really bummed because Elijah Wood (Frodo) and Billy Boyd (Pippin) were there. I was fangirling SO hard but they completely skipped our section. It made me incredibly sad. James Cameron was also there and he directed one of my favorite movies ever, Titanic, and he just waved as he passed by. Sad face. It was a bit disappointed that actors like Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan and Luke Evans weren’t there, but it was just the LA premiere, not the world premiere, so it made sense.

After the premiere was over, there was parking drama with my car and I had to run to my car, drive it to a different parking lot and then practically run to the movie theater. Cassie and I grabbed our seats, and our super cool Hobbit 3D glasses and settled in to watch the movie.

I LOVED it. There will be an actual full reviews to come BUT I truly loved it. I think everyone did a fabulous job. After the film was over, no one wanted to leave. No one. They stayed all the way until the very end, once the credits had ended and the screen went blank. Its always very sad when a series ends that way. Saying goodbye and all that. I was a little emotional but not nearly as emotional as I was when I saw Deathly Hallows Part 2.

All in all, it was one of the easier premieres that I went to, and I had a fun time. I’m glad I decided to go and I’m urging you ALL to go see the movie when it releases next week! A review is coming this weekend so watch out for it!

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 White Carpet Premiere in Los Angeles!

Hello everyone!

Sorry that I’ve basically been out of touch the last few days. I’ve been lax on both blogging and writing for NaNo (uh oh!) because I’ve been busy with work AND the premiere for Mockingjay Part 1!

The premiere was yesterday in Los Angeles, order CA at the Nokia Theater at LA Live in Downtown Los Angeles. This is where they’ve had all the premieres for the movies in this trilogy so far and I think its a great place to have it. As soon as the date was announced, I put in the request for the day off and eagerly awaited the premiere.

Now, the plan was this: show up in the morning and take a chill approach to the premiere. I wasn’t down for the stress, though stress is a part of premieres, always, and I had seen pretty much everyone that I had wanted to see last year at the Catching Fire premiere. I knew I’d have to go the night before to get in line but I just didn’t feel like it. Plus, my dad was in the hospital due to some heart issues (he’s okay!) so it was just a bunch of mess.

Well, my good friend, Jade (who you might recognize from Teens React on YouTube) went the night before, and let me know that she could save us a spot in line because she’s awesome and because we’ve helped save her spot at events before :) So I was going to get some sleep and then head to the premiere in the early morning.

I didn’t get ANY sleep at all. I couldn’t sleep. It was way too early for me. Oh well. We packed our things up and headed down to Nokia.

2014-11-17 05.42.30

This is me in line at about 5:30 am. Jade was first in line! Even when I don’t try and be first in line, I end up first in line. I have no idea how this happens.

We spent the day hanging out and snacking and talking books and such. I kept trying to nap but it just didn’t happen. I was running on adrenaline basically.

I was really disappointed in SPEC this year. SPEC runs all (well, most) of the red carpet premieres and Charles, the main man, and his guys usually run a really great show but yesterday was just sloppy and disorganized. There was almost NO communication at all and they have this really stupid promotion going on so even if you waited all day in line (like we did), you still had to go in after about 200 people that were part of this promotion. It was ridiculous and frustrating. They were SO disorganized. I couldn’t even believe it. I’m up for a fan camp again, because that was just sloppy as hell.

We finally got let in and headed toward the bleachers where the fans were set up. I ended up in the second row with my friends, which wasn’t a bad spot. The carpet was set up, and it looked cool but honestly? Not nearly as cool as it did last year. 

2014-11-17 16.47.07

I was helping out debut author, Tonya Kuper, while I was at it though. Her novel, which is published by Entangled Teen, is coming out next week and I helped by passing out postcards to promote it! I thought she’d get a kick out of this!

2014-11-17 17.05.14

The Mockingjays on the carpet were super cool though. The carpet was half white carpet and half white tile. I kept waiting for someone to just take an epic spill.

At first, the security wasn’t going to let us stand at the barricade. We stood at once point and they sent us back to our seats. I was VERY VERY frustrated. I wouldn’t wait in line, with no sleep, if I wanted to just wave to them from the bleachers. It made no sense. Some of the stars started coming closer so we all kind of went back up to the barricade and the SPEC guys were like, fine, just behave. Easy cheesy. At least in my opinion.

2014-11-17 18.01.39-1

Getting ready for the stars.

2014-11-17 18.32.21

The first person I saw was Joey Graceffa, who is on YouTube. I admit, my knowledge of YouTubers is pretty much nonexistent so I didn’t know who he was BUT my friends Sylvia and Cassie were SO super stoked so I had to take a picture too haha.

2014-11-17 18.37.34

This little guy, Emjay Anthony, is going to be playing Hector in the Insurgent movie. I had to get a picture of him because we all know how I feel about the Divergent trilogy <3

2014-11-17 18.52.40

We were waiting for more people to come when Jade suddenly said “Is that Mark Hoppus?!” and it was, completely with mohawk (not pictured). I FREAKED out because come on, Blink 182! No one seemed to know who he was, so Jade and I started yelling at him to come over. He just kind of smiled and we were like, agh, no Mark, come back! So he came over and took pictures with us. I’ve already met Travis Barker so I’m SO stoked to have met Mark. I just need Tom!

2014-11-17 19.02.07-1

I had no idea who he was until I googled the premiere and figured it out haha. His name is Cody Johns and he’s a really really small actor, though he was in I Am Number Four as one of John’s friends in the very beginning. I just thought he was SO super cute. I’m terrible haha. Also my friend Sylvia’s face in the background haha.

2014-11-17 19.11.48

Me and Erica Bierman, who plays President Snow’s daughter in the films. She was SO sweet and she fangirled HARD over Jade because she watches YouTube. It was actually quite adorable.

Screen Shot 2014-11-18 at 5.48.44 PM

So, last year, I was devastated when I could not meet Suzanne Collins. She signed for very few people before leaving. This time, she took her time, took pictures and signed for people and just seriously made my whole day. Its all about her! She created this! I was also in a weird spot that got a ton of weird light. My first picture with her was all LIGHT and she noticed, and put her hand up to block it and we got this beauty!

2014-11-17 19.18.10-1

Me and the beautiful Jena Malone, who plays Johanna Mason in the film, and quite well.

2014-11-17 19.25.20

See what I mean about that light haha. Stef Dawson, who plays Annie Cresta. She’s seriously SO fabulous and amazing. SO adorable.

2014-11-17 19.28.26-1

Me and Meta Golding, who plays Enobaria. She also is in the newer version of The Tomorrow People, which I am obsessed with (RIP), so I have to go back and figure out who she is!

2014-11-17 19.26.47

Stef and Meta were SO happy to see each other. It was adorable.

2014-11-17 19.31.36

Wes Chatham, who plays Castor, part of Katniss’s camera crew. He was SO nice and his wife was adorably pregnant. I wanted to rub her belly, which, you know, is not creepy in the slightest. I had Sylvia’s book and asked him to sign it and Jade is like “because she’s in the bathroom!” so he signed it to her, personally, and asked why she was in the bathroom. All in her book. It was adorable.

10703944_742759352479594_920726745701156749_n

2014-11-17 19.37.47

Me and the super legend, Donald Sutherland. His voice is even more awesome in person.

2014-11-17 19.38.06-2

AW. Such a sweetheart in Nina Jacobson who is the producer for The Hunger Games movies :)

2014-11-17 19.38.22-2 2014-11-17 19.38.24

Then Jennifer Lawrence came by. I loved seeing her this time because I was actually at the barricade this time AND she seemed much happier than at Catching Fire, where she was freezing and SICK. She is awesome because even though she doesn’t take pictures with people, she tries to sign for each and every fan which is just incredible. I did try to some selfies while she was signing my book and I got some blurry, creeper ones haha.

2014-11-17 19.46.22

Julianne Moore came in. She’s a new addition to the cast, playing District 13’s president, Alma Coin. She didn’t stop to take pictures BUT she signed my book so that was awesome, and I managed to get some pictures of her as well.

2014-11-17 19.47.20

AW. My beautiful and darling Sam Claflin. He’s such a doll, and so good to fans. He plays my favorite character of the whole trilogy, Finnick Odair. I got to meet him last year but I was more than happy to do it again.

2014-11-17 19.47.50-2

Liam was another one that wasn’t taking pictures but I didn’t mind because, like Jen, he wanted to try and sign for as many fans as possible. I got a few pictures of him as he signed for people. A lot of people aren’t much into his new bearded look but I thought it looked fantastic on him.

2014-11-17 19.49.12-2

AGH! Elizabeth Banks! I was SO excited because I wasn’t able to get her at all last year, not her autograph or anything! She stopped to sign my book, and I was going to just take pictures of her signing, like I did with Jen but she saw and leaned in and I got to take a picture with her. Made my whole night. She is SERIOUSLY perfect as Effie.

2014-11-17 19.51.29-1

In consistency with the others, Josh Hutcherson also didn’t take pictures with fans in order to sign for as many as possible. However, I was getting pictures of him anyway, and then Jade asked him for a picture because she had never gotten one, even though she’s been to all three premieres so far. Sylvia and I both saw the opportunity and jumped right in.

unnamed-2

I also jumped in for a picture with Jeffrey Wright with Jade.

unnamed-1

He also signed my book too but I didn’t get a chance to take a picture and totally jumped into this one haha.

unnamed-3

I got to see Lea Thompson again too! I saw her months ago at the Vampire Academy premiere but I was stoked to see her again. She’s from one of my favorite movies of all time, Back to the Future, and now she’s on Switched at Birth (which I’m massively addicted to) and Dancing with the Stars. She is also the mommy of my future girlfriend, Zoey Deutch <3

The last person that went on the carpet was Natalie Dormer, who you probably know from Game of Thrones as Margery, and who is playing Cressida in Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2. I wanted her SOOOO bad, she was my number one goal but she blew past because she had to go into the movie. I’m determined to get her at the Part 2 premiere!

After the carpet was over, we were instructed to sit down and then we would receive our tickets to go in and see the movie!

2014-11-17 20.05.48

My friends and I with our tickets!

2014-11-17 20.06.39

The movie was ABSOLUTELY fabulous and I can’t wait to share more about it once I write my review (check for that tomorrow!). I had a blast at the premiere. I was tired and hungry for sure. I thought the organization of the event was terrible. Even after the carpet, it was just ridiculous. I could barely get into the theater, and we just made it in as soon as the movie started. Then getting our phones after the movie and everything…it just a wicked mess. I hope they clean that up next year and either come up with a better system OR do a fan camp again (please!).

If you’d like to see all the pictures of the day at the premiere, click this link and you can check them out on the official What a Nerd Girl Says FB page!

Til next year, Mockingjay Part 2!

*      *      *      *     *     *