Beowulf World Premiere
by chris cunningham
I can’t even begin to explain last night. Craaaaaaazy.
I spent the last year and a half working on Beowulf so of course I felt it my civic duty to go see the stars walk down the red carpet at the world premiere! Right?! No? I really had no idea what all would happen. It was mayhem with all the yelling and screaming. And in the end I got into the theater.
I got up and decided to head over there before lunch to scope out a spot on the street. Someplace that I could get some good photos. I drove around Westwood briefly and saw that they were building a huge stone fa?ɬßade and setting up the walkway. I figured the parking structure we all normally park in would eventually fill up or get blocked so I parked there. It was already full up to the roof. I was starving so I walked around the carpet area for a short while and then decided to eat at South Street. A fave lunch spot of our lunch club. So I sat in there for a bit and watched the big screen TV but got bored with the sports they always show.
After lunch I walked to the corner and noticed some people had already gathered at the corner I wanted. Damn. I found they had actually left the very corner at the end of the railing open. So I sneakly nabbed that and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Oh, and then… I waited. Then I waited. Then I decided I should wait some more. And I waited. And then even waited some more until I couldn’t take it anymore and then waited. Funny thing right after all that waiting… I waited a little more. So you can imagine the dilemma I’m in right now. I’m by myself and worried I’ll have to pee. ack. We’ll see.
My thinking was I’m being a total fanboy by sitting out here, but I am not one of these people. I neither have an Angelina Jolie shrine at home or I’m not working for some company reselling autographs. They are seriously a weird bunch. I’m not even a slight fan of Angelina Jolie, but every single person there was there to see her. Ugh. There are the autogrpah hounds who are there just to get autographs to sell. Then there are the ones next to me who have self confessed Angelina shrines in their house that they want to add to. OK then. coo coo.
So I’m just sitting out there. Breaking the monotony, I got a call from Liza and got to describe the scene a bit. It starts getting dark and limos start pulling up and it’s gets nuts. All the yelling starts and stars come over and it’s a bit crazy but funny to watch. Then Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt show up and the place goes nuts. Ack, who would want to deal with that in their day to day life. All told I got Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins and Alison Lohman to sign my Art of Beowulf book. I think autographs are really kinda silly but what the hell. Everyone that was supposed to be there was now there and it quieted down and the security guard motioned to me. Hey, the guy back there is handing out tickets. Oh yeah?? I turn around and some guy had a handful of tickets so I scored one and ran back to the car to dump my camera and bam, I’m in!
The film? Amazing. By far my favorite film I’ve ever worked on. Best animated feature? Ha! Kid’s stuff. Let’s go for Best Picture. It’s really that good. Extremely proud to have worked on it.
Hey man, Chiquitas & I saw it tonight (in 3D!) & we both liked it a lot. Was it me or were there some less-than-positive Christian references in there? I mean to J.C., not you or your compositing. Also, we somehow missed your credit, but my scanning ability was defeated by the scroll speed. Were you in lighting? I was looking for compositing but didn’t see it.
yo – saw this a few days ago, surprisingly, in 3D as well. liked it and managed to not fall asleep which can’t be said for Peter Jackson. need to see it again. i saw your credit…you’re inching your way toward the top of the list…next stop, an above the line credit!! well done.
Awesome work man! The visual look of the film was tremendous. The amount of craftsmanship that was in each shot was incredible. Just saw it in 3D in Lisbon.
The story? The characters? Best Picture?! Are you mad man!?
I know where you’re coming from though Chris. I was tortured at Sony too. By the end of a big project our filmic critical faculties are all but annihilated….
“But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother. “
It made you go see it. That’s all.
I figured that was probably your intention! Success!
(of course, I always go see Sony flix cause I like seeing my friends’ names)
I never got to go see it. I couldn’t even convince my family and friends to get see my name on the big screen.
And Boo! for no new content!