"Igor" and the purple carpet

It was 9:30am on Hollywood Blvd. as my husband R and I drove up to the Grauman's Chinese Theater for the world premiere of the animated film, "Igor." The sidewalk was closed off, security guards milled about and the paparazzi were setting up their cameras. Instead of pulling up to the front - no "purple carpet" treatment expected of guests like us - we made a turn and entered the parking garage. After navigating through the tourist mecca of Hollywood & Highland (complete with Kodak Theater), we grabbed our tickets at will call and joined the special guests, investors, friends, family and staff of the film.

There is a slight thrill in seeing all the tourists pressed against the steel gates, cameras and autograph books in hand, hoping for a glimpse of what is going on. For a moment, I feel like one of "those" people on the other side. The pre-party was a scientist lab set atop the cement impressions of Hollywood legends. At one point, I stumbled on Meryl Streep's footprint - literally. The tables were dressed with numerous brains in jars and other gooey paraphernalia. Waiters brought sweet treats and drinks and booths were set up to grab bagels, hot dogs, ice cream, etc. When the doors to the theater opened, R and I went in so we could grab a good seat. We missed the purple carpet parade, but luckily didn't have to watch the film from the front row.

After loading up on popcorn, drinks and Icees, we settled in for the film. The Chinese Theater is a classic. No stadium seating. No fancy amenities, but an interior to die for. The classic movie theater. I said to a friend of ours attending with us, that I hoped when our daughter is old enough, that theaters like that will still exist in L.A.. Heck, we'll be lucky if polar bears are still around when she gets older. I digress.

What makes a movie (and an event) like this unique is that this is a lower-budget, private investor-funded, animated, major feature film; not made with the usual hundreds of millions from a big studio, but a lot less from real people who invested their own money. John Eraklis, producer and founder/CEO of Exodus Film Group (and our old friend who put this whole thing together) gave a speech and ended with the lines, "We're Exodus. This is our first film. It's called, 'Igor'... "

It was cute and funny and I really enjoyed it. It looked great. John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, Sean Hayes, Eddie Izzard, Jennifer Coolidge, Molly Shannon and Jay Leno were great. I am a fan of John Cusack, so that made his Igor character even more endearing to me. He was at the screening, but not near my seat. One man stood up before the show started and pointed to Sean Hayes, yelling at his wife across the aisles, "There, Sean Hayes, Sean Hayes, over there." The woman plowed through the row Sean was sitting in and spoke to him briefly. I could not hear what she was saying, but she returned all excited and out of breath for having met him.

The movie ended to thunderous applause. We then milled about in the lobby until we were eventually ushered out into the sun. We picked up our souvenir poster and milled about some more until the security people finally managed to escort the throngs away. Why they wanted us of the theater so badly made sense, but why they didn't want industry people loitering at the front doors is beyond me.

We grabbed a quick lunch at the Hollywood and Highland center and drove away from that cinematic institution with a smile on our face and a little bit of "Igor" in our hearts.