D.C. does red carpet movie premieres just a little differently. We don’t get many of them, and if a movie is having a star-studded debut in Washington, chances are it was filmed in the city, there’s a political connection, or both. This means that the usual high-gloss glamour of these kinds of events ends up mixing, with the effectiveness of oil and water, with the stodgy blue-suited anti-glitz of the Washington elite.
Last night, crowds lined 10th Street NW across from Ford’s Theatre, hoping for a glimpse of some of the celebrities in attendance for the premiere of The Conspirator, Robert Redford’s new film about the aftermath of Lincoln’s assissination, during which Mary Surratt — owner of the boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators planned the assassination of Lincoln and attempts on Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward — was tried by a military tribunal and (spoiler!) became the first woman executed for a crime by the federal government in U.S. history. The film is the first production for The American Film Company, a production company devoted to “historically accurate” films about American history.
Watching Lincoln’s assassination onscreen in the same room where it happened has its own surreal qualities, particularly when augmented by a member of the audience collapsing in the balcony during the screening. (Paramedics were called, but she had regained consciousness and seemed to be doing okay when they took her away). But it was an odd evening all around. I was just there to see the movie (expect a review on Friday), so I abstained from rope-line questioning. But watching the D.C. media doing their best impression of Access Hollywood-style reporting — some in earnest, some with the almost necessary sense of irony — provided plenty of interesting moments on its own.
With the media mostly interested in the Hollywood stars, the city’s politically famous enjoyed an evening of being around press who were largely uninterested in talking to them. So the politicos would walk up the far side ignoring the press, who, in turn, mostly ignored them. The press corps really showed a spark of political interest when former Secretary of State Madeline Albright arrived, and even moreso when Attorney General Eric Holder strode down the walk. Neither stopped for questions — Holder’s rush to get to the door was was perhaps hastened by Wonkette’s reporter half-jokingly calling after him looking for a quote on his opinion of tribunals. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg avoided the carpet entirely, just getting dropped off at the front door and heading inside.
As the movie’s stars began to arrive, the crowd across the street began to get more animated, working up to the biggest response for Redford, who is seasoned enough at this sort of thing to know how to make the best entrance: be the last one to arrive. Kevin Kline was arguably the second biggest star there, but as the first arrival he only got a modest reception. You have to let someone warm the crowd up. Still, what cheering there was for Kline provided enough distraction for the arrival of the one person who bridged these two worlds: sometime stoner-comedy actor, current White House staffer, and White Castle aficianado Kal Penn, who hustled up the line looking reluctant to talk to anyone and grateful for the momentary diversion.
As the arrivals became denser with celebrities, the eye-rolling questions that we know by heart from watching Oscar arrivals started flying fast and furious. One reporter flagged down Robin Wright’s handler to find out “who’s Robin wearing?” The same question was asked of Evan Rachel Wood, who, in a welcome candid moment underlining the circus-show aspect, had to ask her handler. Wood was also asked for tips on how to stay as slender as she is, and nearly every person was asked by every reporter what it was like to work with Robert Redford. The actors could have saved time by having the answer to that one pre-printed on a card and handing it out as they moved down the line. All that time wasted on repeated questions, and yet I heard no one ask Johnny Simmons about his wonderfully straight-laced turn as Young Neil in Scott Pilgrim. Was I the only geek hanging out by the rope line?
In my favorite moment that illustrated just how off-balance an event like this throws us, one reporter, visibly nervous, taped an intro before anyone started arriving in which he touted, Entertainment Tonight-style, his “exclusive” coverage. He was either oblivious to the dozens of reporters around him, or was perhaps presuming that they were there covering some other event, given his obvious exclusive domain over this one.
Like I said: we do premieres a little differently here.
