Today was a long, slow day but in the end, it was all worth it!
After finishing work and rushing downtown, I met up with my friends and we went to the Princess of Wales Theatre to check out the premiere for The Place Beyond the Pines starring Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, Bradley Cooper, and Ray Liotta. It was absolute mayhem. There was a massive crowd of people in front of the theatre and across the street and it grew exponentially by the minute. The bad (annoying) thing with crowds is that when people see other people waiting outside of a venue, they will wait too, even though they probably have no idea what the f- is going on. This is bad for me because it's another body or 50 that is between me and the red carpet. Right when we arrived at the theatre, Bradley Cooper had just made his way onto the red carpet. People pushed. Fans screamed. The crowd got back under control. Close to 30 mins later, Eva Mendes finally arrived at the red carpet. People pushed. Fans screamed. The crowd got back under control. Then, Ryan Gosling arrived. People pushed. Fans screamed. The crowd waiting across the street from the theatre ran ONTO King Street and rushed the red carpet, with everyone trying to get a shot of Gosling with their cell phones. Crazy!
Crowd on King St.
After the film ended, we went to the cast after party at Ame on Mercer. Ryan Gosling arrived first and apologized that he couldn't take photos with fans outside, he had to get his mom into the venue. How sweet! It would've been sweeter if he had taken a photo with me. I do have 3 other photos with him so it's not a terrible loss. He did offer to sign the Drive soundtrack vinyl I was holding for my friend, which was nice.
Ryan Gosling at Ame
After I got the autograph, I spotted Bradley Cooper walking towards the door and got him to pose for a quick photo. It would've been a great photo had I not zoomed the camera in (I was taking a pic of Gosling posing on the red carpet). Note to self: always undo the zoom! The same thing happened to me years ago with Jude Law.
Bradley Cooper, zoomed (oops)
Next, Eva Mendes' car pulled up. She got out of the car and posed for a few fan photos, including one while holding a fan's baby. She signed some autographs too but she wouldn't do the sexy photos.
Eva Mendes
Celeb Spotting Tip: If you only want to catch a glimpse of a celeb, go to their film's premiere. If you want to meet a celeb and get an autograph or take a photo with them, try finding out where the film's after party is. There are usually less people and the celeb (and their security team) is generally more accommodating.
I left soon after that to meet up with my friend Al, who had given me a very important tip earlier.
