Monday, February 11, 2013

THE BAFTAs!

4:15 AM: My alarm goes off. I roll out of bed and put on about 20 layers of clothing.
4:30 AM: The troops roll out (6 of us) to the Royal Theater to wait in line to get BAFTA awards wristbands.
6 AM: After an hour and a half of sitting in the biting cold and rain, morale is low.
7 AM: There is finally movement in the line, but not much.
8:30 AM: We all finally get our wristbands!!

The line

My wristband: #254
Yeah, that was my morning. It was SO COLD. Allow me to illustrate (credit to Meagan Dalton):
My glasses kept fogging up from breathing into my scarf

We had heard that the lower the number wristband you got, the sooner you would be able to get into the red carpet pens at 3pm that day. So since we knew the wristbands would be handed out from 7-8am, we figured we'd get there extra early just in case. The whole thing was soo disorganized. At first, the line moved, but then we would stand in the same spot for 20 minutes at a time. When we got up to the front of the line, we realized that the distributors were taking their sweet time putting bracelets on everyone's wrist (and there was only one person doing so), talking to everyone. EXCUSE ME. We waited 4 hours, we just wanted to get it done so we could go back and sleep. Which we did afterwards. I slept a blissful 3 hours.

Since we had wristbands with low numbers, we figured we would have good spots even if we got to the pens at 2. We learned VERY quickly how wrong we were. When we arrived at the spot, we were again shown how disorganized the red carpet was. We asked about 3 different people where to go, and each of them told us to talk to the person we had just talked to. After running around the pens a few times, we ended  up in a spot. 3 rows back, with the carpet completely blocked by people and umbrellas. Did I mention it was still freezing and pouring rain? Yeah. As the night went on, it started to snow.

I think I had one of the best spots of our group; I was three people back, and actually had a pretty good view of the carpet.



I heard American accents next to me, so I started a conversation to see what my fellow Americans were doing there. It was a group of girls who were studying to get their master's here; I forget now what university it was through. They told me they had gotten in the wristband line at 7:30, but had gotten to the red carpet around 12 and had gotten second row. So I suppose that was the way to do it, instead of early in the morning and late in the afternoon. As the hours passed, Kara, Kate and Kelsie started to question how worth the experience was. They were a row behind me, and were freezing and wet. We were told by security that celebrities wouldn't start showing up until 5, so they left around 4.

At about 4:30, one of the girls standing in front of me decided to leave. Her friend offered her spot to me, which I gladly took. We began talking and (being British), she was my guide to the British celebrities.

Around 5, people started arriving. It was pouring rain (still) at this point. I was starting to doubt staying myself, as the first people to come were spectators or lesser known British stars. But then Hugh Jackman arrived and I KNEW I had to stay. I apologize in advance, my pictures are not good. My batteries started to die, so it took forever for my flash to charge. Also, even though I was second row and was physically close to everyone, the people in front of me often blocked my view. But I tried my best. I was still there!!

Hugh's on the right. He sped through the line pretty quickly

JENNIFER LAWRENCE!!! She was honestly the person I was most excited to see. She went through pretty quickly, too, but she said hi and apologized for going so quickly. I understand, it was disgusting weather.




Next was Tom Hiddleston. I was most impressed by him on the carpet, because I saw what a great person he is. The first picture is from his first round through. He literally went up and down the carpet until he had signed every autograph and taken every picture he could. It was so easy for these celebrities to just pass us by because of the awful weather, but I saw how much he really cares about his fans. I was never an obsessive fan of Tom (although I always thought he was SO attractive), but now I have so much more respect for him. He showed how normal famous people are. 

A few Les Mis people came through next: Samantha Barks (Eponine), Tom Hooper (the director) and EDDIE REDMAYNE. He didn't come right in front of us, but I could still see how beautiful he is. Apparently he was feeling under the weather (although I'm not sure if it happened after he got inside). Anne Hathaway mentioned him in her Supporting Actress acceptance speech, saying he was throwing up because of food poisoning. Yikes!

The best I got of Eddie :(

Tim Burton passed through, but didn't stop by me

Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck went through, but didn't stop right by us :( I couldn't get very good pictures of them.
Helena Bonham Carter!

Next was the one, the only: George Clooney. I think seeing him was the strangest thing all night. He was again genuinely nice; he stopped and signed autographs, and kept saying, "I'll be back!" And he came back, too. He was so sweet. And beautiful.




Bradley Cooper then came up out of no where. I think everyone had been freaking out about George, so Bradley didn't get all the fanfare until he was literally right in front of me. Also just as beautiful in real life.


By this point, it was painful to stand up. My feet were so cold that they HURT. My hips were tense from being on my tiptoes and being cold. Megan Ross and I decided to call it a night, even though we knew more celebrities would be coming. I had wanted to see Anne Hathaway, but honestly, I was so happy with who I got to see. We were talking as we left, though, and I realized how odd the experience was. I mean, everyone felt so normal. I realized I was just screaming at and taking pictures of normal people. Why do we do that? There wasn't even music or anything playing, it was just people yelling. It was really, really bizarre now that I think about it. I did really like seeing who was dedicated to their fans and who just passed through. It meant a lot when someone stopped to say hello, even if you couldn't really have a conversation with them. I could have taken something for them to sign, but it really was enough for me to just be there.

Am I glad I went? Yes. Would I ever do it again? No. Unless it was 70 degrees with clear skies. But it really was a once in a lifetime thing. I mean, when am I ever going to be able to walk 20 minutes to the red carpet of one of the biggest award shows in the world? Never, that's when. 

We watched the actual awards later that night, and it was really strange seeing all the celebrities on TV who I had just seen in person. I actually really enjoyed the award ceremony. There were no commercials, just 2 hours of awards. Stephen Frye hosted and was fabulous. There were obviously the lame jokes and jabs at celebrities, but they were so much funnier than in the States. Nothing was drawn out or awkward. Frye was a real host: he had a monologue, but then he would introduce the presenters. It just felt much classier too. I don't know, we all agreed we would rather watch the BAFTA awards than any American award show. 

It was a very, very long day, and I was quite happy to snuggle up in my warm bed after the award show was done. I have never appreciated a warm house as much as I did today.

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