Kickin' It With James Franco (Sort of): AFF Part 2

Well friends, I promised you celebrity sightings in my last post, and celebrity sightings is what I’m going to give you.  I didn’t know this when I first volunteered, but the Austin Film Festival is kind of a big deal.  Like, celebrities come and show their movies.  Now for those of you who have never been to my hometown of Lancaster, you may not be aware, but celebrities don’t exactly flock to our humble city.  Shocking. 

But Austin is a bit different.  For all of the similarities between Lancaster and Austin (too many to count), there are a few differences, and I suppose one of those is the celebrity-attraction factor. 

The biggest star to appear at AFF was Johnny Depp.  Yes, Gilbert Grape himself graced us with his presence and premiered his newest film, The Rum Diary.  Unfortunately, the roommates and I had to work a theatre that night, and it wasn’t the Paramount, where Mr. Depp’s film was premiering.  But rest assured, we were able to catch a glimpse of dear old Johnny (don’t tell him I called him that).  Here’s what happened:  basically, we were stationed at a pretty slow theatre, so we had a bit of time to kill while our patrons watched their film.  So we decided to head over to the Paramount just to check out what was going on.  And it was crazy.  Seriously nuts.  There were people everywhere with signs and pictures, waiting for Johnny Depp to show up.  They even had a red carpet where he made his entrance.  And although we weren’t working that particular premiere, we were wearing our volunteer t-shirts so we were automatically corralled into helping with crowd control.  This basically meant attempting (and failing, if you’re me) to keep people out of the streets while, oh, I don’t know, cars came zooming past, and hoping that no one got hurt.

I’m going to be honest:  when Johnny Depp finally arrived, I was essentially useless.  Another volunteer and I totally fan-girled and started craning our necks to see him.  What crowd control?  We were just as bad as everybody else, pointing and giggling and ignoring the people in the streets.  But I don’t think I was as bad as my dear friend Joanna, who totally abandoned her post and joined the crowd, snapping pictures of Johnny with her iPhone (sorry, Jo).  You should thank her, though, because if it  wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be able to share with you the lovely pic below. 

Johnny Depp at AFF

Mira Sorvino joined us on the final night of the festival, premiering her film Union Square.  I was actually working that film, but the crowd was much more demure than that for Mr. Depp.  Surprisingly, not as many screaming girls were around to make a big deal about Mira’s presence.  Poor Romy.

But as I told you in my last post, friends, the highlight of the festival for me was James Franco’s appearance.  In case you didn’t know, I’m a big Franco fan.  Is it his charming looks?  His seeming ability to master every task man ever attempted?  His Oscar nomination?  Yes, it’s all of those things, but it’s also the nerd in me who is smitten with the fact that he’s getting his PhD in English and is considering pursuing a Masters in Creative Writing.  Yes, I’m a dork, I know. Whatevs.

Anyway, Franco came to the AFF to premiere his latest film, Sal.  He only has a small role on screen, but he directed, wrote, and produced the film.  You know, between his PhD classes.  Just your typical guy.  So he showed the film, and then there was a Q and A following with him and Val Lauren, the actor who plays Sal Mineo in the film.  And it was awesome. 

The film was interesting, although it’s not necessarily one I would recommend to everyone.  There were several interesting stylistic elements, and I appreciated a lot of the technical aspects of the film.  The story follows the last day in Sal Mineo’s life, so it’s one of those films where not a lot happens.  What’s interesting, though, is how much importance is placed on the mundane tasks that happen that day because you see them through the context of it being someone’s last day on earth.  I enjoyed the film, but I could see where the pacing might be a little slow for some people.

What’s crazy is that they shot the film in like, nine days or something.  I don’t even know how that’s possible.  But that’s Franco.  I should expect nothing less.

But I’m not here to give you my opinion about Sal.  I’m here to show you pictures of James Franco.  The quality's not the best, but it's still Franco.  Oh, don't be so picky.

The amazing James Franco introducing his new film Sal at AFF

James Franco with Val Lauren (right) during the Q and A at the Sal screening

You’re welcome.

Those were the biggest stars we saw at AFF.  We also ran into Fred Stoller on the street who was there to promote his latest movie, Fred and Vinnie.  Caitlin got her picture with him, which was pretty cool.  And kind of random.

In a nutshell, that’s basically our AFF adventures.  But lest you’ve forgotten, I also volunteered for the Austin Book Festival at the same time as the film festival.  My stint there was much shorter – only two days and like 3 hours each day, but it was still a cool experience.  The second day of the festival, my roommates and I helped out at the book-signing tent for a couple of hours.  It was fairly slow because there were more volunteers than necessary, and I think a lot of the patrons had already gone home. 

But my first day at the book festival was pretty awesome.  I was an author escort for Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Stacy Schiff.

I’m going to be honest with you:  I didn’t know who she was when I first got my assignment.  Clearly, she’s kind of impressive since she, you know, won a Pulitzer Prize or whatever.  But I had no idea.  All I knew was that I had to escort her to one of the chamber rooms in the Texas Capital without getting lost.  No pressure (especially given my since of direction - recall the bus debacle?).

It wasn’t until I learned that she’s written a book on the life of Cleopatra (fittingly titled Cleopatra:  A Life), that the wheels started turning.  And my age began to show.  I remembered watching an episode of The Daily Show a couple of months ago that featured an author who wrote a book about Cleopatra.  A quick Google search on my smart phone revealed that Stacy Schiff was indeed the author on that episode (I didn’t reveal this knowledge to Ms. Schiff, however, because I didn’t want to let her know that the only way I recognized her was through a show on Comedy Central.  I'm such a good English major). 

I started getting a little nervous because I was realizing that Stacy was pretty important and I was going to be responsible for making sure she got to her speaking session on time.  And I was pretty sure that I was going to get her lost.  Thankfully, I was saved by Kay, a lovely lady who had been assigned specifically to Stacy as her own personal escort, which basically meant I just got to tag along with the crew and sit at the front of the room while Stacy talked about her book.  Not a bad deal, if I do say so myself.

And that concludes my volunteer adventures thus far in this crazy city.  By the end, we were really tired and our feet were seriously hurting, but it was so much fun.  We saw some great movies, met a lot of random people we probably wouldn’t have met otherwise, and learned a little about what it’s like to work in a theatre.   

And did I mention I saw James Franco?

My Brief Brush With the Film Industry (AFF, Part 1)

And so, the world’s worst blogger returns yet again with more insight and updates into my Austin chronicles.  I hope, dear readers, that this entry will excite you, as it’s filled with much more entertainment than my previous posts (and no rodents).  You see, my lovely roommates and I spent much of the past two weeks volunteering at the Austin Film Festival.  We also volunteered for the Austin Book Festival, but our tenure there was much shorter, so I’ll save those details for post 2.  Yes, you are about to witness my first 2-part blog post.  Get excited.

When we signed up for both festivals, we failed to realize that they would be taking place at the same time.  Typical.  So it was quite hectic as we struggled to remember which shirt to put on each morning and where we needed to get off of the bus.

Yes.  You read that correctly.  We tackled the bus.  Now, some of you are scoffing at me now, I’m sure, since thousands, or perhaps millions of people take public transportation every day (I really have no handle on population statistics).  What’s so special about taking the bus, you may be asking?  Well clearly, you weren’t with Joanna and me last December as we attempted, and failed miserably, to make use of the buses in Austin.  You would think that two college-educated women would be able to read a map and determine a proper route for getting from point A to point B.  You would be wrong.  I think we took the correct bus and got off at the right stop once.  In four days.  So taking the right bus to the right stop was quite an achievement for us.  Sad, but true.

  But anyway, enough about my geographical challenges and utter lack of directional sense.  Volunteering at the Film Festival was pretty awesome.  I was crazy tired by the end, but it was definitely worth the lack of sleep to see a bunch of great movies and meet some cool people.  Our first shift was helping out with a panel at the Stephen F. Austin Ballroom in the Intercontinental Hotel.  Here’s the thing about the Austin Film Festival:  it’s more than just a bunch of movie screenings.  They have this big conference with panels that people who buy badges can attend.   The main focus of the festival is on screenwriting, so lots of the panels deal with that.  They bring in guest speakers, and the audience gleans pearls of wisdom from these experts and then generally gets a chance at the end to ask questions so that they can (hopefully) one day earn a sacred spot in Hollywood as a legendary screenwriter/filmmaker/director…you get the idea.

Basically, our panel day was pretty simple.  After being sent on a wild chase for the backs of two chairs that for some reason hadn’t made it to the conference room (and which we never actually found), we spent most of our time directing people to the bathroom, quietly letting them in and out of the conference room, and showing them where they could get a glass of water.  How exciting.  In all honesty, it really wasn’t bad, and it was probably our most low-key job of the festival. 

We also helped at registration one day, which was pretty crazy.  I spent most of my time making badges for people and then handing them out.  Of course, everyone seemed to show up and need a badge all at once, and then there would be long periods where I was sitting in a room all by myself with nothing to do, pleading with my sister through text to entertain me (thanks again, Sarah).  I did, however, get to make a badge for David Boreanaz, which was pretty cool; unfortunately, he wasn’t there to pick it up, so I never got to meet him.  Ah, the perils of grunt work.  All work and no reward.

Now you’re probably reading this and thinking, ok, she worked at a film festival, but she’s yet to actually mention any films.  Or working where films were even taking place.  What gives?

Well you can rest easy, my friend, because I’m getting to that.  The most exciting part of our volunteer work was when we got to help out at the theatres, which we did quite a bit.  A lot of this work consists of crowd control:  you’re making sure everyone has a pass or a badge and that they don’t block the way for passersby to walk on the sidewalk.  The nice thing about theatre work is that after you help get everyone into the theatre, you usually get to sit in and watch the movies for free.  So basically you get to see a bunch of films that you probably wouldn’t be able to go to otherwise because they’re pretty small and won’t be released in that many theatres nationwide.   Here’s a brief rundown of the films I watched while volunteering:

Butter:  A movie about butter carving.  Sounds weird, I know.  I was skeptical at first, too, but it was really funny.  Jennifer Garner plays the wife of an award-winning butter carver who decides to enter the annual butter carving contest herself after her husband is asked not to enter again.  Now that I think about it, how could a movie about a butter-carving contest not be awesome?

Martha Marcy May Marlene:  Elizabeth Olsen, younger sister of Michelle Tanner, stars as a girl who leaves a cult to live with her sister and her sister’s husband.  It’s a dark film that switches back and forth in time, but I thought it was very compelling.

Albert Nobbs:  Glenn Close stars as a woman pretending to be a man in 19^th century Ireland.  I thought she gave a great performance in the film.  There’s also a love triangle, which always makes for a good story.

The Artist:  A silent film about a silent film.  I have to say, I really enjoyed this movie.  I was a little uncertain about a silent film because I’ve always been a proponent of sound, but this was probably one of my favorite films I saw at the festival. 

Jeff, Who Lives at Home:  Jason Segel plays Jeff, a guy who lives in his mother’s basement and basically wanders around aimlessly, waiting for signs from the universe to guide his life.  Ed Helms plays his brother, who is caught in a strained marriage, and Susan Sarandon stars as their mother.  Writer/Directors Jay and Mark Duplass were at the festival and held a Q and A following the film, and it was really interesting to hear them talk about their the movie. 

Sal:  James Franco’s (!!!!!) film about the last day in actor Sal Mineo’s life.  Franco was at the festival to talk about the film, which was without question the highlight of the festival for me.  More about this (as well as pictures) to come in entry 2.

The Woman in the Fifth:  Ethan Hawke stars as a writer who moves to Paris to be near his daughter, who lives with his estranged wife.  While there, he takes a strange job at a hotel, and many weird things begin happening to him.  This film was intriguing, but it was very abstract, and I think a lot of the audience was confused when it ended.

Union Square:  Mira Sorvino stars as a woman from Queens who goes to visit her sister in New York City after 3 years without speaking.  The two women are very different, but a family situation brings them together.  I really enjoyed this movie as well – it definitely had some serious moments, but it also had a good bit of humor, and I thought Mira Sorvino did a great job.

I also saw Toy Story with my roommate Joanna because amazing Pixar guy John Lasseter was there, but I didn’t give you a rundown of that because I’m assuming all of you have seen it.  If you haven’t, rent it.  And then rent the next two.  Indulge your inner child.  You deserve it. 

Now I'm clearly no film critic, so these are just my thoughts on the films I saw.  If you feel like taking my word on the films, good for you.  If not, I don't blame you.  I'm not exactly the most critical consumer.  

In typical Lucy fashion, this post has gone on for far, far too long.  I’ll try to get part 2 up soon, where you can learn all about my time at the Book Festival.  And I’ll show you pictures of my celebrity sightings at the Film Festival.  That's the best teaser I have.  And it's probably the only time you'll read that in one of my blog posts.  Seriously.

Until then, stay classy readers, and try not to miss me too much.  I’ll attempt to do the same.