Ian's Lord of the Rings Pages - Two Towers, The One Party, Hollywood, 23rd March 2003




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Day 4 - Two Towers, One Party (Page 1 of 6) Click here for Day 1 report Click here for Day 2 report Click here for Day 3 report Click here for next page of this Day 4 report Move mouse over any picture for explanatory text. Click on any picture to see a larger version. VIEWS EXPRESSED ON THIS WEB SITE ARE THE PERSONAL OPINION OF IAN SMITH AND DO NOT IN ANY WAY REFLECT THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS OF DECIPHER, THE OFFICIAL FAN CLUB MAGAZINE OR STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS OF THEONERING.NET (TORn)

I always felt that this year's party was going to be different from last year's - partly because the attendance numbers were due to increase two to three-fold, and partly because the size of the venue was due to increase three-to-four-fold, potentially making it a much less "intimate" experience. However these were not major issues and turned out to have very little impact. What did have an impact, and made things a lot different for me personally, was that, with no official Decipher presence this year, I was effectively their volunteer "representative". This meant I got a Press pass and a brief from the official fan club magazine editor to get as many celebrity photo's as possible. TORn, presumably in recognition of the standing the Official fan club magazine has in the movie fan community, facilitated this request by also issuing me with a VIP (Very Important Poof!) pass.
This "heightened status" proved to be a double-edged sword - while it meant I got some pictures and quotes that would have otherwise been impossible (particularly from Dominic Monaghan, Craig Parker and all the oscar award recipients), it meant I missed much of the fun activities in the main areas on the ground floor. I really didn't have as much time to hook up with old friends as I'd have liked. But much worse than these minor inconveniences was the reaction of a small minority of fan club members, clearly upset at my having been granted the privelege they felt they were more deserving of. Can I just poiint out, for the record, that neither Susan (who assisted me) nor I were "freeloading" as one lovely individual put it - we both paid for our tickets, even though free ones were on offer! :-P Those who've read the earlier "teaser" placeholder page that was here before this report was published know that this year's party surprised and impressed me - I believe it was even better than last year's, which was something I really hadn't expected. I'm pleased to report that my gushing enthusiasm was shared by my fellow travellers from the UK - not one of the British party felt that the party hadn't been worth the cost of air fare and hotels to Los Angeles. And all intend returning next year!
		However for a small, but very vocal, minority of more local people things are apparently different - certain web reports and postings on the official fan club boards carry diatribes that complain about elitism from the party's volunteer organisers or of being treated like "peons" (I misread this as "paens" which my dictionary says means "a song of great praise", but apparently in America it is a variation on the English word 'peasant'!). It seems that a few poor souls are angry that they were not accorded the same priveleges as the sponsors who put in great sums of money to ensure this event went ahead, or of the special guests (the cast and crew). Admittedly, the behaviour of just one or two individuals who had access to the VIP area could have been better, and the enthusiasm of one or two reports recently posted on TORn may be adding fuel to the fire, but when all's said and done my heart really bleeds for these poor status-conscious souls (not!) I don't want to turn THIS report into yet another ranty piece, but isn't it funny how the one or two individuals who were so vocal in making the same complaints last year, felt the need to come rushing back for more this year??! The odd thing is that those who recognised the party for what it is - a chance to celebrate the movies with fans from all over the world - had a fantastic time, while those who sat sulking over the fact that they didn't feel special enough appear to have had a quite miserable time (I guarantee they'll all somehow find an excuse to be back next year though!). The real irony is that, from what I witnessed, those (mainly sponsors) who hung out in the "VIP area" - the area which appears to be causing all the ill-feeling - didn't seem to be having anywhere near as good a time as those in the main areas. The atmosphere was extremely "corporate" and subdued, at least until the cast and crew arrived. Things downstairs really were so much more fun. And when the cast and crew did arrive - well, more on that later! The bottom line though, folks, is you didn't miss diddly squat, so please quit your very public whingeing (and if you're one of those few sad souls boasting publicly about your special access to the so-called VIP area you really need to get out more!) Upstairs TORn staff worked hard, organising special guests, arranging video interviews, and rushing around organising food and security. And the thanks they got for working all night instead of partying? Charges of "elitism" from a few obsessed individuals who seem to think they're above the cut of the rest of us and are mad because they lost their bragging rights! Frankly, I'm staggered at the ingratitude! But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Let's start at the beginning and my rather fraught mission to get some good pictures for the Official Fan Club magazine.... Some history: The photo's I took at last year's party were a bit of a disaster - they had been captured with a papparazi zoom lens some distance from the main "stage" area. I hadn't been very far from the main stage before the celebrities arrived, but, thanks to the mad rush of a small number of people who forgot all decorum and manners when Sir Ian McKellen and the others arrived, I found myself elbowed out the way in the mad hysterical rush to get to the front (although I should mention that Rick a.k.a. King Elessar was at pains to try and get me a place nearer the front, for which I thank him). Remembering that event I find it funny to see how people can rewrite history and say this phenomenon was new to this year's party! It was there last year, it was there at Comic-Con (anybody else notice how after that particularly hysterical fan invasion Elijah Wood has avoided fan-oriented events, even cutting short his "Two Towers" movie premiere tour appearances?), and it will undoubtedly be there again next year, assuming the cast and crew don't all do an Orlando Bloom on us and decide that for their own safety it's best to stay away even if they are in the vicinity. The "lesson learnt" from last year was that my flash gun couldn't reach the necessary distance to properly capture the celebrities, and it took some serious work in Photoshop to rescue the pictures so that they could appear on the web and in the fan club magazine. This year I decided to avoid the same problems by using a multiple wireless flash system and asked the most organised movie fan friend I have, Susan Brock (Moocholas) to assist me. The idea was that she would hold an additional flash gun down the front of the stage area where the celebrities were likely to appear, while I held back with the papparazi zoom and a second flash that triggered hers. Sounds like a good plan, yes? Well, as it turned out, we didn't need to use two flashes because I got close enough to the main stage, despite arriving in the main hall some time after the celebrities had walked on stage. However Susan's role as "assistant" turned out to be essential - her knowledge of the layout of the place, ability to make friends instantly, be insistent without being rude, and to generally look after me (three words: 'damned', 'breaking' and 'cummerband'!) proved a God-send. Susan's assistance meant I got quotes and pictures that would have otherwise been missed. Anyway.... We arrived just after 4pm on a bright sunny day to find a queue already formed around the block. It was backed up to the entrance that had been used last year, an entrance that was to serve only as the VIP entrance this year. Parking turned out to be far easier than anticipated with free parking available immediately behind the venue. Entering the Hollywood Athletic Club we were met by our old friend Catherine (Arwen2) who looked, like so many other ladies on the night, stunning in her fancy gown. We were also met by one of TORN's webmasters, Bill Thomas (Corvar). Bill gave us both a hearty welcome and insisted on giving us a guided tour of all the rooms. What we saw was impressive - the venue was much bigger than I'd realised last year, with the whole of the area used for last year's party now serving as a sponsor's and VIP area. The much bigger ground floor and basement were used for the main party activities. The main viewing room was huge, decked out with what must be the world's biggest advertising poster for "The Two Towers" movie, and there was also a second viewing room which was about as big as last year's, with a third room almost as big as the main room called "The Dead Marshes" also screening the oscar broadcst. This was a cleverly disguised swimming pool area with dry ice giving a very nice effect. I overheard one or two moaning minnies complaining that too many tickets were sold this year (sounds like someone's trying to be elite to me ;-)) but this makes no sense to me - I checked several times throughout the evening and both the non-main viewing rooms were quiet - The Dead Marshes really living up to their name all night. A lot more tickets could easily have been sold, but I'm glad nobody got greedy as it gave us plenty of room throughout the venue. There was one problem with the two viewing rooms that weren't the main room - the sound was only broadcast for the oscar transmission, not for Quickbeam's compering in the commercial breaks, and I think this explains why the rooms were so quiet and everyone gravitated towards the main room. Click here for next page of report on The One Party

Don't forget you can check out reports of lots of other Lord of the Rings -themed events in the Web Logs section


Email: ian@iansmith.co.uk