movie star sightings – IAMNOTASTALKER

February 10, 2012February 9, 2012

The “TimesTalks” Interview with George Clooney & Alexander Payne

This past Wednesday afternoon, the fabulous Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, informed me that she had just scored two tickets to The New York Times “TimesTalks in L.A.” interview with actor George Clooney and his The Descendants director Alexander Payne. Pinky wanted me to be her plus-one for the event, which was taking place that evening at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, and, even though I have never been a huge George Clooney fan, I immediately accepted. Now don’t get me wrong, I loved Ocean’s Eleven and think GC (yes, there’s another one!) is a great actor, but, unlike most females on the planet, he has never been my end-all, be-all. I have always just kind of felt fair-to-middling about the guy. Oh, how that was all about to change! Pinky and I showed up to the event about an hour early and there were already a good 100 people in line. Thankfully though, we were able to snag some second row seats and Pinky was literally on the edge of hers the entire time waiting for the interview to begin. You see, George Clooney has long been Pinky’s “unicorn”. While almost all of her other stalker friends had managed to snag pics with him over the years, she had somehow missed him at countless events and was beginning to think the guy didn’t exist. So to make sure that this would not turn out to be yet another failed opportunity, she knitted George a scarf and wrote him a card, hoping that he would take pity on us and, in turn, pose for a couple of photos.

The interview got started right on time and when George Clooney walked onto the stage, I am pretty sure my mouth fell open about a foot . . . and I might have even drooled a little. In person, without the aid of professional make-up, lighting, and Photoshop, the guy still looked movie-star-perfect! Like WOW!

Unfortunately, the moderator for the event, who shall remain nameless, was beyond-words horrible! How he managed to make an interview with George Clooney and Alexander Payne boring is absolutely beyond me, but he did! About thirty minutes into it, I turned to Pinky and said, “I would rather stab a pen through my eye than have to sit here and listen to this guy any longer!” I swear, if Joel McHale and The Soup writers got hold of the video of the event, they would have a field day! At one point, when an audience member asked George and Alexander what movies had inspired them over the years, the moderator opted to also give an answer himself. Like, really?? I don’t think anyone was asking you! And while Alexander seemed annoyed with the guy (and rightfully so!), George (gotta love him!) was repeatedly trying to help him out. He continually attempted to lead the conversation in a much more interesting direction and gave beautifully-crafted answers to the many inanely-crafted questions. All I could think while watching him was, George Clooney is not just nice, he’s kind. I honestly do not think I would have been nearly as gracious in the same situation.

George was also EXTREMELY funny, witty, and quick to laugh, as you can see above. I can only imagine how dreadfully boring the whole interview would have been had he not been carrying it.

George also seemed incredibly down-to-earth. When the moderator opened up the interview to questions from the audience at the end of the evening and then realized there were no microphones set up in the auditorium, George immediately jumped out of his chair to help find one. Um, LOVE IT! And the tipping point for me was when a much older, slightly clueless, gentleman got up to ask a question, during which he told George that he had once submitted a script to George’s uncle, movie director Jose Ferrer, and that, in response, Jose had written him the kindest rejection letter he had ever received. He happened to have the letter with him and George immediately jumped off of the stage to accept it, then gave the guy a hug, and posed for a photograph with him for the press in attendance. The gentleman, who by that time was no longer near the audience microphone, then asked George if he wouldn’t mind moving a bit closer to him so that he could use the microphone affixed to George’s lapel to continue to tell his story (not kidding!), which went on . . . and on . . . and on. The whole thing was absolutely unbelievable, but George, once again, was beyond kind about it and never rushed the man or acted in any way uninterested in hearing what he had to say.

As soon as the interview was over, Pinky ran up to the stage and called George over to give him the scarf and card she had made. George honestly could NOT have been nicer, thanked her, and happily agreed to pose for a pic . . .

. . . which turned out ADORABLE! <3

Then I asked for a pic and George, once again, happily obliged. Pinky often says about the friendlier stars she has met over the years, “That celeb was so nice, he/she would have braided my hair if I had I asked!” Well, I am very happy to report that George Clooney was braid-your-hair nice.

Alexander Payne was also incredibly nice and down-to-earth and actually kneeled down on the stage next to me so that my picture with him would come out better. LOVE IT!

Pinky and I took the above photo as we were walking to our car after the interview, squealing like little schoolgirls the entire way! She captioned the pic on Facebook, “This is our ‘We just met George Clooney’ face!”

Watch live streaming video from nytimes at livestream.com

You can watch a video of the entire “TimesTalks in LA” interview with George Clooney and Alexander Payne by clicking above.

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Upon leaving the event, Pinky, ever the stalker, decided to search the WireImage website to see which stars were in attendance at the This Means War premiere that was taking place over in Hollywood that same night. And she just about flipped when she saw that Kristin Cavallari was there, because it just so happens that KCav is my unicorn! I absolutely LOVE the reality star and have not only missed her at several appearances, but when I did end up meeting her a few years back, the Grim Cheaper had a massive fail with our photo op. So Pinky and I immediately headed right on over to Hollywood to try to catch my unicorn! And while we didn’t end up seeing Kristin, we did get some pics with some other celebs including Holly Marie Combs (don’t we look like besties in the above photo? );

Perrey Reeves, aka Mrs. Ari on Entourage;

Melanie Lynskey – aka Rose, Charlie’s stalker on Two and a Half Men;

Ashley Jones, from The Bold and the Beautiful and True Blood;

and Francois Arnaud from The Borgias. All in all it was a FABULOUS night that I am still on a complete and total high from over 24 hours later! You can read Miss Pinky Lovejoy’s write-up of the evening on her blog here.

Big THANK YOU to Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, for inviting me to this event and for turning me into a huge George Clooney fan in the process!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Unfortunately, there is no stalking location for this one, but you can catch The Descendants in theatres now.

September 16, 2011September 15, 2011

Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank from “Heat”

While doing some stalking in the Burbank area way back in November of last year, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to the Bob’s Big Boy restaurant on Riverside Drive to grab a bite to eat. And even though the eatery has quite a vast Hollywood history, is a filming location, serves fried food (my favorite!), and is currently the oldest remaining Bob’s in the entire restaurant chain, for whatever reason in my ten-plus years of living in Los Angeles I had yet to dine there. But, let me tell you, the place was well worth the wait! Both the GC and I absolutely LOVED it!

Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank was originally built in 1949 by franchise owners Scott MacDonald and Ward Albert, and was designed by Wayne McAllister, the legendary Googie-style architect who also designed the Biltmore Hotel’s Biltmore Bowl ballroom, the Sands Hotel and Desert Inn in Las Vegas, and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel’s Cinegrill nightclub. In 1993, after several changes in ownership and a few dining room remodels, the property was purchased by the MacDonald family, who immediately set about an extensive renovation in order to restore the Streamline-Moderne-style eatery to its original glory. The MacDonald’s also added a front patio to the premises, re-fabbed the famous exterior signage, and, best of all, re-instated car-hop service from 5 to 10 p.m. each Friday and Saturday night. So incredibly cool! In 1993, the restaurant was also deemed a California Point of Historical Interest.

Visiting Bob’s Big Boy, one is immediately transported back in time, thanks largely to its curved counter and open kitchen ;

cantilevered roof and petal-like umbrellas,

and commanding 50s-style signage –

the most impressive of which is the 70-foot-tall free-standing display sign pictured above.

And the food! Oh, the food! I ordered the chicken strips and they were absolutely out-of-this-world! And don’t even get me started on the ranch dressing! I was almost ready to start eating it by itself, soup-style, it was so good! The GC opted for the famous “Big Boy” double-decker hamburger, which he loved. The “Big Boy” was originally invented by Bob’s Big Boy founder Bob Wian in 1937 and was the precursor to the now-legendary McDonald’s Big Mac. He created the sandwich as a joke one night when one of his regular customers asked for a “different” kind of burger. And the rest, as they say, is hamburger history. Amazingly, Bob was also one of the very first restaurant owners to offer his employees a profit-sharing plan and medical insurance.

Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank has been a celebrity hangout since the very beginning. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there over the years include Bob Hope (who was a regular), James Dean, Mickey Rooney, Dana Andrews, Jonathan Winters, Alexis Smith, Debbie Reynolds, Craig Stevens, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Taylor Lautner, Tiffany Thornton, Tori Spelling, Melissa Joan Hart, David Henrie, Taylor Swift, Joey Lawrence, Cheech Marin, Selena Gomez, Jay Leno, David Lynch, Dennis Haskins, and Freddie Prinze Jr. During the summer of 1965, all four members of The Beatles famously dined at one of the eatery’s back booths, which is pictured above.

That occasion was marked with the gold plaque pictured above, which one employee told me has been stolen countless times over the years. I cannot tell you how much I hate hearing things like that! Apparently, the owners were sick of constantly having to replace the sign, so for a time they left the wall in that area blank. Thankfully though, the plaque was back in its proper place when I stalked the restaurant last year.

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And, as I mentioned above, Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank is also a filming location! The diner was featured twice in the 1995 heist movie Heat. It first popped us as the restaurant where a fresh-out-of-prison Donald Breedan (aka Dennis Haysbert) got hired as a janitor/cook.

Towards the end of the movie, it shows up once again in the scene in which Neil McCauley (aka Robert De Niro), Michael Cheritto (aka Tom Sizemore), and Chris Shiherlis (aka Val Kilmer) convince Donald to be the driver for their upcoming bank heist. Apparently there was once a plaque displayed in the booth where that scene took place commemorating the occasion, but it was stolen countless times as well and had yet to be replaced in November.

In the Season 8 episode of Dancing with the Stars, Derek Hough took Lil’ Kim to Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank to get her into character for their upcoming 50s jive performance. You can watch a clip of that segment being filmed here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking and Happy Voting – don’t forget to vote for me to be the face of About Me! There are only five voting days left – you can vote once every 24 hours now through Tuesday, September 20th.

Stalk It: Bob’s Big Boy, from Heat, is located at 4211 West Riverside Drive in Burbank. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here. Priscilla’s Coffee Tea & Gifts, from Desperate Housewives, which I blogged about back in December of 2009, is located just across the street from Bob’s at 4150 Riverside Drive in Burbank.

August 10, 2011August 10, 2011

“The Perfect Age of Rock & Roll” Premiere

As I mentioned yesterday, I was unable to stick around to watch much of the Parks and Recreation filming at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena last Wednesday afternoon as I had promised Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, that I would meet her at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 theatre in West Hollywood that evening to do some stalking of the premiere of The Perfect Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll. As fate would have it, this particular event turned out to be a pretty fortuitous one for us because Sunset 5 is located right next door to Crunch Fitness, which is apparently a big time celebrity hot spot. So not only were we keeping our eyes peeled for stars dressed to the nines heading towards the theatre, but we were also keeping our eyes peeled for those dressed in work-out clothes entering and exiting the gym. Pinky, who pretty much has superhero powers when it comes to spotting celebrities, caught sight of comedian/actor Dane Cook walking into Crunch while we were eating dinner a good 300 yards away. The girl has got MAD skills, I tell ya! And while she ended up catching Dane on his way out of the gym about an hour later, the guy was NOT nice AT ALL and not only refused to take a picture with her, but would not even make eye contact, which resulted in her bestowing him with the “Douchebag of the Day” award on her blog later that week. Pinky also had this sage piece of advice for the surly actor, “If you don’t want to be recognized, don’t walk right through a movie premiere!” LOL LOL LOL I did not even attempt to approach Dane as he did not in any way, shape, or form seem friendly. Truth be told, he kind of scared me. I am very happy to report, though, that it was all uphill from there as shortly after Dane shot Pinky down, she spotted Rufus Sewell, who played Jasper Bloom in fave movie The Holiday, heading into Crunch. Rufus could NOT have been nicer and posed for at least a dozen photographs with various fans – and even agreed to pose for a second one with me after the first one we took failed to turn out. Rufus was so sweet, in fact, that he asked me to make sure our second picture was to my liking and even waited around while I did so, before heading off to the gym. Swoon!

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While I was posing with Rufus, Jason Ritter showed up and was absolutely mobbed by fans and the numerous “graphers” who were in attendance. Luckily enough, Pinky has known Jason for quite a long time and is actually sort of friends with the actor, so he immediately walked through the crowd and right up to her to say hi. I am sad to say that I had a major blonde moment while meeting him, though, as I had been planning on asking him if he happened to know where the apartment building from the opening credits of Three’s Company was located. Fellow stalkers Chas, from the ItsFilmedThere website, and Owen and I have been looking for that blasted building for quite a while now and I figured that if anyone would know its location, it would be Jason. But I got a bit flustered while speaking with him and the whole thing COMPLETELY slipped my mind! MAJOR FAIL! And big apologies to Chas and Owen! Jason could NOT have been nicer, though, and even though there were at least fifty people mobbing him, he stayed around to take pictures with and sign autographs for absolutely everyone who wanted one.

Taryn Manning arrived next and I was absolutely FLOORED to get a photograph with her as I have extremely fond memories of the actress from my time as an extra on the movie Crossroads. Taryn was easily the nicest of all of the Crossroads stars and, for whatever reason, remembered me each day that I was on set and would go out of her way to say hi. She also remembered me when I attended the movie’s wrap party, a week after filming had been completed, and walked up to me to say, “I’m so glad you were able to come to this.” So incredibly sweet! When I told her how nice she had been to me during the Crossroads shoot, she started laughing and said, “Aww. Well, I haven’t changed, I’m still very nice, I promise.”

We also spotted DJ Qualls, who played Kyle Edwards in 2000’s Road Trip, at the premiere . . .

. . . and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past/Grey’s Anatomy/The Devil Wears Prada star Daniel Sunjata, who was leaving Crunch Fitness – both of whom were extremely nice.

Also in attendance was Easy Rider himself, Peter Fonda, along with his much younger-looking wife, Margaret DeVogelaere. Sadly, Peter would not take any pictures or sign any autographs due to the fact that he was running late. And while we could have hung out and waited until the premiere was over to get a pic with Peter, I just really did not feel like doing so. If it was Matt Lanter, Michael Buble, or Joel McHale, I would wait around all day for a photo, but Peter Fonda? Not so much. 😉 All in all it was another FABULOUS celebrity-filled stalking adventure, though – save for the minor setback with Dane douchebag Cook.

Big THANK YOU to Pinky Lovejoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, for inviting me to this event!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Laemmle’s Sunset 5 is located at 8000 Sunset Boulevard, inside of the 8000 Sunset Strip shopping center, in West Hollywood. You can catch The Perfect Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll in theatres now.