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| Waiting for the Stars at the Venice Film Festival - Photo: Cat Bauer |
(Venice, Italy) There is an embargo until 8:30 tonight against writing anything about Damien Chazelle's world premiere "First Man" starring Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. However, I don't think I'll be giving anything away to reveal that when a journalist asked Gosling if he thought the moon walk was America's greatest moment, Gosling replied, "I'm Canadian."
I wandered around and took some shots of the crowd waiting outside the red carpet, even though no stars were scheduled to appear for hours, and it was hot. I wondered, who are these people, anyway, and how long have they been here? I found three girls with front row seats, sitting with their backs against the white barrier separating the public from the red carpet. They had written their names there to reserve their spaces, though they were not in their proper places when I spoke to them.
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| Elena, Ale & Silvia - waiting for the stars |
Elena, Alessandra (Ale) and Silvia had been parked outside the barrier since 5:00 A.M. They were waiting for Ryan Gosling and Damien Chazelle, who would not appear until about 14 hours later.
Elena is 21-years-old and is from Mestre, the town right outside Venice. Ale, 27, is from Florence, and came up by train. Silvia is 18, and from Padua.
It turned out that this is a yearly reunion, and the girls have been on red carpet-duty for five years now. In fact, they met five years ago waiting outside the red carpet. I said, "Wait a second. Silvia, that means you were 13-years-old. How did you get here?" That's when it was revealed that in addition to her home in Padua, Silvia's family also has a house on the Lido.
Ale, the oldest, had her first red carpet adventure at the 66th Venice Film Festival in 2009, which I remember very well -- it was the year that Sam Maoz's "Lebanon" won the Golden Lion, and George Clooney starred in "The Men Who Stare at Goats." So, Ale was only 18-years-old herself when she began her red carpet brigade. The girls are strategically positioned, experienced and congenial -- real red-carpet pros.
I asked them if they would wait for Lady Gaga on Friday, and Elena and Ale said no. They said they thought that Lady Gaga was a great performer, and respected her talent, but they weren't big fans. Silvia, since she had her house on Lido, would wait, but was more interested in Bradley Cooper (as were they all) who directed and stars with Gaga in "A Star is Born."
Other young people drifted by and said hello -- it was a festive atmosphere, sort of like a weekend outdoor concert where the attendees stake out their space, and then come and go, counting on the community to keep an eye on their stuff, which included backpacks, umbrellas to block the sun and ladders to get a better shot.
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| Guillermo del Toro Venice Film Festival |
Hours later, I watched the red carpet arrivals on the screen inside the press room, and it seemed that the girls got autographs and/or and selfies of Guillermo del Toro, the president of the jury, but not of their heartthrob Ryan Gosling, who was told too soon that time was up. The fans loudly protested, and Gosling broke free of his handlers for a few more fast autographs, but was quickly escorted back to his place with the rest of the cast. Damien Chazelle, who was there with his wife, Olivia Hamilton, did not sign autographs at all.
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| "First Man" - Jason Clarke, Olivia Hamilton, Damien Chazelle, Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy |
At least the girls got some prime red carpet images for their Instagrams...
Ciao from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
I wandered around and took a some shots of the crowd waiting outside the red carpet, even though no stars were scheduled to appear for hours, and it was hot. I wondered, who are these people, anyway, and how long have they been here? I found three girls with front row seats, sitting with their backs against the white barrier separating the public from the red carpet. They had written their names there to reserve their spaces, though they were not in their places when I spoke to them.
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