this has been a very busy 2009 so far, but we always take time for our Oscar week ritual. from far away, we see the tower with the little gold statue:
every year since they built the Kodak Theater I go down and pad around looking at the crew setting up the red carpet.
and we eat sushi...
and usually we go to the little exhibit where you can hold one of the (surprisingly heavy) statues, like so:
but this year, that exhibit was in Chicago---so we didn't. maybe next year?
QUICK UPDATE< the Oscar winner for make up on BENJAMIN BUTON, Greg Cannom, just thanked our own MILES TEVES Super congrats to Miles, he invited me to come to the studio a few years ago, and showed me the amazing models of Brad Pitt's face in several ages, from baby baby to old man...of course I culdn't take photos and had to sign a non-disclosure agreement...Miles, one day you'll be up there yourself, darling.
***and the new Oscars look grande, the screenwriter's montage was the first time they have made writing interesting to watch.
ps there is a new blog up over at furrytiger.com about our little movie shoot. THE EXECUTIVE
the waving streams of light from outside the window signaled that premiere night approached:
that morning, first up were several more interviews for our man Neil. That he could still string sensible sentences together and Twitter at the same time is a testament to his stamina. He was able to round up several thousand followers in the Twitter community to spread the CORALINE word.
CORALINE creator Henry Selick, Neil and Maddy under the marquee...
the theatre was next door to the hotel, so it was an easy commute (see how close by spotting Maddy in the hotel window over the sign)
here's my view of the klieg lights:
we looked in at the big press line for the red carpet through the windows and could smell the popcorn from outside:
if you look on the red side, you can see Maddy in her gorgeous green Grecian goddess dress chatting with Henry. Robert Bailey Jr (voice of Wybie) and our Neil being interviewed on the right:
the very beautiful Teri Hatcher (photo by Drew, only he was tall enough to get over the press line):
cameras. everywhere.:
on to the after party...we had been hearing rumblings about for some time, how the Laika animators were re-building some of the sets on-site, along with many of the props and puppets from the film. We followed the button lumieres around the block to the Portland Museum of Art:
see Henry & Neil up ahead of me? I was so busy taking photos, i lagged behind:
when entering, the first thing you see is the intricate blooming CORALINE garden:
here is another snippet of a movie from my camera: (I will new-years-reso to get better at these, but I wanted to show the button "go-bos"--the swirling light cut outs on the party floor)
Cynthia, one of the lead painters, gave us a fascinating demo of how the faces popped on and off to form the many expressions:
I was taken with the use of cookie sheets and speed racks, they were like tiny plasticine cookies baked in the imagination of these dedicated artists.
she had two glass cases of my favorites, Spink & Forcible, and looking at how tiny and delicate the paint strokes would have to be, close-up, I got a better sense of the real amount of work:
flash-back bonus: an old shot from when we were in Portland in January of Neil signing an unpainted model of the teeny naked dancer:
the Dad/piano set:
bits and bobs from a creative desktop:
some of the incarnations of Other Mother:
we spent a good deal of time trying to find Shelley, our favorite lady from Laika (see her peeking up in the background) and I must say, young Harry Selick (in the argyle sweater) who does one of the voices in the film, has grown up into quite a charmer:
the food and drink laid out everywhere was a beautiful temptation. I drank the WIllamette Valley pinot noir and yes, I got a little wine lip (the red crust on the lips, this is not to say I got lippy) Here is a view of the wine glass stacks and in the background is my favorite set, the dreamy firefly house:
oh how i love you, pumpkins!
here is a closer view:
even closer:
here is Maddy with Teri:
and with Dakota:
here is Georgina, head of the puppet department and Neil and Drew and Travis Knight, lead animator:
As we made the rounds, people approached Neil and he tirelessly chatted and posed for photos all night(if any of you reading this got your photo taken by me, email me at "neverwear@gaiman.net" and I will send you a copy) One sweet girl gave him a handmade teapot which i packed carefully in his suitcase this morning. Mister Gaiman went home almost without a voice, by the way.
The crew of LAIKA toiled away to set this up for the party, foregoing the premiere to work all night, and then, they stayed OVERnight and took down the sets, total dedication. That speaks volumes for Henry too, that he is the leader of such a fierce pack.
an honor and a pleasure to be a part of this magical night in Portland.
Now William and Nancye are taking us to see SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE at a theater that you can eat pizza in. Am i in heaven?
(you know, i love them for using letters in the marquee....)
We fly into the airport in Portland and rent a car from absolutely the sweetest most helpful team of car renters. A serious welcoming committee...! Our car, tiny and American, is shaped like a silver bubble and has a surprising amount of head room for our 6’6” Drew.
(side note: Drew came back from the Elton John run before it even started, his company was outbid for the contract, and that is very telling in these troubled times, that they flew their crew out, they were starting to put the rig together and STILL were outbid---booooo. Bright side? He could come to Portland with me)
Had to pick up miss Maddy at the airport in a few hours--she flew alone as her father was flying in from a Canadian press junket. We sightsee a bit, driving noisily over the moody metal bridges, “Steel Bridge” and “Morrison Bridge”---so named for industrial strength and/or dead poets. We stare dreamily down into the waters below. The sun was shining, a rare enough thing here at this time of year--so much that the Oregon people were out in the streets everywhere, gathering their vitamin D.
After getting things sorted out a bit, I acquire Mads from the airport and I show her her new LOMOGRAPHY camera, the drop-dead hot pink Diana camera, thanks Lomography.com! Good old-fashioned film---we will see what she comes up with on the photojournalist front. My college major was photography, and i had an old-school time of it putting the 120 medium format film into the camera for her for the first time...
When we got to the hotel there was a roaring fire in a welcoming wintery stone hearth. can you see/smell it?
Now, I wait in the hotel room while Mr. Neil does a quick round of interviews. On the way to the last one he finally met Dakota Fanning in person, the very lovely young actress who voices CORALINE. The papers and magazines here are filled with stories on the Portland production team and that blue-haired darling looks up at us everywhere we look.
Maddy & I walked under the sign for the theater at which the premiere is being held.
The lady running the interviews just handed me the invitations to the premiere, complete with gorgeous weighty metal COraline keys. Sure hope they don’t take them away from us....a true collectible.
while Maddy and I were walking around we saw many interesting things including this post-it stuck on the street corner post down from the hotel:
i think I may be reading it wrong, but i am all for street art and freedom of speech. Go Portland!
last night we met friends at one of the top-ranked Tiki bars in the country (dare I say, world!) world class decor and the french fries were top bowling-alley quality (and that is a compliment)....
OK, off to get everyone ready for tonight, more to report tomorrow....
tomorrow we may drive to the coast, our first vacation together in a good long while.
to celebrate Neil’s fantastic 2009 NEWBERY MEDAL win for THE GRAVEYARD BOOK we are running this special for the next few weeks (ending Feb 28):
order a GRAVEYARD BOOK t-shirt:
and we will enclose a FREE ANANSI BOYS tee.
we have sizes Small, Medium. Large and X-Large available. PLEASE WRITE DESIRED SIZE IN THE MEMO WHEN YOU ORDER DON'T order it (you will be charged if you do, and we don't want that)
