Super excited to get this post down really soon - as it is my FIRST fan account on HOLLYWOOD STARS! Yay! (I have K-POP fan accounts too - check them out!)
*P.S.: This post is Lee Byung Hun (the actor who played Storm Shadow) bias!
**P.P.S: Pictures are watermarked with the original owners (not all) - littlemisssunshine-x (my friend Joanne), nate (Nate Korea), ParamountAU (Paramount Australia), I only watermark pictures with stars and other related ones.
Soooooooo, this is a post about:
G.I. JOE: Retaliation 3D Australian Premiere
which happened on the 14th March 2013 at Event Cinemas George St, Sydney.
**It's my first premiere that I attended so please do expect a little inexperienced fan girliness!
And the casts who are attending (and their characters in the film):
Dwayne Johnson- The Rock (Roadblock)
Lee Byung Hun (Storm Shadow)
Adrianne Palicki (Lady Jaye)
D.J. Cotrona (Flint)
Jon Chu (Director of the film)
Events for the day:
6pm - Red Carpet
7pm - Screening
Well, it all started from the star-strucked love I have for the actor, Lee Byung Hun. awwww
I watched the first GI JOE: Rise of the Cobra and was pretty captivated by his performance as Storm Shadow - so I went on to watch more films starring him.
He makes a really sexy bad guy in 'The Good, The Bad, The Weird'.
He's actually one of the BIG 3 actors in South Korea - so I'm not all that surprised that he managed to have a Hollywood breakthrough. I'm really proud of him!
Anyway, when I heard that Lee Byung Hun is coming to Sydney, I just HAD to see him. And luckily for me, Korean Film Festival in Australia (KOFFIA) (thanks to EverythingLBH for letting me know about this page!) was running a contest to give away 20 double passes to this premiere. The task was simple; you have to answer 'What is your favourite Lee Byung Hun film and why?'. Without hesitation, I opened my e-mail and sent my entry.
A day later, KOFFIA announced that the winners have been selected and we have to check our emails. omgomgomgomgomgomgpleasepleaseplease
(click to enlarge)
Immediately I asked my friend, Joanne, to join me and she was excited!
We met up in front of Events Cinemas...
(randomly pulled this off the net)
....where we queued up at the Guest Registration Counter at 6.10pm, and two guys who were behind us and are Dwayne Johnson fans were chatting excitedly to us as we were waiting for our turn. This kicked my excitement levels a notch higher.
We got our passes after that...
Lanyard with the tag, aw yes.
.. and then we went to find a spot behind the railings of the red carpet where we will try to snap as many pictures, snag a chance for an autograph and maybe a picture with the stars?
We were pretty late when we got there and it was already almost full because the red carpet is opened for the public to see. Walked around to spot the best spot but it's tough because everywhere is filling up.
After what seemed like forever, we found a (not so) cozy spot near the media cameras and the spot where the stars' will make their grand entrance. We were pretty near the barrier, which is considerably okay because I still can stick my hand out to reach them.
It was only 5.45pm and the red carpet didn't start until 6.15pm.
Last minute prepping of the red-carpet
Standing in an area packed with people for 30 minutes seems like a really, really, really, long time.
...until people start lifting up their cameras with excitement crackling in the air..
And the first G.I. JOE Humvee shows up.
So badass.
It was Lee Byung Hun in his dashing casual formal wear.
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One lucky thing about this - I was standing beside a bunch of Korean girls who were all screaming for Byung Hun. So I joined their bandwagon (silently) and they shouted '오빠 사랑해!' (I love you, Lee Byung Hun!) and I joined them as well. He looked straight at us and waved happily.
He walked to the other side of the red carpet and I felt quite disappointed as I thought he wouldn't come back.
At this time, the Director of this film, Jon Chu, came on the red carpet.
He walked straight inside.
Then Byung Hun later came back from the other side and to our place - I saw him signing autographs for the fans. I immediately took out my sketchbook, which I know is big and wide enough for him to sign the whole page.
He was shaking hands with the girls beside me.
Then it came to my turn! (silently fan girl scream into a pillow)
Autograph!!!!!!
Taken by me when he was signing! I should've recorded but I was too stunned, okay?!
Such a masterpiece made on my most precious sketch book.
After he signed, I asked for a handshake, and he shook my hand. Yay! He smiled at me and went off to the other fans.
What seemed to be like 5 minutes, a black van came and everyone started getting their cameras ready again.
.... Turns out to be the staff.
So we had to wait for awhile until the next GI JOE Humvee arrived.
(suspense)
It was D.J. Cotrona and Adrianne Palicki!
Then, of course, the crew knows how to keep the 'best for the last'. The only one left is Dwayne Johnson, The Rock.
... But it grew quite painful to wait for him with the crowd pushing and annoying the crap out of us and he was 20 minutes fashionably late.
But at least he planned a grand entrance.
"Do you smell what The Rock is cooking?!" no he didn't say that but it's his infamous phrase of his WWE days.
He looks like he's singing a musical number in this picture.
He arrived with the most cheers and 'war cry' sounds made by mostly the male fans going 'HEE HAA HEE HAA HEE HAA'. So much energy and hype crackled the air.
And then because he was late, he just brushed past all of us to head to the main media area for a the interview with the reporters.
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Well at least I was this close to him!
The crowd dissipated after that and moved towards the main area where the GI JOE's publicity backdrop was.
Getting really crazy in here!
Only managed to see from the sides :(
Me and my experienced 'kiasu'-fangirliness says 'NO' to blocked views, so I tried moving around, to get a better spot.
Well at least I managed to see his face.
He was busy answering the reporters' questions for a bit. Meanwhile the 4 other stars........
Hahaha, I don't think this didn't happen at that time. It happened before The Rock arrived, maybe. (Not sure about this since I wasn't indoor at that time! Any clarifications?)
Anyway, The Rock went somewhere else for awhile and I heard the crowd saying 'WE WANT THE ROCK, WE WANT THE ROCK.'
The other cast went to the publicity board and posed for the cameras.
Then finally, Dwayne joined the team.
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Can't really get a good shot for this one.
It isn't easy taking these pictures. Just to show you what we were up against..
May the best camera win.
After the picture taking session, the stars went up to the theater where they disappeared... (no, really, I don't know where they went.)
Since we were pass holders, we went up the escalator and to our theater to go for the screening.
But before we entered the theater, we were met with this fancy 'club-like' set up - with champagne glasses of wine for some guests - was our 'lobby' before we entered our theater.
Cute DJ, who I found out to be Scott Tweedie, an Australian television and radio presenter.
We went in to the theater and found that almost everywhere is occupied by people. Was a bit lost at that moment to choose the 'best' seat for us. In the end, my friend chose a seat close to the aisle but it was quite near the screen.
The 3D glasses were already provided at our seats with the fancy GI JOE plastic packaging.
Live from the outside?
Live tweeting feed on screen, hell yeah! But it doesn't refresh much, boo.
Then the cute DJ guy came in to the theater and started greeting us and he said that within minutes, the stars will be here to say hello.
Pardon the pictures here, it was taken by my phone because we weren't allowed to bring our cameras in.
Then Jon Chu, the director, came into the theater. The mic was then passed to him, where he did an intro of the stars that were coming down one by one, walking through the aisle at the side (opposite ours) to get down there. It was amazing because there wasn't any pushing crowds here and we still can get to see them in flesh!
I liked when Jon Chu said (about Adrianne Palicki) "You can see her in 3D! But of course, you're seeing her in 4D already!"
After that, the stars walked back up the aisle - but this time is on the RIGHT side, where we were sitting. SO VERY CLOSE.
Dwayne Johnson walked up and was just BESIDE us, and my friend, who was a fan of him froze and we were shocked. I tried calling him but I don't think he heard me and was rushing to make his way upwards (and a fan managed to step in front of him to block him for a picture). NOOOOOOOOOO!! :( ENVIOUS.
But then I saw Byung Hun, who was taking picture with a fan at the bottom of the steps, and I quickly got up and got ready to stop him when he was walking up the aisle. I ain't gonna make the same mistake with him.
I saw him and hurriedly said 'Byung Hun! 사진, 사진!' (Byung Hun, picture, picture! somehow my Korean instincts popped in to speak to him in Korean?) , because I know that he has to leave the theater soon.
He smiled at me and then pulled me close (I didn't ask for any close shots but he pulled me in) and my friend helped me to take a picture under the very dim, theater low light setting (my damn flash wasn't working right.)
But the picture came out perfect so who am I to complain?!
Crying of happiness, okay?!!!?!?!?!?!
I just took a picture with Storm Shadow omglkajsdlkajldkjasdlkja I took a picture with one of the Korea's biggest star alskdjaslkdjalskdjlaksdjlaksjd I actually met Lee Byung Hun in real life laksjdlakjdlakdjlaksjdlaskjd - that was all going through my head at that time (and now, still ;D)
After we took a picture, he said something to me in English but I couldn't remember what he said - I think mainly because of that STAR-STRUCKED moment, my brain jammed for what seems to be forever, couldn't interpret what he was saying to me.
But I do remember he was walking in front but looking back towards me, while I remember holding on to his sleeves, probably screaming "가지마!" (Don't leave me!) in my head. Oh god I wish there was a CCTV somewhere in that theater, I need to see this happening again.
So anyway, the movie started and I was still up on cloud nine, replaying that scene all over my head - again and again.
MOVIE VERDICT? : I won't say anything much about the movie because it's not released yet - but I can say that if you like ACTION, POLITICAL DRAMA, PLOT TWISTS and HOT SEXY MEN, then you're in for a treat. (;
When we finished the movie (it started at 8pm, and we were done around 9.50pm) and got out of the theater, it was like as if the premiere did not happen at all. The barriers were kept away, the red carpet was taken out, the publicity backdrop was taken down.......
"The calm after the storm." - quoted from Lawson.
The change in the atmosphere and still air....
I looked at my friend and asked 'Was I dreaming or did the premiere really happened?'
We had Maccas (McDonalds in Aussie slang) for 'dinner' after that, even though I didn't really feel hungry even after not eating for 8 hours.
Then we parted ways to head home to rest.
It was one of the most eventful night I had in Sydney - the most star-studded night I had in my life (as of now) and I'm really hoping to see Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans if he EVER comes down here and I'm pretty much set.
Souvenirs from the most memorable night,
And last but not least,
Thank you KOFFIA and ParamountAU for giving the chance for my friend and I to attend this event! And thank you EverythingLBH for providing me the info and support :P !
♥♥
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