I arrived in New York at about 12:15 in the afternoon on May 22nd, and I couldn't have been more excited. My grandma was traveling along my side as I excitedly bounded around Kennedy Airport excited to be in New York. A car picked us up at the airport and took us to the Regency Hotel where we were staying along with my aunt Paula(the associate producer), uncle Curt, little cousin Joshie, as well as Emma, Dan, and Rupert. I was shocked to see that as we arrived at the hotel, a few people and paparazzi were standing outside with cameras, apparently waiting for the young stars. After unpacking a bit, I wanted to see the city. My aunt had to tend to some premiere details and take care of my little cousin, so my grandma, uncle, and I went to Times Square and Central Park. New York is truly amazing, walking around Times Square, I spotted in the midst of hundreds of billboards, a poster of Harry Potter. Squealing like a little girl, I snapped away at some pictures and enjoyed touring around the different shops and seeing the MTV studios in real life was so cool..
A SURPRISE ON THE WAY TO DINNER:
After touring around Times Square for a little while, we
headed back to the hotel and met my aunt and cousin to go
to a charity softball game and then dinner. We went back
to the room to change into some cleaner clothes, and we
were going to meet, Curt, Paula, and Josh downstairs. We
got down there what we thought was early, and waited around
for them for about 15 minutes, but it didnt concern us
because they were usually a little late, having to get Josh
ready who is only 2 = years old. Well, about 5 more minutes
passed and as I was just staring around, I saw this girl
walking past me and I noticed she had a very cute outfit
on. A light blue t-shirt, and a skirt with a flowered pattern
on it she had curly blondish hair As she crossed diagonally
in front of me, I got a tiny glimpse of her face and my
heart sped up. It was Emma. She and her chaperone stopped
at the desk to ask a question, as they stood there, I didn't
let one second pass and I stood up and questioned what I
knew I was seeing Emma?! I said dumbly. She turned around
and looked at me, and before she could inquire as to who
I was, I blurted out, I'm Sara, Paula's nice! She knows
Paula and Curt very well after working with and seeing them
for the past three movies. An absolutely adorable smile
crossed her face and she shook her hand out for me to shake.
We began talking a little bit and I told her that I was
here for the premiere tomorrow, and I was so excited and
I could hardly believe I was actually meeting Emma Watson.
I actually told her this as I began jumping up and down
slightly looking like a complete idiot. But Emma was so
kind and sweet, she just laughed and flashed me a wonderful
smile. Her chaperone then reminded her that she had to go
to a conference, but she gave me a hug and a friendly little
kiss asking me to promise that I would see her at the premiere
tomorrow. Thats a promise I knew I would have no problem
keeping.
LUNCH WITH JAMIE
Before we went to the actual event of the premiere, we went
to lunch at the Hard Rock Cafi to meet a lot of Curt and
Paulas friends who were also attending the premiere. I
met some great sweet girls named Taylor and Tori who were
so fun. It naturally came as a shock to me when I looked
at the end of the reserved room and saw Jamie Waylett (crabbe)
sitting there with his mother. Curt and Paula were (and
are) very good friends with them, because while on location
in Scotland, Jamie got along and just loved Joshie. Curt
introduced me to Jamie, and what a sweet kid he was. He
sat Joshie down on his lap and played with him and I enjoyed
talking to him very much. At some points, I forgot he was
a movie star because we were just talking so normally and
he told me how he wasnt looking forward to going back to
school after this weekend was over. Neither was I Lunch
ended and a car picked us up at the restaurant and with
a sign on the front that had the WB symbol made me realize
that this was it It was finally happening.
THESE MAGIC MOMENTS THE PREMIERE
The car dropped Curt, Paula, and me off across the street
from Radio City Music Hall. My grandma and Josh were going
back to the hotel because Josh was too little to be there
and my grandma was the happily designated baby-sitter. The
first sights of the Radio City Music Hall just made me feel
full of excitement and joy. We walked across the street
and around the corner where hurds of screaming fans, hundreds
of interviewers and cameras were all situated. Paula held
on to my hand as she handed the guard our three tickets
to be able to get on to the red carpet. I saw the long stretch
of red carpet adorned with floating Aunt Marges, the official
poster from the movie and people dressed up as witches and
wizards handing bags of Bertie Botts Beans to the younger
crowd. The whole atmosphere brought a mile wide smile to
my face and walking down the red carpet, screams were heard
in every direction. It was then, I saw Emma. Smiling like
crazy and waving to her adoring fans, she went through interview
after interview without missing a beat in the conversation.
She looked great in her beige tube dress and I began snapping
away at her with my camera and as she turned to go to the
next interviewee, she saw me and waved. My aunt rushed off
to control some of the finer details of who was arriving
when, who didnt get the right car, and generally making
sure everyone was in their place. So curt and I walked up
and down the red carpet meeting high executive producers
and some of the smaller people, but play a big role in the
process of making the movie. Chris Colombus is a great friend
to Curt and Paula, because that is WHO Paula works for.
Ive met him before and he greeted me like an old friend.
I spotted other stars such as Susuan Sarandon, Tim Robbins,
Anthony Edwards, Natalie Portman, and LLCoolJ. My camera
was out of control. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity,
I was looking at Dan. I met up with Taylor, Tori, and Taylors
mom, Meg, on the red carpet and we were all standing there
staring at Dan. What happened next just blew my mind away.
I yelled out Dans name and he turned around and looked
at me I could hardly control myself as I just shouted out,
I LOVE YOU! He smiled and as a raised my camera, he waved
at me, and then I felt Meg holding onto my arm and leading
me over to Dan, right as he was in the middle of his interview
with Extra. He held out his hand for me to shake, and again,
having no control over my mouth, I asked him if I could
give him a hug. He reached his arms out and I just melted
as I hugged him. It was the most amazing 30 seconds of my
life I was surprise to see that 2 days later when I got
home, I was on the Extra website, and I watched myself hug
him over and over. Here is the link.
After a little while longer, we headed into the Radio Music Hall to watch the movie. In each and every seat, there was a gift bag full of Harry Potter goodies including: Jelly Slugs, Acid Pops, a t-shirt that says MUGGLE on it, and a bag of popcorn. Before the movie started, Alfonso, Chris, Dan, Emma, Rupert, Tom, and some more of the kids were introduced each of them getting cheered for enthusiastically. The movie was amazing and almost immediately after, the cars picked everyone up and shuttled them off to the after party which was held at a fancy New York restaurant. Only a limited amount of people were at the after party, and I was lucky enough to be able to attend with my aunt and uncle. It was fantastic walking in that restaurant. The whole place was reserved just for this special night and everyone was finally looking relaxed and like they just wanted to have fun. Now, when everyone says that its really like being part of a big Harry Potter family, they arent lying. Everyone there knew each other, and I felt very comfortable in that atmosphere. I somehow ran into Tom Felton and we spoke with each other for a few minutes. I asked him if he was doing the 4th film (yes he is), if he liked New York (so wickedly cool) and if he wanted to continue acting (not sure yet). Then he asked me what I was up to and he seemed genuinely interested. I got a picture with him and an autograph.
Paula and I then went to the upper level of the restaurant where we saw Emma. She spotted Paula and the two chatted while I just smiled and watched them both in awe. Tom came up then and the four of us had a good time together for a few minutes. I got lots of pictures with them. I got a picture of me and Emma, a picture of Paula, Emma and Tom together, and then the four of us together. They were so great about signing autographs for me, and even one for my friend as well.
Then we had dinner and Paula rushed around frantically because some people were sitting in the wrong places and it needed to be fixed. I admire her so much for staying in control and cool during the most hectic of situations. After dinner, I ran into Rupert and he was such a dude. He's awesome, I told him I thought he was just so cool and I thought he was great in the movie. I got an autograph and he posed for a picture with me.
Finally, I saw Daniel. He was amist a crowd who wanted autographs, and as I reached him, a woman cut me off and I was quite disappointed. But Paula came up and got me through. I went up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. I dont know if he recognized me right away (it was kinda dark) but never the less, he signed a magazine for me, and took a picture with me. He was so nice about it, and I could tell all he wanted to do was go on the dance floor and rock. People were dancing like crazy and Emma was just jamming out the moves. Her lessons at the studio have paid off A guy from WB went on the dance floor and had a mini dance contest with Emma and the crowd watched amazed as a circle formed around them.
It was time for good-byes and most of the people had already left. And, I was tired. I hugged Emma one last time and told her how much of a pleasure it was to meet her. And with one more smile and a flip of the curls, she was gone. We hung around for a little while talking to Chris C. and his son Brandon before we finally left. I walked into the hotel room to see my grandma and Josh wide awake, and it was past midnight. We headed back to our room and I wrote down every detail I could remember about the nights events and fell asleep.
AND I SWEAR THIS IS THE LAST
The next morning, I packed and got ready to head home to Chicago. But we weren't leaving until about 2:00 So Paula decided to take me and Josh to the junket which was taking place right in the Regency Hotel. A junket is an event right after a premiere where all the interviewers come in and talk to the kids separately. Theyre the interviews you see them in with the backround on the wall and theyre looking at an interview off camera. There were T.V. monitors in the other room we could watch on. We didn't stay for very long because Josh was getting impatient. But then Alfonso came up and saw Josh and began to just play and goof around with him. Paula introduced me to Alfonso and I told him he did an absolutely fantastic job on the movie. After thanking me enthusiastically, he had to rush off to his interview. We were going to begin to head back downstairs to get ready to leave, but then Dan popped out of his interview room. Seeing Paula and Josh, he came and greeted them quickly and smiled at me. As his chaperone and dad directed Dan towards the elevator, he waved good-bye at me with a bright smile and that was the moment of my day .
