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War Horse Red Carpet Premiere in NYC

Most of you know that I traveled to NYC this past weekend, courtesy of Disney, to attend the red carpet world premiere of War Horse. What a spectacular and eventful weekend it was. I feel privileged to have been a part of such extraordinary experiences, and to have gotten to know 19 other amazing bloggers on this trip.

In a week or so, I will tell you all about the movie so you can have the scoop before War Horse comes out in your theater on Christmas Day. For now, I want to tell you all about the premiere and red carpet.

Looking at the picture above you may be asking yourself why on earth 8+ bloggers are running through the streets of New York, in dresses and heels. This is quite the story that I don’t believe any of us will ever forget. 20 bloggers, including myself and our Disney PR person (Marshall – such an amazing host!), stayed at the Essex House Hotel, near Central Park. We were scheduled to come down to the lobby at 4:30pm on Sunday, to head over to the world premiere of War Horse, held at the Lincoln Center. The premiere was to begin at 6pm, and was only about a half a mile from our hotel.

Traffic in New York City, during the holidays, is something else. We had two drivers that were to transport the 21 of us. Heading East on 59th, AWAY from Lincoln Center, it took us more than 15 minutes to reach the first traffic light. We were in contact with the other car and found out that their driver made a U-turn on 59th, and that we should do the same because there wasn’t a great amount of traffic that way. Needless to say, our driver would not listen to us. Of all the aggressive drivers we had over the weekend, this one was the least of them. He even allowed a bus to get in front of us. He kept telling us that once we reached 5th Avenue and could turn right, the traffic would ease up. Well – it didn’t. Then when it came time to turn right again, to head in the direction we needed to be, the traffic cops wouldn’t allow right turns. Several of us were telling the driver to let us out, but he insisted it would be too long of a walk, and we wouldn’t make it. After the second block of not being able to turn right, and one of the bloggers in the back persistently saying (in a very calm voice), “I want to get off”, we were finally demanded the driver to stop and let us out. All but one left the driver and proceeded to run through the streets of NYC, to get to the Lincoln Center.

2 bloggers went one direction while 8 of us went another. As soon as I spotted a Pedi-Cab (a small cab pulled by a bicyclist), I hailed it and got 3 of us on it, including Sunny from Babble and Louise from MomStart. I figured he could weave in and out of traffic and would get us there more quickly than any other transportation. Plus our heels were starting to give us a difficult time. The remaining 5 running bloggers split up one more time I believe.

After riding several blocks on the Pedi-cab, we thought it would be a good idea to ask our driver how much it would be. He gave us the break down and we discovered that I was the only one with any cash and not nearly enough. He was very kind, but did let us off and took all that I had ($32), when we were supposed to owe $57!! He was at least sweet about it and gave us directions to run the remainder of the way. And when I say we were running, I really mean running because we were late at this point. I kept getting ahead of Sunny and Louise and I was worried that me constantly looking behind me to make sure they were still coming, it looked as if I was being chased by two crazy ladies in heels! Luckily, things did not start on time and all was well.

3 groups of runners showed up at the Lincoln Center almost simultaneously. The 3 in my group got there and ran up to Marshall, who was calm and cool (I’m not sure how since 9 of his bloggers were split up), and said to us, “You are the second team to arrive, now proceed this way.” Sound like anything to you? Luckily for Connie, who stayed with the driver, it was a non-elimination round, because she was the last to arrive. I can’t believe that 8 women running in heels and dresses, beat the driver to the Lincoln Center!

In spite of some of the stress and exhaustion, we were in high spirits and had a lot of laughs! We got our badges and walked the red carpet.

This is the majority of the main characters in the cast of War Horse, along with the director, Steven Spielberg.

We were lucky enough to be just 4 rows back from the stage and screen of the premiere. Steven Spielberg came out first and introduced the movie, along with the cast. We were so close! We were not allowed cameras, so we will have to rely on the professional photos for any of this. The cast was truly phenomenal, as was the movie. I will do a full write-up of the movie later on.

After the movie, we were able to go out into the lobby of the Lincoln Center, for an after-party. The cast of War Horse, in addition to several other celebrities, were just hanging out and chatting, and eating here. I decided that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and that I would seize it. The first actress that I recognized, I walked up to and talked to. I had a very nice chat with Emily Bergl, who was in Men in Trees and the last season of Desperate Housewives. She currently has her own Cabaret show in NYC, at the Algonquin, called “Kidding On the Square”. This only runs for a couple more weeks, so if you’re in the city, feel free to check it out.

I didn’t get a chance to speak with Tony Danza, because he was preoccupied by some older ladies, but I did make sure I rubbed shoulders with him (literally). Some other highlights were talking to the star of War Horse, Jeremy Irvine. After talking with him, I learned that they had 14 different horses, who played Joey. This was Jeremy’s first ever movie premiere, but he was very down to earth and professional. I also got the courage to talk to, and congratulate actor Matt Milne in his roll of Albert’s friend, Andrew Easton. He was adorable in his role and was charming to talk to.

I stumbled upon Dana Ivey, from The Help, The Addams Family, Two Weeks Notice, etc. and decided to take the opportunity to talk a bit with her. She was very delightful and refreshing.

I feel very blessed to have been part of this fabulous weekend and can’t wait to tell you all about War Horse, which again, comes out on Christmas Day. It is a truly heart wrenching and beautiful film!

 

Photo credits to Betterinbulk.net and  MomStart.com.

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Emily Buys

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