Last Saturday (i.e., two days ago) I attended a Fox Searchlight press event at L.A.’s The Grove to promote the 6.17 release of the Grand Budapest Hotel Bluray, and more particularly to celebrate an all-Lego replica of the fictional hotel that was built by Ryan Ziegelbauer and a team of eight model builders. It took them 575 hours but it looks great. Ziegelbauer and Tony Revolori (who plays lobby boy Zero Moustafa in the film) posed for shots and gave interviews to a small group of journos. Honestly? I was into the Lego inventiveness but I was also hoping to snag a complimentary Bluray of the film. Nothing happened then and there, but a copy is arriving on my doorstep tomorrow. (Thanks, guys!) An after-reception was held at Morel’s French Steakhouse and Bistro, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least partly interested in some free vittles. But nothing was served except for little bowls of slightly-warmer-than-room-temperature French fries along with some kind of hors d’oeuvre that tasted a bit icky. I waited around for another 20 or so minutes and then unobtrusively slipped out.

(l.) Grand Budapest Hotel Lego architect/foreman/designer Ryan Ziegelbauer, (r.) Tony Revolori — Saturday, 6.14, 11:10 am.