Last night’s Super 8 premiere offered (a) a spritzy party vibe inside the Fox Village lobby and theatre before the film began (i.e., roam-around, schmooze-around) and (b) a post-premiere outdoor street soiree with all kinds of Middle-American munch food (corndogs, taters, Fatburgers). I chatted with director JJ Abrams and almost everyone else except costars Elle Fanning, who apparently left the after-party early on, and Kyle Chandler.
Elle Fanning facing shouting-animal paparazzi prior to last night’s Super 8 premiere screening at Westwood’s Fox Village — Thursday, 6.8, 6:55 pm.
Super 8 producer Steven Spielberg came to the screening (black garb, black baseball hat, white hair) but didn’t attend the party.
I spoke before the screening to Transformers: Dark of the Moon director Michael Bay about the Chicago wing flyers he used for his upcoming film, and my theory that most people don’t really believe anything they see on the screen these days, etc. He told me about the 3-D helmet cameras that he used to shoot the stunt flyers, and expressed interest in my Canon Elph 300 (which I always have slung around my neck). My parting comment was a recommendation that he see Nicolas Winding Refn‘s Drive.
Super 8 costar Ben Gavin (who plays one of the deputies), star Joel Courtney during the wind-down phase of outdoor Super 8 after-party.
Pete Hammond, Super 8 director JJ Abrams.
(l. to r.) Super 8 costars Gabriel Basso, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon director Michael Bay
Super 8 costar Jessica Tuck, whose looking-out-the-window-at-Joe moment at the very beginning provides Super 8‘s first emotional touchstone.
Super 8 costars Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning.
