Oscar Nominees: Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Glenn Close, Rooney Mara, and more

It's award season so the Oscar nominees were out and about doing press.  I went to an all day event on Monday where many of the nominees were filtering in and out for interviews.

One of the first to Arrive was The Artist star Jean Dujardin.  I had two 8x10s along and got them done easily.  The guy is really nice.

Then George Clooney came and when George Clooney signed the crowd got crazy.   They always do for Clooney.  I managed to get him on one of four 11x14s I had along.  But it was too crazy to get a picture.

Viola Davis showed up and was nice.  I have seen her about five times the last six months and she has signed every time.  She signed one 11x14 for me this time.

Next Grant Heslov came and he co-wrote Ides of March so I put him on two 8x10 poster shots of the movie.

Octavia Spencer came next and I got two 11x14s signed from her.  One completed 11x14 combo of her and Viola and one individual.

Melissa McCarthy showed up and was signing for everyone and being super friendly and nice.  I got her on one 11x14 and was about to get her on more when I heard someone yell, "Brad!" "Brad!".

Sorry Melissa it was Brad Pitt.  I grabbed my Brad photos and fought the crazy crowd.  It really amazes me how tourists and as we call them "looky-loos" can just act like complete idiots when they are in the presence of celebrity.  I got pushed shoved and trampled, but I managed to get Brad to sign my Mr. and Mrs. Smith 11x14 that Angelina had signed for me a while back.

Michelle Williams came next and signed.  I forgot my photos at home (and immediately regretted it) so I helped a friend get some of his photos signed.

Gary Oldman was next and the guy was nice as always.  He signed two 11x14s for me.

Next was Martin Scorsese.  Great director.  Great signer.  He signed one 11x14 for me on a shot from Shutter Island with him and Leonardo DiCaprio.  Hopefully I see Leo soon and he signs the photo for me too.

Right after Scorsese was Graham King.  He signed three 8x10s for me and I added him to my 12x18 Hugo poster image. 

Then the surprise of the day: Glenn Close signed.  I did not expect this.  I got one 8x10 from her and might have gotten more but when I saw her get out of her car I didn't pull my photos right away because I just didn't think she was coming over.

Missi Pile came through and I added her to my Artist 8x10 signed by Malcolm McDowell a few days back.

Then I spotted Thomas Langmann smoking and called him over.  He produced The Artist so I added him to my 8x10 signed by Malcolm and Missy.

Aaron Sorkin came out next and was nice.  He signed two Moneyball 8x10s for me.

Next was the one of the foreign film nominees Fernando Trueba,  he signed two 8x10s for me of the movie Chico & Rita.

Rooney Mara came out next and once again it got crazy.  Luckily she came to me first and took my sharpie so I got one from her on my 12x18 photo.  My friend took video she signed 11 autographs total (for a crowd of about 30) and she signed for less than 40 seconds.

Bret McKenzie came out next and I added him to my Muppets cast 11x14.

Jennifer Yuh was next and I got one 8x10 of the Kung Fu Panda poster shot signed.

Annie Mumolo arrived and she wrote Bridesmaids so I had her signed two 8x10s of the poster shot for me.

We spotted JC Chandor next and the only two people wanting his autograph were me and a buddy who both really liked Margin Call. JC signed two 8x10s of the poster shot for me.

Jim Rash is the Dean on Community, but he also co-wrote The Descendants.  He signed my cast 11x14.

Right behind Jim was fellow co-writer Nat Faxon.  He also signed my cast 11x14.  The photo now has Judy Greer, Robert Forster, George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Jim Rash and Nat on it.

Chris Columbus came out next and I had him sign three 8x10s for me and one 11x14. All Harry Potter: two 8x10s with Daniel Radcliffe, one 8x10 Sorcerer's Stone, and one 11x14 Chamber of Secrets. 

Next was a lucky surprise.  Two guys walked by me and I read one of their name tags.  It said: Alex Henning Visual Effects Hugo.  Visual effects people are great to get but there aren't pictures of them on the internet so you can't spot them.  Well I lucked out in this case having read his name tag.  I called Alex over and his buddy with him said "get over there, no one ever asks us to sign an autograph".  When Alex signed I asked him if his friend was one of his visual effects co-workers and he said yes and his name was Ben Grossman.  I called Ben over and they each signed two poster shot 8x10s for me.

Next was a funny situation.  Berenice Bejo and Michel Havanavicius came out and we called them loudly but they jumped in their SUV.  Then Michel rolled down his window because the SUV was stuck in traffic and said "We have to catch a flight, sorry".  Someone jokingly yelled back to him "But you're stuck in traffic".  Suddenly ten seconds later both doors of the SUV open and Michel and Berenice run over to us as their car is in traffic.  They both signed for over a minute as they waited for their car to be ready to go.  I got Michel on my 8x10 signed by Malcolm, Missy, and Thomas and also an individual 8x10.  I only had one 11x14 along for Berenice because she signed the rest for me a few days ago, and she signed my photo no problem.  This cast is really really nice and I hope they win some Oscars.

 

Then Jean Dujardin came over and did round two of signing.  I got him on my 8x10 cast piece.

Then someone walked by and my buddy realized it was Michael Nouri who plays Joe DiMaggio on the movie 61.  I always carry a baseball with me so I had him sign it for me.  When I handed it to him he said, "Should I sign this Joe DiMaggio?" I told him no his name was just fine.

Lastly Viola Davis came out and signed some more as she was doing an interview with some lady.  There were cameras rolling as she signed and the interviewer asked a few of us questions.  Not sure what channel it was for, but I'm probably on TV.

As my buddy and I were walking back the the car we saw Demian Bichir talking on the sidewalk.  He signed one 8x10 for each of us. 

All in all pretty good day.

The DID NOT SIGN LIST included:  Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill (yes apparently Jonah Hill is too big time to sign some autographs), Nick Nolte, Max Von Sydow and Steven Speilberg ( this really hurt as I desperately wanted him ).