Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The Killing Season 2 Premiere


I graphed The Killing season two premiere on Monday night and I ended up doing ok, not great, just ok.  I was really hoping that AMC brought out some big names from their other network shows (Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Mad Men).  Unfortunately none of the big names from those shows came. 

I did get a few people from the cast, but Kristin Lehman didn't sign, Michelle Forbes didn't show up to the premiere, and Mireille Enos only signed a handful.  So I didn't complete many of my cast pieces. 

Billy Campbell did show up and he is always a really nice guy.  He signed, was cracking jokes, and at one point gave Eric Ladin a wet-willy as Eric was signing.  He signed my two individual 8x10s for me, one cast 8x10 (that I had gotten Eric and Kristin on the week before at the Mad Men premiere), and one 11x14 cast piece for me. 


Eric Ladin was signing at the same time as Billy and he had signed most of my photos at the Mad Men premiere.   Today I added him to my cast 11x14 and my Generation Kill cast 11x14.  



Jamie Allman and her husband Marshall Allman arrived and signed at the same time.   Jamie wasn't pictured on any of my cast pieces so I didn't get her to sign.  I did add Marshall to my True Blood cast 11x14. 


Brett Sexton signed next and he was pretty good about signing everything.  When he arrived it looked like he was not going to sign, but he ended up coming over and spent a good amount of time with us. He signed my dual shot 8x10 of him and Michelle and my cast 11x14. 



Joel Kinnaman signed the most of the entire cast.  Which was cool because he is my favorite character on the show.  He signed six 8x10s for me.   



Mireille Enos signed at the very end of the night and I was able to get one 8x10 signed but I did not get any proof photos. The 8x10 I got signed is the combo shot in the top right of the photo above. 

Here's my cast photo signed my Brett, Billy, Eric, and Joel.


I think the best part of my night might have been getting Chris Heyerdahl to sign three 11x14s for me.   I've seen Chris three times in the past few months and he was always nice.  I never had any photos for him to sign so finally I decided I should print some photos in case he showed up (he is in the AMC family because of Hell on Wheels).  Well, he showed up tonight and signed my photos.  He even wrote "Swede" on my Hell on Wheels photos which was cool because I think he's the best character on the show. 




 (Shout out to my buddy Will for taking these exact proof photos for me since he didn't have anything for Chris to sign)

So I had an OK night.  Not amazing, not horrible, just OK. 

















Sunday, March 25, 2012

Genesis Awards with Pauley Perrette, Ian Somerhalder, Tricia Helfer, Jon Bernthal, and more


I did the Genesis Awards on Saturday night and while there was some early uncertainty of whether we would be allowed to graph the event, it ended up that we were allowed to stay, and almost every celebrity we saw was in a great mood.  

Pauley Perrette was one of the first to arrive and she is always one of the nicest celebrities in Hollywood.  It's pretty much a guarantee that if you see her and ask for her autograph she is going to do it.  She really makes my day a little better every time I see her.  She signed four 8x10s for me on the way in. 
Next was Tricia Helfer and I've actually never met her before but from stories from friends who had gotten her before I heard she was really nice.  Gladly the stories did not disappoint.  She showed up and was very nice, and signed two 8x10s for me on the way in. 
Next was Seamus Deaver and I was curious to see how he would be tonight.  I went to Paleyfest for Castle and I didn't see him sign any autographs there, so I was worried.  Especially since I had an 11x14 combo shot of him and Jon Huertas that Jon signed for me at Paley.  Luckily, Seamus was really nice and friendly and signed a lot.  Last time must have been an aberration.  Of course I forgot my 12x18 cast shot at home.

Next came Owain Yeoman.  I really like the mini-series Generation Kill on HBO so I've been working on a cast 11x14.  So far it only had Jon Huertas on it.  I tried to get Alexander Skarsgaard on it at the Independent Spirit Awards but he barely signed.  I tried to get James Ransome on it when he was supposed to go to a Raid: Redemption screening but he never showed.  So needless to say, I've had bad luck adding people to this cast 11x14.  That luck turned around tonight,  Owain was really cool and signed everything we had.  I got him on my Generation Kill cast 11x14 and two individual 8x10s. 

Then came the person I was most excited for: Jon Bernthal.  I really like The Walking Dead and was kind of pissed when they killed Shane off last week.  Jon Bernthal is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet and he genuinely likes interacting with fans.  He arrived and signed two 11x14s for me, but his publicist was trying to rush him in.  I told him I had brought some photos for him to keep and he promised to come get them on the way out and sign everything we had.  
Kristin Bauer came next and she is always nice.  She signed two 8x10s for me. 
Next was Kesha and this was a weird experience. This SUV pulls up and a guy gets out and leaves the door open but no one is getting out.  The SUV sits there for a few minutes and I try to just look inside to see who is inside, and the woman inside sees me looking and hides her face.  The SUV continues to just sit there for about five minutes, then finally, Kesha gets out.  We ask to sign and she is really hesitant about it, but reluctantly did it.  A friend asked her for a picture with her and she wouldn't do it.  Strange.  You can never predict how a musician will act. 

Next Ian Somerhalder came and he is always a showman and seems to really like red carpets and hamming it up for cameras.  He's not big on photos with fans (he will do them though), but he is usually pretty good about signing autographs so he's cool in my book.  He signed two 11x14s for me. 

Next came Rose McGowan and she was nice as she usually is.  Unlike Ian I think Rose loves it when you ask for a photo with her, so if you see her be sure to ask her for one. 

Next the event began and we waited a few hours until exits.  

Pauley Perrette was on the first to arrive and was one of the first to leave.  She signed four for me on the way in and matched her effort by signing four for me on the way out.  I really wish more celebrities were as nice as Pauley, she is most certainly in the top 10 of best signers in Hollywood. 

Colbie Caillat came out next and I had never met her before and neither had my buddy graphing the event with me.  We were talking the day before about how we didn't know if she would sign or not, and I made a comment that "From what I've seen on TV and interviews she seems like she would be a really nice person, I bet she signs a lot".  Well as it turned out she was not happy at all when we asked for her autograph.  She kind of made a disgusted look at us.  She did sign one each for the three people who asked, but you could tell she was not happy about it.  

Michael Vartan came out next and made up for the previous encounter.  He's a really cool guy and we talked about Alias with him and he was saying how much he liked the show, and he thought there was wasn't enough resolution in the last season.  He signed two 8x10s for me. 

Kristin Bauer came out next and signed a few more.  I had forgot to get my True Blood cast 11x14 signed on the way in so I got it signed on the way out. It's getting quite full, a few more names to fill up the free space and it's done. 

Next was Angela Kinsey and I really like The Office, I used to have a boss that basically was Michael Scott 2.0.  Angela is pretty funny on the show and I hadn't met her yet in person before tonight.  I'm glad to report she is really cool and funny (and tiny).  She signed my Dunder Mifflin cast 11x14. 

Tricia Helfer came out next and racked.  I got nine more from her for a total of eleven on the night (two 11x14s and nine 8x10s).  I was really happy about this because she is rare and you just don't see her often in Los Angeles.  She told us she spends most of her time in Toronto now.  

Jon Bernthal came out next and as promised we had a stack of photos to give to him for his dad, and he threw it down for us.  This guy is one of the nicest human beings on the planet.  We talked to him about Walking Dead, his new show L.A. Noire where he is pairing with Frank Darabont again, his new movie 42 where he's going to play a Jackie Robinson's best friend, and he even remembered us from the last time we saw him.  The guy is amazing.  I got so much stuff signed it's ridiculous.  
Here is all the 8x10s he signed for me:
Here is all the 11x14s he signed for me:
Cloris Leachman came out next and she is always a joy.  She signed two individual 8x10s for me and she signed my Dunder Mifflin cast 11x14. 

Jon Huertas came out and this guy is always nice.  He signed two 8x10s for me from Castle.  

Fiona Gubelmann came out and wins the award for greatest memory in the history of celebrities.   There were just two of us (me and a buddy) there asking for autographs at this point since it was approaching midnight.  Fiona looks at us and says didn't I meet you in Pasadena.  This blew my mind.  That was in early January and we spend maybe thirty seconds interacting with her.   She remembered us over two months later.  Respect Fiona Gubelmann, respect.  She signed two 11x14s for me and looked gorgeous as always. 

And last but certainly not least, we spotted Moby waiting by valet.  I knew Moby likes to draw so I had him do a sketch for me.  He seems like a down to earth celebrity in the times I have met him.  I took video of him drawing the sketch for me:

I would go as far as to say this was an EPIC night.  

The only celebrity to just straight blow us off was Sofia Bush, and that's how she usually is.  A friend has a One Tree Hill cast piece he's been working on for years that he still needs her on.