Red Carpet Rewind:Me and Hugh

Making Hugh Grant laugh made my night. 

I confess: Hugh is chick-flick catnip to me. My favorite girl movie of all time is “Sense and Sensibility”, so it made Sense that when Hugh worked his way through the press line at the premiere of ”Music and Lyrics”, I had my microphone at-the-ready.

Earlier in the day, while sitting with my lap top researching the movie on the floor of my apartment, which is decorated in the “I’d rather buy shoes than furniture” motif, I thought about how fortunate I was to have been offered a reporter position two weeks after landing in L.A. with all those little pieces of paper crowded with ideas and dialogue written in whatever giant souvenir pencil, eye-liner, or half-dried out pen was handy at the time in the hopes of turning it all into something screenplay-ish and product-placement worthy. The red carpet correspondent job came to me as a result of kind, thoughtful friends. Gratitude abounds.

For this premiere, we were waaaaaay down at the end of the carpet, so there was a chance that Hugh would go inside the theater before he got to us.  Not all celebs walk the entire press line. It can be draining for the star to talk to dozens of reporters.  Plus, some of the quirky, niche outlets ask unrelated questions that can be off-putting. (At a VH1 event, we were placed next to an international crew whose sole purpose was to ask celebs what they thought of casting Larry Hagman in the film version of Dallas. The big entertainment shows can be tough carpet neighbors, too, especially if they ask stars what they think about Britney Spears’ latest woes. I just cringe and hope the celeb doesn’t get press-annoyed and skip over the rest of us.)

As Hugh got closer, I made eye contact with his publicist and asked if he would bring him our way. He nodded and issued the directive that had become my life logline for the past year and a half: “Just one question”.

Before I knew it, Hugh was standing there in all his boyish, polite, understated, British, charming, rom-com leading man glory. My mind was like a clothes dryer as words and question marks tumbled around waiting to fluff up and take shape.  What ONE question do I ask the guy whose portrayal of the Prime Minister in “Love, Actually” is the reason the girls and I gather ’round the television set each December consuming Christmas cookies and egg nog? (For the record – and to publicly allay my “I-wish-I-were-cooler self-consciousness”, I also love the Transporter movies. So there.)    

Back to the Red Carpet. Here’s how it went down:  

“Hi, Hugh. I’m Angela. I can only ask you one question. That’s a lot of pressure.”

OK, maybe you had the be there, but Hugh laughed.

Me again: “Hmmm”, I said while drumming my fingers on my chin and mentally shooing away questions that seemed personal or frivolous. “Can you tell us about the experience of making this movie?”

BRILLIANT! Mint this girl a Murrow Award and get her a patio table at Spago STAT!  This is groundbreaking Entertainment Journalism!

Hugh, total professional that he is, gave an awesome 30-second response about singing and dancing in the film. Soundbite secured. Mission accomplished.

(I should also mention that the film’s star/producer, Drew Barrymore, graciously engaged the press. Even as the movie screening was underway, she stayed outside and gave interviews to every media outlet.)

I have lots more to share, but right now I have to do Saturday things like run to the dry cleaners, get the car washed, procrastinate going to the gym, and tend to some beautification that requires no physical exertion,  just a credit card and searing pain. 

Back soon!