So we're standing at the red carpet waiting for the limo to arrive, delivering Robert Altman and Meryl Streep. We're ten minutes late to the opening night premiere, Robert Alman's Prairie Home Companion. The doors are closed. It's packed. The only way in is on the red carpet. Charley says "let's go in." "How?" I say. And three shots of Grey Goose and two Vodka Cranberries from the bar next door say "like this." as Charley walks down the red carpet to a shout and very quick "ah, fuck it." by the security guard.
I'm not sure what happened during Altman's film. I think boring things happened. I know three glasses of wine and a half hour call to Bart Kias happened. And I shook John C. Reilly's hand. Didn't get to ask him what he benches though.
But wait. Back up.
The day began last night, waiting in line with 100 Aint-It-Cool-ers at The Alamo Draft House for a 35mm original print screening of Lucio Fulci's awful follow up to Zombi, City of The Living Dead. I'm an avid reader of Aint-It-Cool-News and have many times read their tales of the Drafthouse. So I was soaking up a long-theorized atmosphere and it did not dissappoint. 100 people who love their shitty horror with not an ounce of disdain. City Of The Living Dead was Lucio Fulci at his, oh I don't know, what do you call it? You get my point. Great night, great film, and a great walk home.
Because everything in Austin is six blocks away.
As I walked home I walked past bar after bar, the sidewalk was a living thing. Every club had just let out and I have never seen a city that could manage to fit eight clubs on one block with a ninth club in the alley.
Austin knows how to party.
After being here for two nights I don't think that any city in America can claim to know how to party while Austin is on the map. Of course tonight was the first day of Spring Break. Yeah. They blocked off 6th st. people were walking it like a street fair. Rumor has it they do this every weekend. And at that point it's eight bars a block for five blocks, with live music in every bar. I really love this city.
Just for Stephe, Justin, Kate, and Sandy.
Went to The Velveeta Room for one drink, then left. Is it rude to argue for a full minute with the door guy that he should let you in for free, then split after the first drink before the stand-up act has taken the stage?
"Free Bookmark. It also doubles as an independent film." (laugh)
We passed out 1,200 flyers. I'm an old pro at this. Thank you Schadenfreude. I stuffed a ton in The Austion Chronic-what-cle, Austin's version of The Reader, which I used to stuff with Schad cards. Used to stuff The Onion too. So all this hocking felt very familiar.
Darkon
I've only met one other group of filmmakers, Ovie Entertainment, and I think I met the right guys. They were great. There's a lot of attitude here, a lot of pretension. I've had someone look at me and turn their back on me when I introduced myself. All I can say about that is: "you better be the best fucking filmmaker ever."
But the Ovie Entertainment people are awesome. They have a documentary that goes deep into the Darkon Gamers Club, a club that takes itself as serious as cancer. I can't wait to see it. They're from New York (which I've been thinking of moving to) and they've got a $2mil project in the wings and four other films and all of them sound fantastic. And everything they said about their mission statement and their company just sounds spot on. They have a party tomorrow night, it'll be fun to hang out with them.
"It's all happening"
It's really great being here with Heaven's Fall. Because the film just completely stands out. Great cast, big premiere, very impressive. So many people I've handed my cards to have said they want to come, looking forward to it, and wow, which is refreshing. The only thing I can compare this fest to are the comedy festivals that Schad has been to and nobody gave a shit that we were there and they have a 1000 shows they want to go to besides ours and we didn't have the big impressive posters. It almost feels like being somebody.
On Tuesday I will go back and be a telemarketer again, but today I get to play "guy with a movie in the film festival." I get to say I have a film in the film festival all the time, which is fun. It feels like I do. Because I do, but, you know, I don't.
So Charley and I sat on the balcony of a New Orleans-esque bar drinking to our perception of success, buzzing long before we started drinking. Big smiles. Big smiles. I'm a little tired of thinking that something big's on the horizon, because I've never been right yet. I always think something big's on the horizon, and then the horizon comes and goes and...hey look another horizon. So here I am again and it's all exciting again. I guess the good thing is no matter what good or bad happens, I've never run out of Horizon.
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