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something-tofightfor · 2 years

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The Last of Us World Premiere Red Carpet Experience Recap

On the two month anniversary of the premiere event, here’s the rundown about what happened - and how I ended up in the Red Carpet (Gray Carpet That Had Three Inches of Water Running Down It) tent.

I apologize that this took so long to get out, but I debated over whether or not to even share it based on a couple rude as hell messages I received - and decided that I wanted to, because it was a lot of fun and I know some people are interested.

(Under a cut because it’s LONG)

So when the 1iota event was announced on December 21, I immediately requested tickets. I initially put in that I wanted two, and then an hour later, figured that I’d have a better chance of getting selected with only 1. I canceled my initial request and then resubmitted for a single ticket and crossed my fingers that I hadn’t fucked myself over.

I told my boyfriend about it the next day, and let him know that I was going to start looking into flights and hotels and all that - but that I wasn’t going to book until I knew whether or not I’d been chosen.

And then on 12/23, they announced that there was a red carpet arrivals (RCA from here on out) event that a very limited number of people would be chosen for, and that I could also submit a ticket request for that.

I submitted within ten minutes of receiving the email - also for one ticket - and then had my flights booked 45 minutes later. (I managed to get Spirit flights for $39.50 each way, which wasn’t a big deal. If I’m out $80, I’m out $80.) I held off on the hotel, because I figured that I could get something cheap on Hotwire, and then immediately flipped out because everything close by that wouldn’t have required me to rent a car or spend hours on public transit was like $300 a night.

I got the notification that I’d been chosen to attend the premiere on January 3 - and then had to figure out what I was doing about a hotel.

Long story short, it turned out to be cheaper to stay in a hotel further away and rent a car + pay for parking than it would have been to stay close and use an Uber/the LA transit system. (An Uber from the airport to one of the hotels near the premiere venue would have been like $65 each way on the low end, and all of the “estimated” trips would have been multiple changed transit lines plus hours worth of travel time and waiting)

I booked my hotel and my car, and then had to wait.

On my birthday, (January 7) I got an email that said the event was a “dress to impress” event … which meant jeans and casual attire weren’t allowed - and I’d have to fit a “nice” outfit into my personal item sized bag along with clothing for three days … when LA was supposed to be in the 40’s and 50’s.

My flight got me into LA on the morning of January 9th, at about 9:30 am LA time - which meant that I had to be at the airport at 4 am Cleveland time to check in for my 5:45 boarding - I didn’t sleep beforehand, managed an hour or so nap on the plane … and then started my adventure.

It was pouring rain when I landed, still raining when I picked up my car, and then raining even harder when I finally got to check into my hotel a couple hours early (thank GOD for understanding hotel staff because otherwise I would have been getting ready in a public bathroom since I wanted to get to the premiere location no later than 2:30 PM because I didn’t want to risk not getting a seat.

A friend of mine from Discord, and then a girl from Twitter that I’d spoken to a few times had also won a ticket, and we planned on meeting up in line, but because of the rain, travel plans were kind of screwed up. So I got ready, (and decided against wearing fancy shoes because it was literally a MONSOON) grabbed my waterproof jacket and an umbrella, and headed out.

I got to the venue and parked at about 3, and then trudged through the rain to In N Out, stood OUTSIDE UNDER AN AWNING and consumed my first fresh Animal Style double double since 2019, and then decided to start lurking.

My parking garage was right down the street from the venue - I could see the red carpet tent, see the marquee on the theater, see where they had the sidewalk blocked off etc … and then they started setting up the check in tent for 1iota … and that’s where I met my two friends and we stood in line. They told us not to line up before 4:30, but we got in line at 3:40, and almost as soon as we did, other people came out of the woodwork and joined. By 4, there was a solid line of about 25-30 people - most of us with umbrellas, all of us in our fancy outfits and trying not to get soaked.

It actually stopped raining for a little while … and then it started again HORRIBLY. There was a separate line for the people that had gotten chosen for the Red Carpet event - my little group hadn’t, but we met a guy and his dad that had gotten picked - the guy had a fireflies tattoo on one arm and a smaller version of Ellie’s tattoo on the other, and it was GREAT to know that it wasn’t just influencers and stuff getting chosen. I was pretty sad that I wouldn’t get the opportunity to be in the tent, but we were all super excited that people like that guy got the opportunity.

So when we split lines, there were two people in front of us in the Priority line, and then a separate (covered by a tent) line for the RCA group. We started talking to the people in front of us who had been to a TON of events before - and they said that in a lot of cases, there’s people that don’t show up for the Red Carpet, or they purposely under book so that they can surprise fans at the last minute - and that we had a really good chance to get in.

So the group of us - me, the guy from Discord, our friend from Twitter, the two people in front of us, and then two guys that were right behind us, started to get our hopes up.

And then they wrist banded us after checking our tickets and searching our bags and our hopes fell, because we had GA priority red wristbands… and the RCA event people got silver wristbands. The GA priority line by this point was about 200 people long, and they’d taken maybe 40-45 people for the RCA thing … and then they moved our line to under a covered tent because it was getting long, which was nice because we got to close our umbrellas and put our hoods down and not worry about getting pelted in the face with rain.

Finally, about ten minutes before the scheduled start time for the RCA event, the one security guard that I had talked to when I first got there walked over and said “Take off your wristbands, you’ve been upgraded.”

When I tell you there were tears in my eyes, I’m not lying. They wrist banded us in small groups and walked us over across the street … and into the tent.

I’ve done 1iota events before, but never a red carpet, and I was absolutely stunned. It was warm and dry and there were things to look at and music playing and it just looked beautiful. I didn’t know it right away but there were two fan pits with the central “interview” area (the thing that had the big TLOU display with the clicker and the title and the lights) between them for photo ops and all that. (I also didn’t know that after the RCA was over, they were going to convert the tent into the after party location, which was pretty damn cool).

So we all settle into our space, take our coats off, try and make ourselves look presentable, and start talking about whether or not people are actually going to stop, who we’d like to meet, etc. It was pretty surreal to hear and see the rain pouring down on the opposite side of the tent, but be DRY underneath it.

I figure, at this point, I’ll get to see the cast and crew as they do interviews and walk by, and it’ll be super cool to take a couple photos and maybe watch them interact. But then the two people that were in front of us were like “no, people stop and take pictures and have conversations all the time. You can’t get anything signed, but there’s much more to this than just watching.”

Alright, well, I don’t know what to do with this information - except start popping mints like crazy and hope for the best.

We see all of the press people getting into place and lining up and testing their cameras out … and then I look up and see Laura Bailey walking toward us. My first instinct is “Holy shit, for real? What are the odds she’s the first person I see?” My second instinct is “My boyfriend is going to shit his pants if I send him a picture of her.” Someone called her over and she walked over to where we were all standing … and a few minutes later, I’d told her that I think she’s hilarious on Critical Role, it was lovely to meet her, and had gotten a picture with her. (No mention of her part in TLOU2.) She was GORGEOUS in person (Travis was nowhere to be found), and we ended up seeing her a bunch of times throughout the night with other cast and friends (and Troy’s wife).

I think it’s not going to get better than that, because I figure “well she’s part of it, but she’s not part of season 1, and so of course she’d stop because she won’t get mobbed…” And then I look up and to my left and I see Troy Baker.

I have loved this man and his voice for a decade. I know a bunch of people have had the opportunity to meet him - but I hadn’t yet. And I look at the people next to me and I’m like “If he stops, we should ask for a group photo so that way we actually GET one, and don’t miss out” and they all agreed. I didn’t want to be greedy or just assume solo pictures would happen - so we agreed to do the same with Bella, if the opportunity arose just because we figured there wouldn’t be enough time for everyone to get one.

And then Nick Offerman appeared, holding a tiny microphone and doing an interview for what felt like 20 minutes with the same people. Troy kept moving closer and closer and then disappearing, Laura walked by a couple more times.

And then Nick finished his interviews, and headed toward us …but didn’t stop. I’ve heard things about him not meting fans and being kind of a jerk, but he was kind enough to smile, wave and say hello as he passed us, which was much more than I expected.

The whole time this event was going on, they were playing a curated soundtrack through the tent’s speakers, and I kid you NOT, it was like I was listening to my Just Too Good To Be Gone playlist. So many of the same songs were on there - and I don’t just mean regular versions of them, I mean the acoustic versions of them, too.

I’m busy texting Alyssa about what’s happening and I glance up - and Cameron Monaghan is strolling toward us with a big smile on his face. The only thing I could think of to say was “Cal fucking Kestis!?” - out loud, and while looking DIRECTLY at him. He laughed, but so did everyone around us, and so it was fine, and I got to tell him how much I admired his work on Shameless and that I couldn’t wait to play Jedi Survivor because Fallen Order was a blast before we took a photo together. (My sister and our friend were PISSED that I didn’t tell them I met him as soon as it happened but out of all the people I saw in person that night, he was the biggest shellshock so I was a little dazzled. He’s SO HANDSOME in person, and was so kind)

Troy kept inching closer and closer but we all know how much he likes to talk so…

Then someone goes “Oh, Malin Akerman is here” and before I even had a chance to say anything or process that information, she was right in front of me and saying hello and asking if anyone wanted a photo. Loved her in Watchmen, so I said yes, and sent THAT to Chris too, and was just met with a “what the fuck, really?”

But I didn’t have long to process THAT because Troy was making his way down the line … and taking pictures with EVERYONE that asked. (Spotted Geoff Keighley at this point, too, which was SUPER COOL, because he seems like such a fun guy, but he was walking on the opposite side of the carpet down the aisle that was reserved for the actual celebrity guests/important people guests etc.)

… and then there was Troy and he was so tall and handsome in person that I FROZE for a second before I recovered. We only spoke for a minute or so, and he asked how we were all doing, and when we took the photo together he actually leaned in and put his hand against my back which was pretty goddamn cool. And before he left, I thanked him for all the great things he’d been a part of (especially Joel Miller and Booker DeWitt) , and said that I looked forward to everything he had coming up.

And then as soon as he walked away I had a mini freak out - but recovered VERY quickly because Keivonn Woodard and his mom (and the ASL interpreter/assistant he had with him) walked up.

The kid is ADORABLE in person, and RAN past all of us and gave high fives and fist bumps, and then when they stopped in front of us to take a few photos with each other and have a conversation, someone yelled “Hey, would be be able to take a photo with us?” And his mom stopped the conversation, signed something to him, and he turned around and faced us and made like a “you want a picture with ME?” gesture, and everyone nodded and started cheering and I swear to you, he LIT UP. It was really cool, because everyone that took a picture with im was very polite and made sure to say “thank you” so that he could see it, and then thanked his mom again for allowing it.

But it was one of my favorite parts of the night - and meeting him and seeing how sweet he is made knowing what happened to Sam so much sadder to think about.

Storm Reid and Merle Dandridge walked by at almost the same time - Storm only stopped for a few people, but she seemed really nice; the kids that were in line in front of us before we got in were immediately to my left (and are photobombing MANY of my pictures, haha) actually go to the same college as she does, so I didn’t want to interrupt their conversation and didn’t ask for a photo… and then Merle might be the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in person, and I was too stunned to ask for a photo with her although I did say hello and agree with her when the guy next to me went to take a picture with her and wasn’t holding the phone “properly” to get the best angle and her response (as she moved his hand to reposition the camera) was “you’ve got to take it at the right angle. Not from too far above or below.” It was really funny and she seemed genuinely happy to be there and interacting with people - but we were getting close to the marked time for the end of the RCA event, so they were sort of rushing people along a little more than they had been.

Gustavo and his wife walked by at that point - and they were adorable together, just walking down the carpet and taking it all in. He didn’t stop or anything, and didn’t even really acknowledge anyone as he walked by, but it was nice to see him.

We then saw a bunch of people get led out on the opposite side of the tent - and it was the people that got to go into the OTHER fan pit - so the people that got chosen for the RCA right off the bat - and I was super worried that they’d make us leave too … but no one did, so even though we were confused as to why they had to leave halfway through, we just sort of ignored it and hoped for the best.

And then I got my first glimpse of Pedro Pascal IN PERSON, and it started to sink in that it was really happening, and I was at the premiere of TLOU and he - and Bella - were RIGHT THERE. (He was about 100 feet away at this point so we still had a WHILE to go)

The guy that played David on Narcos was there for whatever reason - and I snapped a picture of him as he walked by and sent it to Chris and got a “that fucking guy” reply which made me laugh … and then Troy, his wife and Laura walked by again … and we realized that the fucking tent was flooding - and that it was running DOWN toward us from the other end.

And then Nico Parker appeared out of nowhere looking like a goddamn angel in her dress - and she was only able to stop for a few photos (I didn’t get one, but the people to my left and then a few down on my right did - she had someone following her and holding up the tail end of her dress for her so it didn’t drag on the carpet because even though *we* didn’t know it, the other side of the tent was already much more damp than our side, and there was actually a bunch of standing water.

I sacrificed my picture with Nico to get one with Jeffrey Pierce, who was absolutely HILARIOUS in person and goes “So are you just here to say hello to us on our way in, or are you going to watch the episode, too?” And we laughed and I said “That’s the plan. Hopefully there’s room for us in the theater, but we might have to swim there.” And he laughed - very hard - and said “You actually might.”

So after they walked away, the only three cast members left that I was looking forward to were Pedro, Bella and Gabriel - and then Neil and Craig - who we could see doing interviews.

Bella walked over first, and took the time to stop and say hello to EVERY SINGLE person in our area of the fan pit. They were kind and smiling and genuinely friendly the entire time interacting with us, and taking pictures left and right. We were sure to tell them that we were certain that Ellie was in great hands, and that we couldn’t wait to see the show’s take on her. Bella really seemed to appreciate the support, and said that they hoped that we all loved it, because making it was one of the best times of their life - and that the entire cast put everything they had into it.

When they walked away, only Pedro and Gabriel were left, and about a minute and a half after Bella was gone, Pedro pulled away from the press and headed for us with a MASSIVE smile on his face. Everyone was super respectful of him - and even though it was fast, he took time with everyone he spoke to.

The kid next to me asked him if he could take the photo since his arms were longer, and Pedro said “No, I actually have a little fever tonight and I don’t want to touch anyone’s phones, sorry.” And then he leaned back so that he could take a picture with the kid - and Pedro’s security pushed the kid’s hand away from Pedro’s back and said “not tonight,” which resulted in absolutely nothing being between me and Pedro’s back and shoulders as he LEANED BACK to make sure he was in frame.

I held both of my hands up - on instinct - like a “woah, alright, don’t lean back too far”, but the man was legitimately leaning against me for a solid fifteen seconds while he took a picture with that kid - and the girl the kid was with - and I actually made eye contact with the security guy because *I* didn’t want to get yelled at too, and he just kind of smiled at me and apparently recognized that I was just attempting to provide a sort of barrier so he didn’t lean too far back and it was fine.

But to answer a question that I have gotten countless times when telling this story: Pedro smells good. Like, really good. There was kind of a woodsy-smoky scent (not cigarette smoke or anything like that) with an undertone of just clean. I actually think some of what I was smelling was hair product, to be honest, but whatever it was smelled GREAT.

And then he turned around and made eye contact with me said hello - before asking how I was. Direct fucking eye contact with this man was a TRIP. And (little did we all know just how sick he was) he made sure to hold it and lean in so that neither of us were yelling.

I asked him if I could take a photo with him, and he said of course. But before we did that, I told him how lucky we are to be able to see him act and do what he loves, and that I was so excited to see what he had in store with Joel, because TLOU is one of my favorite pieces of media and has been, and Joel’s a top tier character for me.

He paused, smiled and thanked me, and said “I really hope I don’t disappoint you, then.” I ASSURED him that it was impossible for that to happen, and he did that thing where he tried to hide a smile and ducked his head before he thanked me again and then turned his attention to the people next to me.

It was absolutely surreal to have gotten to have that kind of a conversation with him - and even though it was short, and he was feeling like TRASH, he took the time to make it a personal conversation, not just a “hi, thanks for coming, let’s take a picture” - he let people speak to him and spoke back. (Also, a girl a few people down actually dropped her phone, and without breaking conversation, he immediately bent down to pick it up and hand it back to her - so he broke his own rule.)

A few minutes later, after he’d made his way to the end of the row and stepped away to take group pictures with his family, one of the security team came and told us we’d have to leave to go into the theater and lock our phones - JUST as Gabriel was getting ready to walk over.

(The man looked fine as HELL that night, and I’m so sad about it because he was so close)

So once Pedro’s group was out of the tent, they started leading us the very short distance from the tent to the theater entrance - and to get there, we had to step over a makeshift bridge that they’d built out of a wooden plank because there was legitimately three inches of water RUNNING down the street and if it hadn’t been there, we would have all had to LEAP over it.

I tried to take a few pictures of the posters on display on the way in, and they checked my bag again, took my phone and sealed it into a pouch that I needed to use a magnet to open at the end of the showing - and told us to stop on the way out and pick up the “stuff” they had for us before telling us to have a good time.

They handed out random tickets based on group size, and since we were so late getting in, we ended up in the second row at the front of the theater ticket-wise (which sucked but once I got comfortable, I didn’t care).

They had free popcorn and drinks for us at the counter, and as we were making our way over to grab it, Ashley Johnson walked by and I just went “Holy shit! You’re great!” And she stopped and looked and me and then started laughing and thanked me, and I finally managed to say something else (Thanked her for playing Ellie so well, that I loved and missed Yasha in CR, and that she was STUNNING in person) and she winked at me, thanked me and walked away.

So then we went in and sat down and Craig and Neil spoke, and it was super heartfelt, (And you can read more about my experience/thoughts immediately after the premiere here) and that was another “oh, shit - it’s real! moment.

Once the screening was over, people started leaving, but they got all of the people with the silver wristbands into one section and asked us to go out last - so we waited and then were handed poster tubes with 14 x 21 poster and a Fireflies pendant inside, and then that was it.

I wanted to try and get a last picture inside of the tent before we left, but that’s when we were told that it had been converted for the after party, and I wasn’t allowed back in.

Said goodbye to my friends and started walking back to my car (STILL RAINING) when I realized that I’d dropped my ticket. So I threw everything into my car and RAN back, asked the theater staff if I could go back in and see if it had dropped by my seat, and they let me. I didn’t end up finding MY ticket, but I did find another one, along with a couple of the TLOU ziploc bags that the VIPs got to keep their tickets safe and dry, so I grabbed those, thanked the staff, and went back to my car. I didn’t even think to ask if I could have one of the larger marquee posters, and that’s on me, but it is what it is.

And then I had a 30 minute drive back to my hotel in a rainstorm on a highway filled with people that were acting like they’ve never driven in bad road conditions before, ordered the most expensive (BUT DELICIOUS) Ramen I have ever had in my life, and finally changed out of my damp clothes and started to process everything from that night.

It was an incredible experience. It was so much more laid back than I imagined it would be, and everyone in the tent was super respectful of everyone that they spoke to. It was really cool to meet people that were fans of the game, and to get to watch the premiere in a theater full of people that actually care about it. I would love to be able to attend the season 2 event, also - and truly hope to get the chance again. (There can’t be TWO monsoons in a row, right? Maybe next time I won’t look like a drowned rat in the pictures.)

And as for pictures of me and the cast? I have posted them elsewhere. I’m not posting them here on tumblr because I’m trying to keep things separate, but I feel like a lot of you have already seen them either because I’ve shared them with you directly, or because you saw them on another social media site.

I didn’t intend for this to get so long, but I am a wordy bitch, so I’m sure you’re not surprised.

Thank you for reading this - and thank you to the people that have been supportive of this fun little trip that I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to take.

The Last of Us has been a huge part of my life - and very important to me for a lot of reasons - since it came out in 2013, and this was a dream come true (and made even better because three days later, I got to go to NYC and watch the screening again and experience the NYC event with Alyssa ( @the-blind-assassin-12 ) and Rebecca (@pedropascalito) and other friends from Discord/Reddit)

This was an absolute whirlwind of a trip to Los Angeles, and while I’m sad it was super short, I packed a LOT into it - hopefully next time, I’ll be able to do more and meet more people (PARTICULARLY some of them that were in the same fan pit/red carpet area that I was and we didn’t even know it until it was too late!)

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask!

#the last of us #tlou #tlou world premiere #the last of us world premiere #tlou premiere #the last of us premiere #memories #pedro pascal #bella ramsey #gabriel luna #ashley johnson #laura bailey #nick offerman #troy baker #jeffrey pierce #what a cool time #i am so thankful to have had this opportunity #los angeles in a monsoon is something else

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