ONE Staff / January 19th, 2007 / Spotlight
BIG DEAL: ONE at Smoking Aces World Premiere

Thanks to great connections and good luck, ONE was on-hand for the World Premiere of the new Universal Studios film SMOKIN’ ACES. The showing was in Hollywood at the famous Graumann’s Chinese Theater, and the red carpet action was in full effect. Want to know what it’s like being at a private party with Kanye West and Common?

Check out the trailer here.

It took four hours to get from San Diego to L.A., and the last ten miles into Hollywood on the 101 took over an hour. As the minutes passed, it seemed we would be destined to miss our 7 pm WILL CALL deadline and perhaps lose out on the whole reason we spent half a day in the car. But just like rollerbladers, everything in Hollywood runs late, so everyone can be more fashionable than each other, which meant we were all good. As we looped around the theater in search of the VIP parking we’d been instructed to use, Ryan Reynolds, arguably the most anchored character in the movie, made his way up the red carpet to numerous flashes and much cheering. Unfortunately, our timing did mean we’d missed most of the famed “arrivals,” so as we moved from WILL CALL to the carpet and then milled around the lobby of the famous theater we had no idea who we would see. Which turned out to be no one as we were shuffled to our seats and the film began.

Sparing everyone a review of the film, let’s just say it went down, and as the credits rolled we headed out of the theater, planning to head to the private party across the street at the Roosevelt Hotel. It was while heading up the aisle that I caught a glimpse of Andy Garcia sitting in an end seat, which I thought was pretty cool since he was a bad ass in THE UNTOUCHABLES and one of the only good things happening in THE GODFATHER III. So there it was, a close encounter with a legend. Walking out into the lobby with my new story to share, I saw Wes looking at me and making some gesture over his shoulder, which I came to learn was attempting to indicate that Kanye West was standing just around the corner. I didn’t notice though, because I was too distracted by Jason Bateman standing right in front of me, who wasn’t my favorite in TEEN WOLF TOO, but won me over with the Fox series ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. It was at this point we truly realized the anticipated-but-still-bizarre surreality of our situation.

Knowing Jenn needed to get back from the restroom to see her boy Bateman, he walked by, flashing a big smile, and disappeared into the crowd. Jenn showed up one nanosecond later, at which point my bladder threw in the towel. Heading off to the water closet there was a long line, and in front of me in that line was none other than ol’ Andy Garcia, again. Fighting the urge to shamelessly chat with him, I abandoned the line so we could head across to the party. That’s when we got caught up in a mob, a mob that followed us and took photos as we coincidentally crossed the street close-by Bateman and his ladyfriend. Jenn got to see him afterall and we got to be perceived as minorly important to a bunch of tourist schlubs.

Over at the party we beelined for the open bar and then made the rounds. The large, well-adorned ballroom/lounge turned out to be the holding pen for the riff raff, as a side dining/stage saw the likes of Alicia Keys, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Common, Kanye, Chris Rock (I’m told) and more. That shit was so private I had to listen to E! TV to know who was actually there. Not that it mattered, gourmet buffets sated our appetites, the open bar kept our throats wet, and the people watching was world class.

The good times continued on for some manner of time and then the DJ went silent and director/writer Joe Carnahan (from the safety of the off-limits cast area) gave a dedication and thank you to everyone who helped make his vision come to life, and then handed the mic off to Common, who brought his boy Kanye on stage to do a set. The whole place filled with great energy, and the riff raff moved in on the side-room, catching glimpses through the doors. From our perch near both hors d’oeuvre and alcohol I got a nice earfull of “All Falls Down.” After about 20 or 30 minutes they wrapped it up, and the party seemed to officially start winding down. Had we tried, surely our night could have just been beginning, but frankly we had a long drive home.

For a night with no expectations — especially as we were stuck in traffic, convinced we’d miss the affair — things had worked out pretty amazingly. Movie. Celebs. Free food and drink. Improv private concert. A man can get used to these things. We wonder what we’ll do next. — JE

Discussion / BIG DEAL: ONE at Smoking Aces World Premiere

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  • Brazil - January 26th, 2007

    Good stuff, I wanted to go to the premiere but It was way out of my schedule to fly out to LA right now, i’ll be there end of february though for sure. Funny enough though I was with common all day yesterday, good stuff havent seen him in months really it was good to chill with another chicagoan and get some good footage. And he performs with a live band so watching him rehearse afterwards was real sick too. Good stuff. You guys should hit up the grammys or he oscars, unfortunately i cant go to the grammys this year to rep rollerblading like i did last year, but next year fa damn sho. We should have One come with us to the grammys in ’08 shit will be hectic….

    on a side note, my manager whos the former president of the grammys, is throwing a grammy party in LA on feb. 8th if you guys want to roll to that, hit me up i’ll get you the VIP action.

    -Brazil

    email me

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