Tuesday, February 03, 2015

Slamdance/Sundance 2015 Day 2: Red Carpet and Getty Photo shoot

Day 2 at Sundance was truly epic too.

Michal and I started off early with a nice brekkie with Batman and Damsel (as one does) and then headed off to the Eccles Theatre to see the film "Sleeping with other people", an offbeat romantic comedy, what the director referred to as "When Harry Met Sally -- for jerks". It was hilarious and the acting and script were both really well done. At the end of the movie, we were surprised that the lead actor and actress, Alison Brie and Jason Sudeikis, both came out for a long Q&A along with the film's director Leslye Headland. We had a great time at the screening, the Q&A rocked, and it was fun to actually go to a Sundance screening while in Park City.

To the Eccles Theatre!
Alison Brie, Jason Sudeikis and writer/director of "Sleeping with Other People"
Sundance!
Gotta love those chair lifts right through town
From here, Michal and I went to wander around and found the Roots store in Park City! Roots is one of the most famous Canadian clothing brands, and so it was so crazy to see it there. My buddy Noah said to keep an eye out for it -- it is still there after the Olympics that were in Salt Lake City (the year when Roots did both the Canadian AND USA olympic team clothing). It was super fun to check it out and Michal and I bought (almost!) matching hoodies which were Roots Park City themed, with a small AMERICAN flag on the top of the hoodie! This, of course, is very odd for a Roots hoodie which is always adorned in Canadian maple leaves. But yet, super awesome, so... now we have almost-matching hoodies. Win.

This afternoon was all about press and photos, which was a super fun opportunity to drink some tasty free coffee and hang out and goof off, all things that I love doing more than just about anything else.

Slamdance Red Carpet
This is exciting
Red Carpet
One more Red Carpet photo, where you can see the actual red carpet :)
We took a wander after this, walking into the Acura Studio area and watching a free concert, and getting a cup of life-changingly perfect (and free?!?!) hot chocolate from Intelligentsia, as well as a pour-over coffee that tasted like a dream of a simpler time.

I had pre-booked a ticket into the Indiegogo event, and by chance it just turned out there was a secret Tim (freakin'!) Hortons in there -- talk about a Canadian's dream!!! We got a cup of free coffee (why is everything free here?!) and told them how psyched we were to see Tim Hortons there. As my usual luck tends to go, the staff there high-fived us for loving Tim Hortons so much and gave me like 10 packs of Timmy's coffee and some Tim's tote bags. YUP. We walked into the Indiegogo thing to see the end of an interview with Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords. I love this place.

Epic theatre
Yep, there is a freakin' Tim Hortons here!
Oh look, it's Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords!
Well that was amazing. All caffeinated, we headed to the Getty Images studio which was sponsored by none other than McCafe -- time for another hot chocolate, I'd say!

This was the final official event of the day, and we hung out there with Robert Johnson (!!) and some other NFL players who were there also to shoot some photos with Getty Images for the "Sundance Film Festival Portraits: Day 2" album. We got some coffees and chilled out until it was time for makeup and photos.

Chillin' at the Getty Photo shoot green room
Hanging out before our makeup and photos
OMG LET'S DO THIS
Oooh fancy hair!
Getting into the mood for photos
And... smile!
The two lovely ladies
Dana looking sharp!
Wahoo!
Another angle :)
A good looking group, I'd say!
Woo!
Of course, I ridiculously asked the legendary Getty photographer Larry Busacca if we were clearly the "most attractive group he's shot all day", to which he said "Of course!" without skipping a beat. He also high-fived me on the way out. Man, this experience was awesome.

Whew! So that was super fun and I didn't try the free (again, free) wine beforehand for fear of looking too red for the photos. Cue, a cheers to this day! We hung around a bit longer in the green room, dancing around, generally being silly, and then getting tweeted by McDonald's. All in a day's work, I suppose!

Ok photos are done, time to celebrate again!
Chillin' post photos
And then we put on McCafe sweatpants and busted a move in the Getty photo studio #canttakeusanywhere
Posing for the McDonald's cameraman, just because
Rob drawing us a "Batkid is lovin' it" sign for the McCafe wall
Put up those wings!
Boom!
And then McDonald's tweeted us.
Another amazing day in Park City, and a weekend I will never forget! What a great bunch of hardworking and fun-loving people. I love the Batkid wish team, and I'm so happy our little Batkid family is even larger now.

It was so cool to go to Park City and enjoy the festivals and the many, many free coffees and hot chocolates -- but even better to be able to do it in the company of such wonderful people. It's especially gratifying to me, because the Batkid Begins movie is not just a movie -- it's a charity project, and also it's an awareness film that sends a message out, loud and clear. I think it aims to inspire people to be a little kinder, and a little gentler, and a little more decent to each other. Isn't that just exactly what our goal on this earth should be?

Congrats to the Batkid Begins crew on an out-of-this-world weekend at Slamdance and a glorious launch of the film. To many more successes, and I hope lots and lots of people get to see your hard work and see how you helped tell our story far and wide.

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