Source Code Domestic Press Travel Begins!

Thankfully its been kind of quiet around here, well…. in comparison to the way it has been. Last night was the premiere of Source Code, in Los Angeles, CA. We were super tired, but super excited to see the film with some family and friends. It was the first time we’ve seen it in a long time, and I was still caught by some of the surprises. 

Overall, it ended up being a great evening, but we couldn’t help but think about the upcoming travel schedule…work work work!

See ya on the road…

P.S.

Yes Duncan’s shoes are suede, blue suede.

P.P.S.

Yes, Rodene’s handbag is a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich.

P.P.S.S.

Yes, we were totally serious. 

(Source: enterthesourcecode.com)

Some found Source Code Promo Posters/Art.

(Source: twitter.com)

This Press Touring trip has been so awesome, we keep finding ourselves at the most unlikely places, discovering the most awesome things. Have you guys ever been to New York’s Museum of Moving Images? http://www.movingimage.us/ We had no idea what to expect at this place, and definitely didn’t expect to see pieces from our favorite films! 

Not only were there classic arcade games that you could play with tokens, but there were rad film set pieces. I was thrilled to see Regan from the Exorcist NOT spinning her head, throwing up or cursing thankfully but sitting happily in an enclosed display case, and Freddy’s Huge Ripped up sweater! I NEED these things in our house. Duncan was poopin’ himself as he saw a piece from BladeRunner, a piece from the Tyrell Building! We both nearly passed out during our little afterhours tour. 

What a treat that was in the Big City. If you haven’t been, be sure to make it a definite pit stop. This place is full of magical surprises. 

We’ll be back…I’ll be back for the sweater.

We’re starting to lose track of the days! From shooting in Montreal last year, to SxSW in Austin, all the major cities in between L.A. to N.Y. can ya blame us? And with all the hours and sweat behind it all, its all been worth it. We’ve met so many awesome new people, seen so many beautiful cities, and have made many comfy hotels home. Though Duncan has done what seems like a thousand  Q & As, I still learn something new about him, film, LIFE :) and there’s always a new question from the crowd.

One of our favorite cities is New York, probably because it reminds us of London, only a bit more angry. It rained and snow flurried for a day, but was bright and shiny today. Every where you turn in NY, there’s a photo op. I really need to buy more memory cards and batteries. I would love to have a really muscular gnome with wings, who’d carry all my equipment, and would only demand I feed it every now and then.

We were able to visit a place called the Lincoln Center, such a beautiful complex, and a tamer crowd. Didn’t know what to expect, but it all went well. BBC America also did an interview with Duncan, and we had a great laugh with Mr. Tom Brook. Mr. Brook wanted to hire me since I did a good job of making sure they both looked great on camera, but of course, Duncan made it clear I was already booked.

Almost three weeks in and we’re still kickin’! 

A little chilly in Boston, but luckily I came prepared…NO I wasn’t wearing flip flops and cargo shorts. This might come as a shock to people, but not only do we get updated weather reports in California, we also have snow not too far away; we know what’s up with the cold. 

Arriving in Boston at about 6:00pm, we had a little chance to catch our breath before heading out to the AMC Theater at the Boston Common. The gentleman who hosted the Q & A with Duncan was “David Chen” from “Slashfilm.com,” and it was such a treat, as he was also already a follower of ManMadeMoon. Tons of new people, and tons of new questions! 

After the q & a, we ran into Rango….OH YEAH! Score! Just HAD to snap a photo. 

So you may have heard I have been a bit under the weather.  Man Flu.  The “grey death.”  “A dirty weekend in flu town.”  Of course, it decided to creep up on me as we were leaving Seattle.  It made itself comfortable on Friday, my first day of junket in LA, and was full blown for the full weekend of press there.  I tell you, there is nothing harder than trying to sound focused, when your sinuses are trying to blow your brains out your nostrils.

So what actually IS a junket, some of you may ask.  

Well… its an opportunity to talk to every entertainment news tv show, every US regional newspaper and every film related web site in the US, one after the other from a floor of a hotel room, dedicated to making the most of your time.  Its not just me, though.  Every film does it, and the writer, the actors and the director of every major film make this pilgrimage in the hopes that by being witty, friendly and accessible, the good people out there will hold off on splashing their entertainment front pages with more Lindsey Lohan and Charlie Sheen updates in order to give our films an extra few hours of face time with the public.  Sometimes it works.

I have to be honest, I’m one of the few people who actually enjoys doing junkets… not the whole shebang, but I like talking to people one on one about making movies and I really enjoy the roundtables which are a little like CNN’s old “crossfire” show if crossfire involved 8 interviewers and one nervous director.  Our junket broke down into three phases; an international press day, a TV day and on Sunday, a print and online day.

International press started simply enough with a series of phone interviews, but I could see something coming up on the schedule that had me scratching my head. “News Conference for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.”  Firstly, what news was I supposed to be breaking at a news conference, and secondly, was this the infamous HFPA behind the Golden Globes?!  The Ricky Gervais defining-moment-now-umissable-award-show HFPA?  It bloody well was!  The news conference actually just turned out to be a roundtable with a slightly more confrontational layout for the chairs, but the odd bit was at the end;  There’s a routine I was not aware of.  The HFPA line up, take turns standing next to you for a photo op, then leave you to stand posing, pretending to read a copy of their respective publications in every language under the sun.  So I do as I’m asked, opening issue after issue from each nation, and you couldn’t have planned it… on every page I turned to, Charlie Sheen.  

Lots more press, and I stagger home to be looked after by the missus.  Day 1 of 3.

So Saturday was TV day, and the big difference here is that the interviews are way faster.  4 minutes a pop.  Rodene came in with me, as the flu was hitting hard, and I got a few odd looks from interviewers sitting across from me as the “make up lady” kept coming on set to feel my head and kiss me on the lips!  Hoping this might pay off as some rumor that I’m a major Lothario… either that or that I have the most outrageous “rider” in Hollywood.  Couple of photo shoots, lots more TV and a mountain of posters to sign.  Fever and sweats hit, but I scrape through.

Sunday!  Final day and I’m jacked up on Theraflu, Emergen-c, Vicks and Echinacea.  Lots of one on ones, roundtables and phoners.  Im hanging with it though.  Nurse Rodene and a lot of friendly faces over the course of the day keep me going.  I have to say, that even in that sorry state, it was still a blast to talk to so many lovely people and chat movies.  I really do enjoy that. 

By the end of the day I have done over 70… yes… 70 interviews.  In one day.  And then Rodene breaks the news; we have to get up at 5am to catch our flight to Boston.

(Source: twitter.com)

All packed for more flying:

theraflu - check

emergen c -check

soft tissues -check

echinacea -check

b-12 -check

gummies -check

vicks -check

antibacterial gel -check

We left L.A. rain for Boston rain. Luckily, Duncan seemed to have left his flu in L.A., but just in case its only hiding, we’re ready for it. 

Just thought I’d drop in to say a little “hello” from rainy Boston! We have a little catching up to do, so we’ll see you soon.

Too bad I’m not a coffee drinker, Seattle is supposed to be one of the “it” places for it. Instead, I stuck with the fish. Its been almost two weeks now since we’ve been blogging and touring around, and we are both wiped. Duncan especially has been feeling the bug, yet he manages to muster up the strength and enthusiasim at each and every meeting, q & a, screening, intro, tv interview, radio interview, one on one, photoshoots, print/magazine/online/phone interview. He’s superman.

In Seattle, he was interviewed for another t.v. show, something called, “New Day.” The other guest on the show gave away an XBOX, we were bummed when she didn’t have one for us. Especially since we gave away advanced screening passes, to EVERYONE! *Sigh. But, Duncan did have a whole Highland Piper’s Band following him around. ( Okay, no, he didn’t but, there was one playing at the t.v. studio. ) We did wear green, having no interest in getting pinched.

While he went off to do more interviews, I slipped away to visit the famous Pike Place Market. It was the perfect day, a little sun, no rain, and just enough people to bring it to life. Sad part of the whole thing was, I couldn’t help but wish my sweet hunny were there to experience it all with me. I saw butchers throwing around meats, fish, and other unidentifiable foods, putting on shows for their customers, while a group of ladies were handing out mounds of roasted nuts. My favorite was the wind up toy shop, couldn’t buy anything that wouldn’t get destroyed during all the various flights, so I just spent a little time with each toy, locking it up in the good ol’ memory bank.

Time was up, back to make sure Duncan was still alive. 

He was. He is. (By a thread.)

Away we were, back on the dreaded Alaskan Airlines flight. It was a good flight, considering we made it out in one piece, but definitely hit a couple cloud bumps. We weren’t able to get any sleep, probably because we were happy to touch base back in L.A. 

Home sweet home. 

Woke up in the magnificent Valley Ho hotel! What a place! A real Scottsdale landmark. Its decorated as it was in its heyday, a time capsule of swinging 50’s style. Tony Curtis honeymooned with Janet Leigh here, back when Hollywood was glamorous, and you feel like the rat pack might appear around the next corner every step you took through the foyer. Great rooms, great food. A must, if you ever find yourself in Arizona!

As usual, we were eating for four… definitely something we need to keep an eye on, but it’s the nature of touring like this. You’re always eating. I’m worried if Im not careful, I may start losing track of my feet though.

The day started with Sludge Nation, radio KDKB-FM. The gang there were sweet-hearts. We had a really good laugh shootin’ the poop about Sludge’s idea for a comic book movie based on his sludge wielding super hero. I don’t know if it will take off, Mr. Sludge, but if it does, I hear Darren Aranofsky’s schedule just opened up! Boom! Back to the hotel and a series of interviews with a terrific cast of characters! There were gigantic college kids, identical twins, a retired A.D. with an amazing history of his own… all in the 50s meeting room of the Valley Ho hotel. It was more than a little David Lynch-y.

Quick break for lunch; the best tuna sandwich I have ever had, and then on the road for a spot of TV with KPNX and their mid afternoon house wives favorite, “Arizona Midday.” Rodene, ever the strategist, suggested that this demographic would probably really respond well to a tear jerk moment. I tried my best to steer the conversation into something.. anything that might let me pluck at the audiences heart strings, but Jan D’Atri was just too damn professional! Every time I tried to go there, she had us back on Source Code! Finally, sensing I was running out of time, I desperately yelled over her insightful and well researched question “I have cancer!” …we suddenly went to commercial break! No. That didn’t really happen. Life rarely soars to that level of drama! But its fun to imagine, eh? Actually, “Arizona Midday” went very smoothly and Jan was lovely and very positive about the film. A very professional, very nice lady. And that was it!

Arizona in our rear-view mirror as we caught a plane out of town, and soared up to Seattle! I have to say, I have been to Seattle a few times, and I really do think its a terrific city. It’s kind of like New York had a kid with San Francisco, and then sent it off to military school. Busy city streets clamber over the hills like they’re looking for somewhere decent to settle. Usual routine when we arrived; airport to hotel, drop off the bags, grab a few Moon patches for any serious Moon fans in the audience, and head out for the Q&A. Was a good one! Lots of great banter, and some real lovely people to talk to afterwards. I have to say, the more I get the chance to meet people through Q&A’s and audience members I’m meeting with Source Code, the more I’m realizing just how much smaller the world is getting through social networking technologies. I think the rule of Kevin Bacon is now applicable to ALL of us, and I think it may be less than six degrees! I think in these strange times, its nice to know you have friends you didn’t even know about out there.

You KNOW you’re tired when you have to ask strangers what day it is.

Up at 7am, NOT SO early today, but its all catching up with us. Lots of Radio Interviews, some Taped TV, and a round table. The usual these days…but its always fun during the round table interviews, there’s always a new question. By then it was about 3:30pm, back to the airport, this time we were able to hang at the “SKY PRIORITY” lounge…they had chocolate drizzled popcorn, and hummus to go! We’ve made it! :-) 

Although I extremely miss that Atlanta Southern Hospitality, Phoenix has touched my heart. Literally, Arizona has melted our hearts. Coming from rain and wind in Atlanta & D.C. to scorching sunny Phoenix….nothing beats a “warm” welcome. 

Thankfully the flight was 4 hours, gave us a little time to sleep, but my poor boyfriend was between THAT and getting some writing done. It gets confusing for me, because I worry about his health and well being, but I also LOVE the mumbo jumbo of ideas he always has boiling in that handsome head of his. Its like, sleep, write, sleep, write, eat, snuggle, sleep, write, eat, breathe. 

Once we landed, it was straight to the theater. No breaks this time. When we walked in, there was a couple having a conversation about the poster, couldn’t make out what they were saying, but they scurried away once I snapped the shot. As for the Q & A, it was fantastic! There was one guy who said he saw “Moon” 6 times and had to travel about 30 miles….the dedication! For that, I made sure he had a couple patches from “Moon” to go home with, hoping he won’t forget us. The real heart warmer was a six year old kid who came up for an autograph, spelling his whole name out, letter by letter, politely, loud and clearly. He even stopped to show off his brand newly signed poster…(I was like, wait, what was the rating on this film?!) Oh gosh, the night’s surprises didn’t even stop there, we had an awesome guest, who I grew up loving, was Mr. Young M.C. himself. He raised his hand, asking questions about the film, and I had no idea, until our friend mentioned, “you know that is?” The minute I found out, my memory bank took me to a time when I wore L.A. Gears, tye dyed shirts and a side pony tail, dancing like I was on Soul Train. I love old school hip hop, and actually, I’ve got to mention, I will miss Nate Dogg (r.i.p.)

As the Q & A was coming to a close, there were some stragglers who were whispering behind me about how cute Duncan is, wondering if he has a girlfriend, and the whisperings a girlfriend can either giggle about or take someone to the street about. I was tired, so I giggled, and thought, “my hunny IS one cute nerd.” Could I BE any more grateful?! He’s a nerd AND cute. 

It was 10pm that we settled in our room, tried hard not to fall asleep on our dinner, and off for a short visit to dreamland. We’re big “dreamland” fans you know.

Early morning start at 5:30am, breakfast and GO!

We drive through DC and see the beautiful and unarguably impressive architecture of the nations capitol.  It’s a beautiful place, early in the morning; dawn sun on marble.  I kick off work with some phone interviews on the way to our first stop.  Im not a coffee drinker, so my head was a little wooly for the first couple, but soon I fell into my groove.  We keep driving, out of DC and into Maryland, where we are heading to see Elliot Segal and his Morning radio show.

I’m still half asleep while Rodene takes portrait pictures of me in the lobby.  The only way she’ll ever be able to use these will be to show the “before” pictures for 5 hour energy drink commercials!

Elliot in the Morning Radio show was great.  Love the guys who run it.  Very cheeky, good fun.  Elliot ropes Rodene into the chat, asking her about her “liaison” with the New York Knicks in the gym the other day.  Ro blushing as she explains what happened.  She won’t ever live that down.  Trust me; I won’t let her!  Elliot and me laughing.  Went on to talk about Hollyweird, computer games and Elliot not thinking I am coming back to his show now that I am a “big shot Hollywood director.”  I know he knows better, but he likes to tease.  I WILL be back, Elliot!  Trust me!  Great show.

Went from that high energy fun to a very thoughtful and probing interview with the AP.  Always get nervous when family stuff comes up.  Think I parried my way through most of it.  Still… we had a good talk about the film and the interviewer seemed to have really enjoyed it.  Good vibe.

More interviews in the car as we went to the third and final radio show.  Its funny; one of the phone interviews was with someone I had met the other night at the DC screening, but I kind of froze up then… felt much more comfortable on the phone.  Don’t know what happened.  You never know when nerves are going to kick in.  Weirdest thing.  

Just as I finished my phoners, we pulled in to Sirius XM and stopped by to visit Dave Ziemer who runs a terrific movie soundtrack show. Good to talk to him again after having spoken to him about Moon 2 years earlier.  Rodene was sitting on the floor in the sound booth with us, and I think our silky smooth radio voices put her to sleep!  Fortunately she didn’t snore… much. ;)

More phoners in the car back to the hotel.  More DC architecture.  Rodene “oooed” and “ahhed” over the size of the Washington monument.  Joked that its so old its probably held up with Viagra.  I try…

More phoners in the hotel bedroom, a very quick, half-eaten lunch and then a trip to the incredibly cool hotel “chimney” room for three final one on one interviews.  Now I’m the one “ooing” and “ahhing!”  This room is amazing!  It is a refitted 130 foot tall smokestack from back in the day that is now used for private dinner meetings and interviews, apparently.  Unique… and Im so busy doing interviews, I forget to get Ro to leave the room and come take some pictures! 

I’m in the dog house… probably the most visually interesting place we have been, and Rodene missed it!  Hopefully I can make it up to her in Atlanta.  Time has been the enemy all along though, and at the end of the interviews, I’m literally running to grab our suitcases out of the room and head to the airport.

Delta to Atlanta was lovely.  I slept like a baby!  And then a very weird but cool meet and greet at the plane door by Delta’s own special customer service people!  They escort Ro and I straight to a van, get our bags while we are parked outside the back of the plane, and then take us straight to our waiting car without our ever having to go in the airport!  Really cool, after I was calmed down and convinced that I wasn’t about to be deported.

Atlanta is great!  Warm, lovely people and Ro was thrilled to see all her old staples… Target, H&M and Ikea.  She felt like she was back home.  All was right with the world! 

Intro’d the film to the audience, and then went window shopping with Ro.  I even agreed to go into the dreaded H&M.  That is not a store designed for men.  My penance for not getting her to come see the cool smokestack room in DC!

Grabbed a pizza while we waited for the screening to finish. Finally, was show time, and got started on our Q&A with the lovely chap from Chud.com.  It was good to finally be able to talk to an audience about the film.  We had done one Q&A in Austin, but that was such a big night, and there was so much going on, it was a little difficult to maintain focus.  Tonight was different.  Good questions and I was able to try and give the kind of answers I would have wanted if I were in the crowd.  I think its fair to say, this was my first, proper Source Code Q&A.  It felt good to check that paticular box!

Back to the hotel afterwards for some onion soup and some chocolate coke cola cake!  Yes.. in Atlanta chocolate cake is not sweet enough.  It needs cola in it for that extra sweet kick!

No rest for the wicked.  Write blog, head to bed and get ready for it all to start again tomorrow!  Press all morning and a flight to Arizona awaits! Woohaa!