Last night at Hollywood’s Arclight Theater Cinerama Dome was the True Blood Season 4 premiere and red carpet event, and I was there. Well, as there as I could be as a huge fan. I wasn’t exactly invited (bizarre oversight), and a ticket to go into the theater to watch the premiere with the cast was $3000, so I had to make due with a spot behind the metal barricades in the fan pit.

I arrived at about noon, but people started lining up at 6am. Around 1:30pm the barricades for the fan area were put up, and we slowly filed in. I probably would have needed to get there around 8 or 9 in the morning to have a spot right in front against the fencing. So I ended up about one person back. A group of eight gals including myself all standing in the same little bubble quickly made friends. We bonded over our extreme love of the show, our crushes on Eric, and our impatience. This team proved to be the saving grace of the day. We protected each other against pushers and tried to make sure that we got the photos and autographs we most wanted.

I brought the September 2010 Rolling Stone cover with Anna Paquin, Alexander Skarsgard and Stephen Moyer posed naked and covered in blood for them to sign. It’s my all-time favorite magazine cover because it’s hot and provocative and I had it mounted on foam core board at Kinkos to protect it. I wanted tons of photos, but I only wanted autographs from my three favorite characters.

Sitting and standing in direct sunlight for hours is wearying and as the day progressed we felt ourselves wilting. Time crawled by with the tense anticipation. I kept thinking, oh, half an hour must have passed and look at my phone to find that only about eight minutes had gone by. We had been told to expect people between 5 and 7:30 pm, but it wasn’t until after 6:30 that the first actor came over.

Waiting all day like that really increased the pressure of seeing the stars and getting the autographs, because of all the time invested. Everyone wanted the experience to be amazing. And then there was the fear that the people you most wanted to see wouldn’t even come over to the fan area, or that their publicists would pull them away before they got to you.

All of the actors looked so beautiful!  And the actresses especially seemed tiny, thin and gorgeous.  It was very surreal to see the people I know so well as characters from the show walk right in front of me one after another.

I’m perhaps slightly height challenged. I couldn’t see a thing happening on the actual red carpet or even who was coming over until they were right in front of me.  So I had to rely on the taller people around me to tell me who was close.

In the end we saw: Tara Buck (Ginger), Todd Lowe (Terry Bellefleur), Dean Chekvala (Roy), Fiona Dourif (Casey), Fiona Shaw (Marnie), Courtney Ford (Portia Bellefleur), Brit Morgan (Debbie Pelt), Carrie Preston (Arlene), Lindsay Pulsipher (Crystal Norris), Marshall Allman (Tommy), Jim Parrack (Hoyt Fortenberry), Kristin Bauer (Pam), Chris Bauer (Andy Bellefleur), Sam Trammell (Sam Merlotte), Deborah Ann Woll (Jessica Hamby), Joe Manganiello (Alcide), Nelsan Ellis (Lafayette), Alexander Skarsgard (Eric), Anna Paquin (Sookie), Rutina Wesley (Tara Thornton), and Stephen Moyer (Bill). Ryan Kwanten (Jason Stackhouse), Evan Rachel Wood (Queen Sophie-Anne), Charlaine Harris and Alan Ball were at the premiere, but unfortunately they did not come over to the fan area.

What almost ruined the experience were the Autograph Hounds, a group of big, pushy men who collect signed photos and posters to sell. They arrived much later than everyone else, but since they do this for a living, they know how to insinuate themselves as close to the front as possible. They had huge files full of glossy headshots and posters and as soon as they got one signed, they stuck out a clean one to get as many things signed by each actor as possible. And they had no problem pushing, even blocking fans’ items to get their autographs. They were so unpleasant and aggressive. What I wouldn’t have given for a taser or something sharp. Even thinking about it now it makes me so mad!

Some of you may remember that one of my ten New Year’s Resolutions was to meet and get a photo with Anna, Stephen and/or Alex from True Blood (and/or Matthew Gray Gubler from Criminal Minds). In my mind meeting them means, Hello my name is Dahlia and I’m a huge fan. So I didn’t actually meet any of them and not being right at the rail, it proved impossible to be in a photo with any of them. So I didn’t technically achieve the resolution. On the other hand, I saw all three of the stars who play my favorite characters and they signed my magazine cover, so I’m satisfied.

After the screening, the cast was heading to Sunset club Boulevard 3, which had been transformed into Fangtasia for a private party. I thought about heading over for more sightings outside the club, but I was so sore and tired from all the standing and jostling that I decided to call it a night. I’m glad I got to see so many of the actors and I’m beyond thrilled with my autographed magazine cover, but I’m not sure I’d put myself through another one of those premieres in the fan pit again any time soon.

For more photos of the stars on the red carpet, check out OK Magazine’s slideshow or International Business Times here. Now I just have to get through the rest of the week for Sunday’s Season 4 premiere. I’m more excited than ever!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011 at 12:18 pm and is filed under Around Los Angeles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.