Sunday, July 8, 2007 – Potter Madness

Sunday, July 8, traffic in the neighborhood got bad again – and what was with the news copters outside the window, just off to the east?  Was Paris Hilton going off to jail again? No, that was June 8 – last month, and whatever was up was up few blocks east this time, in the middle of Hollywood.  A short jaunt over that way revealed the problem.  Warner Brothers had closed Hollywood Boulevard for another movie premiere at the Chinese Theater, and this one was big – the Hollywood premiere, the United States premiere, of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

How big was this?  According to the Harry Potter Automatic News Aggregator (really), this was big –

Anxious Harry Potter fans hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite stars began arriving at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood tonight, 18 hours before the U.S. premiere of Order of the Phoenix here.

HPANA has learned that Warner Bros. received a city permit to close down Hollywood Boulevard outside the theater Sunday. The studio will also set up barricades and decorations overnight.

While Grauman's personnel advised a group of young women not to spend the night on the street, some diehard fans are trying to stake a claim to valuable real estate just behind the barricades in the hopes they'll have direct contact with stars like Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley).

It was worth a walk-around and snapping a few shots of the scene just before the stars arrived.  People are quite mad, and doubly so in Hollywood, or when they visit Hollywood.

Unfortunately, there are no shots of the oddest thing, which would be Chewbacca Assaults Marilyn at Kodak Theater –

A Chewbacca impersonator sexually assaulted a Marilyn Monroe impersonator in front of the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday. The wookie then evaded arrest, police said.

According to an officer with the LAPD, Chewbacca allegedly took the platinum-coiffed actress's hand and placed it on his private parts as the characters performed for tips from tourists.

The sidewalk in front of the Kodak Theater, which is part of the Hollywood at Highland complex, is often crowded with characters that pose for tourist cameras and tips. On occasion, police have been sent to the complex to separate feuding actors.

Earlier in the year, police arrested an actor in a Chewbacca costume after a tour guide told him to stop harassing a pair of Japanese tourists. Police are unsure if the same wookie is involved in today's assault.

The premiere of the new "Harry Potter" movie was under way during the alleged altercation, said Los Angeles police Sgt. David Torres.

Sorry. Missed it.

The press, who seem to be grown men, seem to take this seriously, but ended up just shooting the crowd, who cheered them and waved.

A spot of self promotion –

Oh yes, that poor Marilyn Monroe impersonator in front of the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, at least the one from October 2005 (more here).

The Chinese Theater was probably the best place for this premiere. It has dragons.

If you wish to use any of these photos for commercial purposes I assume you'll discuss that with me. And should you choose to download any of these images and use them invoking the 'fair use" provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, please provide credit, and, on the web, a link back this site.

Technical Note:

Most of these photographs were shot with a Nikon D70 - using lens (1) AF-S Nikkor 18-70 mm 1:35-4.5G ED, or (2) AF Nikkor 70-300mm telephoto, or after 5 June 2006, (3) AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor, 55-200 mm f/4-5.6G ED. They were modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0.  Earlier photography was done with a Sony Mavica digital still camera (MVC-FD-88) with built-in digital zoom.

All text and photos, unless otherwise noted, Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - Alan M. Pavlik