4/11/2009
Tonight I had the opportunity of a lifetime!!! I got to see the directors cut of G*I* Joe* 4 months before release. I have to break up the title cause I signed a non-disclosure statement and I don’t want people to pull up my blog when they Google the movie title. Let me tell you the story.
About a week ago my friend Tyler Leavitt asked me if I wanted to go see “The Fast and the Furious 4” on opening night. I love cars so of course I did! We were going to see the 9:15 showing but it was a little too full so we waited to see the 9:50 showing. As the pre-movie adverts were rolling a guy come into the theater and the adverts paused. “Attention ladies and gentleman! I represent one of the major motion picture studios. I can’t tell you which one but we are going to be having a pre-release screening on April 11th of one of our major action blockbusters that is due to come out this summer. If you would like to be involved with this I do have invitations in my hand here. You need to be between the ages of 13 and 39. Please get and invitation if you want to come but you need to register to be admitted. It is free and it will fill up really fast cause we only have about 400 seats so register tonight or in the morning. The movie has not been rated yet but it will be at least PG-13 so defiantly not anyone under 13 is allowed. Thank you.”
I was flipping out! Of course I want to see a movie before it comes out! Plus it’s going to be my kind of movie! I hopped on my iPhone right then and there and registered for the screening while the previews were rolling. Tyler registered on his iPhone too so we were set!
As the week went on we were able to figure out that it was going to be from Paramount studios based on some survey questions they asked us. I went onto Paramount’s website and deduced that it was going to be Transformers 2, G*I* Joe*, or Star Trek.
The Day Of –
I got off work at 2pm and met Tyler at the theater. I had ticket number 31 and Tyler had 30. Not bad!!! The line filled up fast as they handed out non-discloser forms and checked all of our ID’s. While we were in the line a guy came up to me and Tyler and asked why we came to see the movie. Tyler hesitated but I hopped right in there and said that I wanted to see it because I like all the movies they surveyed us about. I figured it had to be a movie of similar caliber. Plus the opportunity was a once in a lifetime deal! He asked us if we wanted to be in a discussion group after the movie with about 20 other people. We said, Uhh, YEAH! He wanted us to sit on the aisle so he could talk to us easy if he needed to. We didn’t want to but that requirement proved to be invaluable. As they started taking people out of the line and letting us get our seats it was crazy; to get into the theater we could not take in any electronics of any kind and we even had to go through a metal detector!
Once in the theater we picked a row about half way up. The first 5 seats were reserved so we sat into the row a bit, thinking in our heads, “This is as close to the aisle as we can be! Those seats are reserved!” Little did we know who they were reserved for!
As the time for the movie approached some big wigs started rolling in. You could tell they were big wigs cause their security proceeded them, talking into mic's on their wrists and walking up and down the aisles. If that wasn’t enough the bigs had their iPhones out so we knew they had to be involved some how. Well what do you know but that the reserved seats next to us were for them! We started talking to one of them, “Kelly”, an Asian lady that was really nice, and said that she “was here with the producers and that she was involved with the editing.” No Way! Next a guy sits down next to us named “Lorenzo”. He was super nice and pretty funny! About this time I thought, “Man, I really need to pee. I better go before the movie starts.” I went to go but the guards at the theater door said I would have had to wait in the line again to get back in! It was as long as the entire hallway. I didn’t want to miss anything cool so I was just going to hold it. I went back in and the guy right who was sitting right in front of me came back with a bunch of food. I asked him if he had to wait in line. He said no. I said, “Huh, I really gotta pee and they said I would have to go through the line again!” He says, “Well, I just talked to them first. I would just wait till it gets closer to the movie and the line won’t be so long.” I say, “yeah, good idea.” About this time a guy walks in with his kids and starts talking to the guy sitting next to Kelly. I hear her say, that’s the CEO of Hasbro. I’m thinking, "are you freaking kidding me?!”A billionaire is sitting a few rows behind me!!!!
So a guy named Kevin gets up in front of the theater and says “Thanks for coming out! You are among the very first people to see…G*I* Joe*!” Not my first pick but I was super stoked none the less. I mean freakin heck! I was at a pre-release screening sitting next to the people that made it and a billionaire toy CEO!!
The movie starts…
At first I was kind of confused and I worried that since I don’t know any of the background of G*I* Joe* that I wouldn’t know what was going on. As it got further into it they started to explain things so it got less confusing. All in all, the movie was great! There is a TON of action! The movie is based around futuristic technology so it’s not action that could happen now but it was all very believable assuming the tech was current. I think that made the movie for me. I don’t like movies where the action is over the top with bad guy or their fleets being some how invincible no matter what happens to them. In this movie the soldiers are super tuff but they still bleed like the humans they are. There are only two or three cheesy lines which I was very relieved about. I was totally expecting a ton of bad acting and cliché dumb lines and they never came. There are some good funny one liners though, don’t get me wrong! There is a decent amount of humor in the movie! It ends very well and not just hints at a sequel but straight up leads into a sequel. They did it in a good way though. You don’t get left hanging but you’re anxious to see what’s going to happen in the next one. Keep in mind I did see the directors cut so there was stuff I saw that won’t make it into the theatrical version and there are edits that I didn’t see because they haven’t been made yet! Based on that fact I will see it again when it does make it to theaters. I’m sure I’ll be nit picking the whole thing though trying to see what changes were actually made.
After the movie was over they had us fill out a front and back survey on what we liked and didn’t like and how much we like or didn’t like it. Since I was part of the discussion group the 20 of us got to talk about the same kind of stuff on the survey paper for about 15 minutes afterwards and it was all recorded on cassette tape. All of the big wigs were in the back of the room listening. I was quite surprised to see the man that I had tapped on the shoulder and asked about the line was still there too! Who was he?
Out of the theater I had to pee again so I headed into the bathroom. While I was in the bathroom Tyler talked to Kelly some more. When I came out we stood there for a minute and watched all the big wigs walk out. I said goodbye to Lorenzo and envied the CEO of Hasbro, all the while suppressing tears of overwhelming bliss. Just then the guy that I had tapped walks by. Tyler stopped him because we swore that we recognized him and we wanted to see if we actually did. We got to know him a little better and, well, it turns out he is kind of the EXECUTIVE PRODUCER! What the freak man! Ha Ha Ha! No wonder he didn’t have to wait in line! It’s his freaking movie! We talked to him for about 5 minutes in the hall about the move and he was the coolest guy ever! He had to walk the others out so we let him go and walked to the front doors ourselves.
What we saw outside was AWESOME! There were about 8 blacked out Cadillac Escalades all lined up in the front of the theater waiting for the big wigs to load up. There were some sheriffs there and all the secret service guys talking into their sleeves making sure that no one tried any funny business! I walked over to the Executive Producer and thanked him for giving us his time inside and inviting us to see his film. He was very appreciative. I asked him if he had any advice for an aspiring voice actor hoping he would give me his card. He recommended some books and told me what kind of groups to get involved with and to make a demo tape. I thanked him for the advice and got a kind blurry, but still awesome, picture with him on my iPhone. After Tyler and I got home we looked it up and it turns out that “Lorenzo” is actually Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, the producer. Ha Ha! I was kickin’ it with the producer, executive producer, and one of the main editors of G*I* Joe!!
I can’t believe that I actually got to see G*I* Joe* before it was even done. Then add the fact that it was in the theater with the guys who made the stinking film and the CEO of the company that holds the rights to it. Am I the luckiest man in the world? Absolutely yes!
