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Last night’s world premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" may have tied up traffic in Hollywood, but make no mistake — this was truly an intergalactic event.
To unveil the seventh "Star Wars" movie, the Walt Disney Company threw one of the biggest premieres in show business history. About 5,000 people, all of whom had to pass through two series of metal detectors, were spread among three massive theaters to see “The Force Awakens” on Monday night.
Nina Gregory is an Editor at NPR's Arts Desk, and she joined us to talk about the audience response to the newest "Star Wars" movie, whether last night's premiere was bigger (or better) than the Oscars, and running into filthy Elmo's on Hollywood Blvd.
So, we both have had the great fortune of going to the Academy Awards. Some people have said that the "Star Wars" premiere was bigger than the Oscars — I think it's an odd comparison, they're very different, but in terms of Hollywood spectacle, how would you rank last night's premiere?
I think it was more fun than the Oscars. It's fun to stay home and watch the Oscars on television, but this event was really fun to go — you got to see these sculptures made of lightsabers, there were costumes of Stormtroopers, there were costumes from the stars of the movie, and then the stars themselves were there.
Plus, J.J. Abrams, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas...talk about a universe full of stars. The Oscars has a really fun red carpet, but once you get inside you're captive to this very long awards show. For this, once you got inside, that's when the real fun began.
I think the only thing that was a little bit odd was because Disney had blocked off all of Hollywood Blvd. and cleaned the retail shops, anybody who was going to shop or just walk on the street had to go through security. So I was going through security to pick up my tickets, and right behind me was a homeless person — everyone was mixed together, all in one place. In a way, it was very much like Hollywood Blvd. on any other night.
[laughs] Yeah, I think that's the other thing. The Oscars really sanitizes Hollywood, but here, you might run into that filthy Elmo. That's what was kinda fun — you're in the middle of Hollywood Blvd. and they didn't really divert the pedestrian traffic, so you never knew who was who. You could turn around and see a movie star, or you could turn around and see a homeless person. [laughs]
[laughs] That's Los Angeles. So everybody was there, but here's the important question: how do you think the movie played?
I think the movie played really well. I saw it in the Chinese Theater, which is where I saw "Empire Strikes Back" and where I saw "Return of the Jedi," and I think many people there saw the original films premiere there. There was an emotional connection to actually being at the Chinese Theater, and we had a lot of fans there.
I think you were maybe with the A-List, and I was with the visual effects crew and their family and friends. There was cheering, there was crying, there were people jumping out of their seats...it's really the best way to see a movie like this — at the Chinese Theater, packed full of true-believer fans.