Tribune staffers experience ‘La Vie en Rose’ in L.A.

Read about a trip of a lifetime to Hollywood and sitting in the bleacher seats alongside the Oscars Red Carpet.

By Rincey Abraham and James A. Molnar

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 25 — Our Midwestern shoes were touching the plush, vibrantly red carpet — mere feet away from Regis Philbin. With Tim Gunn directly behind us, working for the “Today Show,” we waited for our 15 minutes of fame. We both wondered, “How did we even get to this point?”

Marquee Cover — Feb. 28, 2008

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Last September, James decided to enter us, along with Heather Leszczewicz, 2007 Marquette alumna, in a lottery sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (A.M.P.A.S.), which puts on the annual Academy Awards. We never thought our names would be chosen to sit in the fan bleacher section on the red carpet.

About a month later, we received letters in the mail from the Academy saying we were chosen. After passing a background check and turning in a photo of ourselves for security, we began to make plans to come here and had our plane tickets ordered and hotel booked by Thanksgiving.

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We arrived early Sunday morning to our check-in point and were met by dozens of other umbrella-clad fans ready to take their seats under the canopy-covered red carpet. The forecast was a mélange of spots of rain and moments of warm sunshine. By 8:30 a.m. we had taken our seats on the metal benches eager to greet anyone we could recognize. By 9 a.m., the carpet was already bustling with crews, reporters, florists and technicians hustling to complete last minute preparations.

The first recognizable people included film critic Richard Roeper; A.M.P.A.S. President Sid Ganis, from whom James got an autograph; and Donny Osmond, who was working as an interviewer for entertainment show “The Insider.” Entertainment personalities continued to file in throughout the early afternoon, including “Entertainment Tonight” host Mary Hart — who consequently filmed promotional shots in front of our section.
Some of the early highlights for Rincey and Heather were the entrance of Tim Gunn (from “Project Runway”) — who kindly smiled and waved to the crowed — and getting Mark McGrath’s attention as he worked for “Extra” from the bridge above the red carpet.

Around 1:30 p.m., an assistant for the Academy tapped Rincey on the shoulder and asked her if she would be interested in being interviewed on television. The assistant said they were looking for very exciting, energetic young people to possibly be interviewed by Regis. After going through a pre-interview with one of the producers of the program, Rincey and James were picked, along with Tara, a high school senior from Redondo Beach, Calif., to set foot on the red carpet, something no other bleacher fan had ever been given the opportunity to do.

A producer handed us all-access passes and led us into the A-list track next to the press on the red carpet. He told us not to be scared, even though this was going to be broadcast to 220 million people across the country.

The producers decided to split us into two different groups, one with James and Tara, the other with Rincey. James and Tara went first, with Regis asking a few questions about them and their opinion of Miley Cyrus a.k.a. Hannah Montana. He taped a second segment with Rincey asking basic questions about her and being at the award show. The first segment ended up airing on national television as part of the official Academy Awards’ pre-show on ABC.

When it was all over, we were ushered back to our seats after having returned our all-access passes. The red carpet had already started to pick up with the arrival of George Clooney and Tom Wilkinson. The next three hours would be a complete whirlwind of formally dressed celebrities, flashing cameras and screaming fans.

By 4:30, the carpet was packed as we craned our necks to try to see our favorite stars before they entered the theater. A few smiled and waved, including Hilary Swank, Jennifer Garner and John Travolta. Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy were too deep into the crowd to stay and say hello, but they tried to wave as we cheered their names. Johnny Depp and George Clooney attempted to talk to as much of the press as possible and would turn and smile as we chanted their names.

Harrison Ford, Calista Flockhart, Renée Zellweger and Daniel Day-Lewis all quickly went through the line as the speakers announced a countdown to the beginning of the show. Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban were one of the last ones to arrive and hurried down the carpet just minutes before the show started.

The event ended and fans were ushered to the El Capitan Theater, 6838 Hollywood Blvd., to watch a live feed of the Academy Awards being broadcast across the street.

Our surreal weekend was closing with us in shock over everything that had just happened. We had seen celebrities whom we previously only admired on a large screen. We were given the opportunity to step onto the red carpet of the Academy Awards and talk to Regis Philbin. Pinching ourselves did not seem to wake us up from this dream-like reality, but then again, who would want to?

(First appeared February 28, 2008 in The Marquette Tribune)

Here is video from James' interview with Regis Philbin: