How Woody Harrelson and Zombieland were the common theme during our LA vacation - Part 1

On our way to a movie premiere in Los Angeles

As you may know by now: Conmose went Hollywood and we had lots of fun. During our trip to the City of Angels, one movie (and one actor in it in particular) played an essential role. I'm talking about the long awaited "Zombieland: Double Tap", which was set to release during the last few days of our vacation. The actor I am talking about is the amazing Woody Harrelson. Curious? Sit back, relax and let me tell you about how Woody got a special place in our hearts during our LA Trip!

Before the trip

Going to a movie premiere in Los Angeles

All these months we kept this a secret for you, but we booked our trip on my birthday, which was May 30th. The idea to go together dates back even further. From the moment we actually booked the trip, we were over the moon. In the months following, we browsed the internet looking for things to do! I mean that's part of the fun right? A few weeks before the trip, Carola mentioned that there would be a special screening of "Natural Born Killers", when we were there. And best of all: Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis ánd Oliver Stone would be there. But...yes there is a but, we were too late. It was completely sold out! That was such a bummer!  From this point on, we browsed the internet as if our life depended on it...we were hell-bent on finding a special event to attend. In the week before and the week after we left, there were a whole lot of very cool events, like the premiere of "Joker" (omg)  and a book signing with Allysa Milano (omg!), but in the two weeks we would be there it seemed awfully quiet. This all changed a few days before the trip. I was browsing the internet and there it was: the premiere of "Zombieland: Double Tap" .... with ....Woody Harrelson!!! And Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg and more! If it was at all possible...we had to go there! This gave us a new chance to see Woody!

The premiere

Los Angeles premiere

And there we Los Angeles...the paradise for movie buffs! The premiere would be on Thursday in our first week there and we knew that if it was at all possible, we HAD to be there. It would start at 6.30 p.m. at the Regency Village Theatre in Westwood, which is a 25 minute drive from The Montalbán Theatre in Hollywood, were we had to be at 8 p.m. for the rooftop screening of "Carrie". That would give us enough time to attend...(we thought). Thursday came and we had planned to go to the Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Gardens at the UCLA in the morning, which turned out to be not that far from the Regency Village. After our visit, we did some shopping at our way to lunch. During our lunch we decided to go and have a look afterwards, to see what we could expect and then we would decide what to do. So we did! When we got there it got clear that we had no choice! If we were gonna do this, we had to stay there and wait (it was 1 p.m.). We said our goodbyes to the guys (they were going to do some game shopping) and we stayed. Within the hour it became (painfully) clear that we hadn't thought this through. We were not prepared and in this case not prepared is an understatement...

Tired of waiting for a movie premiere in Los Angeles

There were a lot of people already camping out there, so first up we had to pick a spot. We made our way to the first available spot next to a tree, which wasn't the best spot but hey we had a spot. After that the big wait started and it wasn't long before we took a seat on the ground against the barriers standing there. These barriers, however, were not very stable (we will get to that later) so leaning against them was not really an option, because they would fall down. Everyone around us had little chairs, food and drinks. All we had was a bottle of soda each. This was the first moment I realized that we did not think this through. But hey, we weren't gonna let that get us down, so we did some videos and pictures. We talked and laughed and it felt like time flew by....but it didn't! After what felt like sitting/standing there for multiple hours, we looked at the time and it was only 2.30 p.m.....BUMMER! Now let me tell you, by this time, my back and feet were killing me already. This was the time to see what we were made of and we soldiered through. Time kept crawling by and I saw Carola started to suffer from pains too and nothing was happening. The people that were prepared, were sitting down, reading a book, watching a movie on their phones and eating and drinking. By the time it was 4 p.m. we were desperate. I  mean seriously, I could not take it anymore, it felt like I was standing on my bones. It was around 4.45 p.m. that someone from the organisation came to us and said he had to move the barriers because when things were getting serious, people from the other side would come down to where we were standing and they would start pushing. So he moved the barriers behind the tree....yes that's right suddenly we found ourselves BEHIND that tree!

Los Angeles movie premiere craziness

I mean I get the reason behind it, but come on! He also said that nothing was gonna happen before 6 p.m. That's when I completely lost all faith. I was hungry, thirsty and most of all I was in agonizing pain. Kudos for Carola, because she seemed to still go strong and was trying everything to keep the spirit alive. But we were both beyond despair...At one point, I could not take it anymore and I told Carola I was taking a little walk. Walking was better than standing and I knew Carola was hungry. So I decided to at least save Carola and with my last bit of energy, I hobbled to a nearby gas station. I bought a bag of Cheese crisps and gave them to Carola. It was around 6 p.m., when something started happening. All we could think about was Woody Harrelson, would he be there and if so would he be in time for us (remember we had to go at 7 p.m).Suddenly adrenaline was pumping and I that made me forget about the pain for a while. People started coming in and the first black cars made their entrance.

Paul Wernick & Rhett Reese

In one of the first cars were Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (the writers). Paul Wernick made his way down to the fans, but he didn't make it to us. This was mostly because of the people that were in front of the line. When they got their autograph, they made their way down to the back (where we were standing). There they pushed themselves through and tried to (and succeeded) to get more. One guy had multiple posters to sign. In my opinion that is not fair. I feel you have to be glad to get one autograph and give other people a chance to get an autograph or selfie too. Especially the ones behind the tree (who had been standing there for almost 6 hours).

Lili, Emilio and Gloria Estefan

Lili Estefan is a Cuban American model and TV show host. She is the niece of Emilio and Gloria Estefan. Lili has a small role in the movie. Carola and I didn't know her, but we do know Gloria and Emilio. Lili came in a black car and made her way to the fans. Gloria and Emilio came in through the entrance at our side. 

Jesse Eisenberg

From that point on it was 'game on' and when the next black car stopped, everyone started screaming. It was Jesse Eisenberg, who plays the role of Columbus in both of the movies. You might also know him for his role as Mark Zuckerberg in "The Social Network" or as J. Daniel Atlas in "Now You See Me" and "Now You See Me 2". Unfortunately he did not get very close, but it was very cool to see him in real life. Since it was dark by this time, the pictures isn't very good either, but we still wanted to share it with you.

Jesse Eisenberg - Zombieland: Double Tap premiere

Zoey Deutch

The next one was Zoey Deutch, who plays the role of Madison in "Zombieland: Double Tap". I really loved the role of Madison (but I did not know that at the moment). In "Zombieland: Double Tap" we re-join our group of original survivors; Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). Ten years after the events of the first movie, they have become quite skilled in killing of zombies and they have claimed the White House as their home. When Columbus is wandering through an abandoned mall, he stumbles upon another survivor named Madison. She has been hiding in the freezer of a store, to keep herself safe (she couldn't find the off-switch). Madison is the standard blonde, not that smart rich girl and she is adorable! Zoey quickly made her way to the fans and that is when we were overcome by mob mentality. Everyone started screaming and we joined in. I think, I even screamed that we were behind the tree and that we were people too! Eventually Zoey made it past the tree and even though it was a mad house, we did manage to get an autograph!

Emma Stone

It was almost 7 p.m. when one of the huge stars of this moment stepped out of the car. I am of course talking about Emma Stone. In 2009, she played the role of Wichita in "Zombieland" (at this point she was an upcoming name in Hollywood) and now 10 years later she reprises this role as an Oscar and Golden Globe Winner. Over the last 10 years Emma Stone has grown into a superstar. She played i some fantastic movies, like: "Easy A" (2010, as Olive), "The Help" (2011, as Skeeter Phelan), "Gangster Squad" (2013, as Grace Faraday), "Birdman" (2014, as Sam), "La La Land"(2016, as Mia) and "The Favourite" (2018, as Abigail). We were so happy, that we got the chance to see this amazing actress in real life. We did not get a selfie or an autograph, because by this time it was a madhouse. But we didn't mind, we saw her and that was awesome.

What about Woody?

Watching a movie at Montalban, Los Angeles

Well, at this point it was 7 p.m and we really needed to go! We already had tickets for a rooftop screening of "Carrie" at the Montálban Theatre  and that would start at 8 p.m. So we ordered an Uber and while we got in, we heard a lot of people screaming. Was that Woody? Well, we'll never know. We had agreed to meet the guys in front of the theatre at 7.30 p.m. and it was a 25 minute drive. Well, that is what we thought. Of course, we did not take the Los Angeles traffic into account...and when we got into the car, the 25 minute drive had turned into a 50 minute drive. During the ride, the estimated time of arrival quickly surpassed 8 p.m. We were nervous as hell..what if we could not get in after 8. Then we wouldn't have seen Woody Harrelson and we also couldn't see "Carrie" on a rooftop in Hollywood (which is epic, right?).The Uber driver could tell we were nervous and we told him we had tickets for a movie at 8. From this point, he did everything to get us there in time (thank you!), but we arrived at 8.05 p.m. The guys were already on the roof and luckily we could still get in. That's when the hunger, thirst, full blatter and painfull back&feet took their toll on us. While running up the stairs our muscles acidified (like hell) and I would have cried...if it wasn't for the lack of tears because of the total dehydration of my body. When we finally reached the top, we were gasping for air. But the movie hadn't started yet and we quickly found the guys. They told us, we had to pick up our headphones, so we did. But we still had to go to the toilet, which turned out to be on the first floor. We ran down the stairs and quickly found the toilets....and then we had to get back up...NOOOO! When we finally reached the top for the second time, the movie had already started (luckily we had already seen it multiple times) and we sat down. My feet finally got the rest they deserved and we enjoyed the movie. 

This is the end of the first part of our story....yes there is more! Would we get another chance to catch Woody and who would be at the "Zombieland" panel at Comic Con Los Angeles. Find out in part 2 (coming soon!)

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