With Spider-man being the first Super-Hero for Earth Hour, a glitzy international "The Amazing Spider-man 2" red carpet and press conference event was held at the Marina Bay Sands' (MBS) Skating Rink, Singapore on Thursday evening (27 March 2014).
Our little Red Dot Island is the home for Earth Hour, and this year's festivities will kick-off at The Float @ Marina Bay in a few hours' time, at 5 PM on 29 March 2014.
At first, Red Dot Diva did not expect that she will be able to attend the red carpet and press conference because she had no media invite, and she did not join any contest in a bid to win passes. Then, out of the blue, fellow lady geekster @Sarahcoldheart invited Red Dot Diva to be her +1 for the event. SQUEEEE!
Many fans got to MBS early to collect their passes at around noon. That was because the first 250 fans were given a free Blu-ray of "The Amazing Spider-Man". Since, neither @Sarahcoldheart nor Red Dot Diva owned a Blu-ray, they decided to meet up at the venue about 4 PM.
Soon, the line just outside the Skating Rink was opened for those with access (which consisted of a blue wristband). And there, the geeks stood for almost an hour before being ushered right into the rink to stand by the barricades.
A group of people from MINDS (an organization catered to needs of people with intellectual disabilities) was invited by MBS for the event, and were allowed priority entry inside the special area. They had taken up most of the vantage points in front, so instead of squeezing through them to the side where the stars would be walking down the red carpet, @Sarahcoldheart and Red Dot Diva decided to hit a sharp left and take the front stage view.
There was a large space was marked out in between the barricades and the stage, specially for the international media, and after having to stand 5 persons deep from the barricades, @Sarahcoldheart and Red Dot Diva could see the stage but sadly, it would not be an unobstructed view. At least, there was a big screen in front of them to catch the going-ons and see the Twitter feed scrolls though.
After which, it was another 3 hours of solid standing and waiting! Thank goodness for strong yoga legs! All those warrior poses at yoga class really paid off for Red Dot Diva. (Tip: Yoga + Fandom = WIN). Meanwhile, the crowd continued to build up on the second to fourth floors overlooking the Skating Rink and the rinks' surrounding areas.
The cast and crew - lead actor Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, and director Marc Webb - were supposed to appear on the red carpet at 6 PM. That was delayed till 7 PM. In between, "official" Spider-man in costume crouched, leapt and posed his way down the red carpet to the stage, thrilling fans in his own way. It was only around 7:30 PM, that the first guest - Executive Producer Matt Tolmach (mmmm.... silver fox!) rolled up to the red carpet in his buggy, followed by director Marc Webb, and then.... with loud cheers from the audience, the energetic Jamie Foxx.
Emma Stone arrived soon after. She was all cheery and bright-eyed, and looked so pretty in her plum-coloured dress.
Then, of course, the man behind the Spider-man mask, Andrew Garfield, so boyishly handsome in a grey suit, was last to make it to the red carpet. Unlike the others, he had decided to drive his own buggy to the red carpet!
Red Dot Diva could only catch views of their arrivals on the big screen and so she does not have fantastic photos of what happened on the red carpet. But the screams from excited fans and wave of energy were intoxicating. The stars, especially Emma and Andrew, took their time to take questions from the press lining the red carpet, sign autographs for fans as well as take a few selfies! So much so, that it took slightly more than an hour for the cast to finally appear up on the front stage.
Some quickies of what happened on stage:
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| The cast and crew on stage.. and so many cams! |
- Silver foxy Executive Producer Matt Tolmach (*diva sigh*) said "I'm not quite sure why we weren't here before but consider Singapore part of Spider-man's home. Forever."
- Executive Producer Avi Liran was so relieved everyone speaks English here.
- Director Marc Webb confessed that he has tried on the Spider-man suit before, just for the heck of it. "Who hasn't though, really?" he grinned.
- Jamie Foxx was all hyper and loved taking up the mic and doing his beat box. Before the cast appeared on the red carpet, it was mentioned that Jamie arrived in Red Dot Island just this afternoon in his own private jet. And also, he was said to be swimming at the Infinity Pool. Red Dot Diva cannot post a pic but she can attest to Jamie chillaxing at the pool prior to the event. Her colleague has a paparazzi-like photo of a bare-chested Jamie taking in the view on a deck chair, nestled safely in her mobile phone. *diva sumpah + double-confirm*
- Andrew Garfield was a tall lanky bundle of huggable, boyish "awww shucks". He was smiling most of the time and appeared genuinely amused by Jamie Foxx's antics. Andrew mentioned that they were taken to "Maxwell Courtyard" (actually that's Maxwell Food Court, hehehe..) for some "very tasty" chicken rice.
- The lovely Emma Stone had a confident and feminine aura about her. Her sense of humour was a little sardonic, yet still funny. She said that she was having a great time, and that she was feeling "a little overwhelmed because there are so many people in this mall. But there is a lot of soul too." She also hinted that there are going to be "ups and downs" in the relationship between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy in the movie, and "there are some events that occur which are pretty major for Gwen and Peter". Wooooooooo....
- Jamie Foxx lead the crowd to a "Spider-man! Spider-man!" chant. It was loud at first and then kinda petered out (no pun intended, *ahem*). Booo! Red Dot Diva felt the fans could do better. But maybe they were feeling weary with all those long hours of standing and waiting.
Check out the chant video here!
As the program was running really really late, the hosts from 98.7 FM DJs Justin and Vernon quickly wrapped up the red carpet proceedings, so that the international press conference could continue next.
Which was an utter relief for @Sarahcoldheart and Red Dot Diva, because after standing for slightly more than 4 hours, they both were really really in need of a seat!
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UPDATED 28 March: Video snippet of cast interviews on stage added! (See above)
Do check back in for Red Dot Diva's account of the "The Amazing Spider-man 2" international press conference.
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For those not familiar with Singlish:
sumpah - meaning: to swear, e.g. "I sumpah! I never exceeded the speed limit!"
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