A Fan's Encounter: My night with Rob at the REMEMBER ME premiere!

@Joann0173 has been gracious enough to give me her REMEMBER ME premiere recap! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!!!


“Gandhi said that whatever you do in life will be insignificant. But it's very important that you do it. I tend to agree with the first part.” – Remember Me


I have to say that I have to disagree with Tyler and agree on the second part. I think that we spend too much time regretting what could have been and don’t do what we really want to do. These may be some deep thoughts for what was really just a trip to New York City to catch a glimpse of Robert Pattinson, but the five second encounter is only part of the trip. What gets you to that point and what happens after is what’s really important.

I’m a bit older than the average Twilight fan (37, to be exact), but like everyone who feels passionate about this series, we all have one thing in common: we all love Twilight. When you are at a fan event, you need to remember that you are all there for at least one common reason. On March 1, about 300 Robert Pattinson fans were there for the same reason: we wanted a moment with our favorite Brit!

In November, I was crazy enough to go to New York City by myself to try and catch a glimpse of him at the Ed Sullivan Theatre prior to him taping Late Night with David Letterman. The experience exceeded my expectations! That day he jumped out of a black Escalade and strutted to his fans. He looked at us as if these were his people and he was ready to sign as much as he can as quickly as possible. I walked away with photos, video and an autograph. Oh yeah, and I was completely speechless. But, I also walked away with new friends! Being able to share the experience was an unbelievable part of it!

So, three months later, I find myself planning to go back to the craziness that is a Robert Pattinson fan event. I worked with my “Letterman” friend, Isabelle, in trying to plan the day (she travels here from Montreal to see him). We first obtained tickets for his Jimmy Fallon appearance, but then found out that the movie premiere would be the same day. Realizing that timing would not allow us to do both, we gave up our tickets and decided that we would just take our chances and go to the premiere.

In the days leading up to the premiere, we learned that the Paris Theater did not have an area for fans and that we would not be accommodated (of course, this is via Twitter and if it’s on Twitter it has to be true, right?). Isabelle was not happy with this and opted to call Summit herself to find out what would be done for the fans. According to Summit, Rob wanted to have an area set-up for 200 fans so that he could stop and say hi and sign autographs. At this point, we were happy with our decision and made plans to meet at the Paris Theater.

The night before the premiere, I think that I slept for about two hours. I was so excited! I couldn’t believe that I was going to do this again. But, also knew that lightening could not strike twice. I thought about superstitions. I’m a Philadelphia sports fan. We don’t take this lightly. So, I wore almost the same outfit that I wore on my first trip (It was a twenty-thirty degree difference) and headed to the Hamilton train station in New Jersey.

By 10:30 AM I was in New York City and had walked over thirty blocks to meet Isabelle at the theater. Once I arrived, I saw them starting to build the press tent and the red carpet area. You could feel the excitement. Summit had a whole plan as to how this fan event was going to run. They were distributing blue wristbands and instructions as to when to return and that the wristband did not guarantee anything. Your wristband had a number and that number determined your callback time. My number was 167 and my callback time was 2:30 PM. I would be part of the second group. I felt good.

We were told that we could not loiter around the theater, so we needed to find a place to kill time for a few hours. Off to Starbucks we went. It was a good place to sit and relax because we knew that we would be standing out in the cold for the next several hours! This turned out to be a great place to people watch and meet fellow blue wristbanders! While I was drinking my passion iced tea, Billy Baldwin sat down behind me. New Yorkers don’t bother celebrities. They are just fellow New Yorkers enjoying Starbucks. I loved him in Dirty, Sexy, Money and would have loved to have gotten an autograph, but I didn’t want to bother him.

At around 1:30 we headed back to the theater and started to line up. My friend was part of the 2:00 PM group, so she was able to line-up first. At around 2:20 PM they let the 2:30 PM group line up. I found myself in front and up against the barrier. This was when the fun really started. Now was the time to meet the people around you and make friends. My attitude is that we are here for a common cause and we need to work together and get along.




I met Teresa. Teresa is a 15-year-old from New York City. She’s a Twilight fan, student and really sweet girl. I felt really old next to her.

Then there was Andrea and Andrea. They are best friends from Allentown, PA. Andrea is an aspiring actress and leukemia survivor and is moving to Hollywood to pursue her dream. I hope she makes it big! Her BFF, Andrea is dropping everything to join her in Hollywood! I think it’s awesome when people do this. It takes a lot of guts and courage!

There was also Asia. Asia’s a trip! She took all of my video for me. Why? Because when she viewed my video from November, she deemed it too shaky and she was taking charge. She also somehow made it into the after party. This girl is nuts!

We talked, laughed, joked around and got to know each other. We watched the faux Thinking of Rob girls try to get into the press area! We talked to the TwiExaminer. We were interviewed by DNAinfo.com. We worked together to figure out how we would all get autographs and pictures and a moment with the man we wanted to see. Before we were given instructions as to how to behave, we had it already planned out.

Number one rule when at this type of event: Don’t Push! Seriously! You will not get closer to him. All you will succeed in doing is hurting the person in front of you. Security guards came out to let us know that if we push, he will leave. The “young gentleman” did not want anyone in the front to get hurt. We decided that we would not push and would not scare the “young gentleman.”

Throughout the afternoon we watched the media tent set up, I stood in freezing water and risked hypothermia and we received a visit from Juan Valdez! By 6:30, we were ready.

The stars were walking the red carpet and lights were going off in the media tent. We saw John Stamos cross the street and into the theater! Later, I found out it was not John Stamos, but Wes Bentley from American Beauty! You knew that the more yells you heard, the more famous they were.



Next, we saw Lizzie and Clare Pattinson. They smiled and waved and rushed into the theater.





The cameras in the media tent were going wild. Kristen Stewart had arrived. She walked over to the theater, smiled and waved, signed two autographs and quickly went inside. Some were disappointed, but this was Rob’s night. She was not going to steal his thunder.




And then it happened. He walked out of the tent. Chatted with Nick and his security guards and then, with his pen in hand, he ran over to greet his fans. I now understand why people hate the paparazzi. They are annoying. As he worked his way down the line, he was constantly being photographed. He signed everything. Wristbands, magazines and autograph books! The best part of the night – he spoke to his fans.




It was now or never. I had to say something. I had to get eye contact. I had to make this time more special. So, the dork in me said “Hey Rob, you’re awesome.” He looked right at me and said “Thanks.” My night was made. My $24 train ticket was validated!

You might think that at this point, one would jump in a cab and head home? Nope. We went back to Starbucks (I needed to sit) and review what had happened. After a short rest, we decided to head back to the theater to see if there was any other excitement.

Once again, our timing was perfect. The movie was letting out and we saw Rob and Kristen exit the theater. Well, actually, they ran as fast as they could to the Plaza. I ran over to try and catch a glimpse, but all I saw was the back of Rob’s head. It was time for them to have fun!

We watched Tate Ellington, the Pattinson Family and Ruby Jerins walk over to the after party. I look for my partner in crime and she is having her picture taken with someone. I look over and it’s Tom Sturridge in a duck sweater (we seriously need to find out if he lost a bet)! I throw my camera at another friend and ask him to take a picture. He hesitated but I was a bit forceful and said that he could take one more. His hand was on my back and mine on his in the picture. Why am I telling you this? Cause his hand touched me and I’m sure his hand has touched Rob!

So, that was my night. For a few minutes I was the 15-year-old fan. I didn’t really scream, I tried to act cool, but inside, I was as giddy as can be. We’re only here once. We have to make the most of our moments!

If you would like follow Joann on Twittah at:  www.twitter.com/Joann0173  THANKS AGAIN JOANN!!!