As many of you may already know, last night I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the Harry Potter farewell special that Spike was filming for their Scream Awards 2011 airing this Tuesday night at 9 PM. Basically, this past Tuesday they announced the tickets and it was a first come first serve kind of thing so I was able to obtain two tickets. And the best part is that they were free! The entire event was shrouded in secrecy; the tickets only said that we should dress up in Potter garb, and that the location would be announced Friday at noon. Oh, and the special guest was going to be Daniel Radcliffe! So noon came on Friday and they announced the location, line up time, etc. By this point I was stoked because how many people get to go to these kinds of things and be up close and personal with Dan Radcliffe?! I decided to take my friend Kate because she is just as big of a HP nerd as I am so I knew we would have fun.
The check-in time was 9PM so we left here around eight and arrived just after 8:30. Everyone was in line dressed in their robes and with wands alight. A grin spread over my face as I knew I was going to enjoy what they had in store for us and being surrounded by people who love Harry Potter just as much as me. The check-in location was Avery Fisher Hall so it was pretty cool to say that we just got to hang out in the legendary orchestral hall waiting for our Potter event to start. I must admit, the hanging out and waiting part was just as fun (or even more so) than the actual TV taping. We basically just had to hang out until 11:15 because they wanted to admit as many fans as possible, and of course getting set up for the actual taping. And even in the midst of all this we still knew nothing about where the taping was going to take place. But that was nowhere near the forefront of my mind because I was focused on all the fun taking place in the Hall.
(Pictures courtesy of Rachel Adler)
There were some incredible costumes that people had, most notably Molly Weasley, Rita Skeeter and Sirius Black. The lady who was dressed up as Molly was an older woman (probably mid-forties) who had knitted her whole outfit just like in the movies and she genuinely looked like he loveable mother. The girl who dressed as Rita was beyond amazing. It looked like she might have made the outfit herself, and she genuinely looked like Rita had just stepped out of the film. It was that good. The guy who was dressed up as Sirius definitely had the most creative outfit of the night because his costume was the Sirius "Have You Seen This Wizard?" poster from
Prisoner of Azkaban. It was very clever. Throughout the whole waiting period people were taking pictures with each other, such as all the Luna Lovegoods gathering and taking a group shot and the finding all the members of the Weasly family to take a family portrait. One of the more entertaining parts was when people were acting out scenes from the films. There were three in particular that I loved: the epic duel between Bellatrix and Molly when she yells "Not my daughter you bitch!", Professor Quirrell running into the room shouting "Troll...in the dungeon...There's a troll in the dungeon...Thought you ought to know!" and the scene where Snape says "Turn to page 394." It was all so hilarious and at the same time it was like watching the films right there in person. In the midst of all this one of the event coordinators tells us that there is going to be another special guest: Samuel L. Jackson!
So 11:15 rolls around and we begin to line up to go to the "set." The set turns out to be Lincoln Center. We begin making our way outside and wrapping around the stage that is constructed in front of the fountain. One of the event coordinators gets up and tells us what's going to happen blah blah blah, and by the time this happens I have the cheesiest grin plastered to my face and you can feel the electricity in the air. We begin by watching a video montage of the series on a screen behind us, and then it's time for the guests to come on stage! The crowd begins cheering as Samuel Jackson walks on stage. The cheering goes on for a while and once we all settle down he gives a speech about the impact the series has had on the world and then he announces that the Potter series has received the Ultimate Scream award as well as the award for Best Fantasy Actor, and who might that be? Dan of course! By now the place is deafening with screams and chanting as Dan takes the stage. There's so much screaming that Dan can barely get three words in at a time. This was one of the times that he actually seemed really comfortable on stage. Whenever he gives speeches he's usually a little awkward, but he was so cool and joyous last night. Finally, he gets through his speech and makes his way off stage. Samuel comes back, gives one last remark and then gives us an exclusive sneak peak of Dan's upcoming movie
The Woman In Black. And just like that the event was over. In all, the TV taping portion only lasted twenty minutes while the waiting around lasted almost three hours. But it was all worth it. I can't wait to watch the Scream Awards on Tuesday night because it'll be so cool to see how it all turned out. And you should definitely be able to see me if you look closely. I was to the right of center stage a little more than halfway back so when you're watching I should be on the left side of the screen. I don't know if they'll show it, but Dan pointed at a guy dressed as Hagrid just a few people away from me and said that he had the best Hagrid costume he had ever seen! Hope you guys tune in! This was definitely one of the coolest things I have ever been to, and it's just one of those perks that you get from living in glorious New York City.
(Photos Courtesy of Kate Russell)
UPDATE: Here is a partial video of the farewell (only Daniel's acceptance speech) in which you can see me! If you go to the 58/59 second mark my head is in the bottom left-hand corner. So cool! I was a little disappointed with what aired because they filmed some great footage from earlier in the night but didn't air it. Hopefully they're in the process of making an "extended" farewell special because I would love to relive that magical night.
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