On Friday, April 22, Chattanooga, TN, in honor of the fact that Water for Elephants filmed quite a few scenes in town, held their own premiere for the film.  The premiere was at the Carmike Majestic 12 in downtown. I, along with my friend Staci, had tickets to the premiere and we headed to Chattanooga early Friday afternoon (Staci’s the one on left, and that’s me on the right). The first thing we did was scope out the area that was being set up for the red carpet and the circus acts.

I’d heard about a meet and greet that was happening at Bluewater Grille across the street from the theatre where the premiere was being held so we headed over there to see what exactly this meet and greet was all about. One of the first things we saw when we walked in was a whole slew of Water for Elephants posters on the walls and partitions, they made for some nice scenery. 😉 While eating some dessert we chatted with the waiter for a bit.

Once he found out we were going to the premiere he gave us some interesting tidbits about Rob and the WFE crew.  He said that they came in quite a bit while they were here filming and one of the times the cast and crew were there he accidentally bumped into “that guy” (Rob) and didn’t realize who he was. I told him, “do you know how many girls would be jealous of you and want that to happen to them?!”  He just shrugged and laughed it off.  *rolls eyes* Boys… After indulging on a particularly chocolate-y dessert we headed back over to the theatre to check out the circus performers.  We got in what we hoped was the right line for entry into the theatre and proceeded to have our picture taken by one of the photographers from the Times Free Press (see the 1st pic above).  I couldn’t help but think that if we were in the wrong line at least we’ll have a professional picture of us to keep!  While in line watched as a clown on stilts, silk aerialists, a mime, and a fire breather entertained the huge crowd.

About 20 minutes later we made it to the front of the line and it turned out that, yes indeed, we had been in the wrong line.  We’d been waiting in the VIP line, when we should’ve been in the line reserved for the lowly serfs. After finding this out, Staci asked nicely if we could still walk the red carpet but we were denied! Haha! We finally got in the right line and when we got inside the theatre, in lieu of the usual trailers and previews, we got to watch this presentation featuring on-set interviews with the director, Francis Lawrence, producer, Andrew Tennenbaum, and executive producer, Kevin Halloran:

Of course, the Robert Pattinson fan in me was hoping that he’d make a surprise appearance at the premiere, but early on we learned that none of the lead actors would be there (and as y’all know, it turns out that Rob was a little busy in the Caribbean that weekend). However, Scott MacDonald, who plays Blackie in the film, was there and he came into our theatre to talk to us for a bit.  He said that it’d be his first time seeing the movie as well and he was pretty nervous about watching it! Here’s video I took of Scott talking, sorry the audio is so bad, they didn’t have mics and for some reason the people in the projector room started playing the Chattanooga video while he was speaking!

It’s always fun going to see a movie the night it comes out because usually the opening night crowd is really enthusiastic about what they’re watching—and we all know how Twilight midnight showings go. 😉 Water for Elephants was no exception. (SPOILERS AHEAD!)  There was lots of laughter especially during the scene where Rob stands up in the trunk all dolled up in ladies’ clothing, and almost everyone in the theatre cheered when Rosie kills August.  There was much boo-hooing from me during Old Jacob’s scenes at the end, and those home movies…oh those home movies broke me.  At the end of the film everyone applauded! (END OF SPOILERS!)  It was such a fun experience and it was a full circle moment for me getting to go to the premiere in Chattanooga eight months after having visited the set of the movie!  While I was watching the film, in my head I kept pointing out scenes that I knew had been shot locally and even though I had nothing to do with the making of the movie, I still felt this sense of pride, that wow, this was filmed in my neck of the woods!

The amount of effort that Chattanooga put into this premiere was impressive, and you could tell that they too were proud to have had such a big movie come film in their city.  Here are some of the local news reports, videos, and pictures about the premiere:

WRCB interviews Scott MacDonald

Times Free Press interviews Scott and one of the roustabouts

Interview with Tatum and Colby, the little girls who played Rob’s daughter

Interview with two of the little boys who played some of Rob’s sons (via RobPattzNews)

The TVRM has a couple of pictures from the premiere of them with Scott, and also the mayor’s declaration that April 22 was “Water for Elephants Day”!

Also, here are some fantastic behind the scenes pictures of Rob on the Chattanooga set from the Times Free Press!