Celebrity Autograph Expo

March 20, 2004 Jordan Commons Megaplex Theatres

words Rachel and Melonie

When we found out about the autograph signing, none of us realized how exciting and fun it would be. Having never been to any such event, we really didn’t know what to expect. It was for that reason that we decided to be at the event early (8:30, to be exact) to help the president of the Utah Star Wars fan club, Rebels Associated, get ready to entertain the masses, as well as pass out coupons for ConDuit, a Sci Fi convention in Salt Lake City. We just wore themed tee shirts instead of costumes, expecting to stay for only a few hours.

Of course, things rarely go the way you anticipate or even hope. Sometimes they are better! Once we were there and the 501st Legion (another Star Wars club in Utah) showed up in costume, we began lamenting the fact that we’d been stupid enough NOT to wear costumes. We decided to wait for the Celebrity arrivals and then rush home to get into character.

Time and more time passed and still they were absent! We decided to find our contact to ask if she knew when they were to arrive. Rachel sped off into the director’s lounge only to run almost headlong into the Dark Lord himself, Sauron (a.k.a. Sala Baker)!! Not even noticing him at first, she saw out of the corner of her eye a rather tall, handsomely dark man staring at her. When she made eye contact with him, she shoved him affectionately in the arm and said, “Hey, Sala!” as if they were old friends! Being the cool cucumber he was, he returned the greeting in a similar fashion, probably assuming she was someone he’d met before!

And so the celebrities arrived, and everyone cheered despite the fact that they were over an hour late! The Harry Potter chaps went down the line shaking hands and smiling at the crowd. It was exciting but we were anxious to get into costumes so we could be more comfortable and enjoy ourselves fully (yes, it’s odd to feel more comfortable in costume rather than out, but that’s how we felt!). We decided that with all the Star Wars clubs present, Star Wars was being very well represented (and plenty of fans were in Harry Potter costumes) so we opted for Lord of the Rings costumes.

By the time we got back, the Celebs were just about to take their lunch break. We decided to eat lunch as well, and headed over to the food court. Rachel and Missi (another crazy LOTR fan from Rachel’s work) headed for pizza, and noticed none other than the Weasley twins (James and Oliver Phelps) and Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis) at the far end of the bar, waiting for food! In a rare change of character, Missi was being timid, so Rachel dragged her over and said to (who turned out to be) James, “You’re nice, right?” Indeed he was!! After some brief but friendly small talk about Utah and traveling, and a moment to pose for a picture (taken by Matthew’s exceedingly friendly dad, Edward), we let them be to eat in peace.

Back at the signing tables, Rachel and Missi decided they wanted a picture of Edward since he was such a swell chap, and searched him out. At this point we were introduced to Devon’s mum, a sweet Irish lady full of crazy and interesting conversation. In fact, the Harry Potter Parents (as we began to call them) turned out to be some of our best comrades of the day. When asked what it was like having famous kids, they said it was just like having normal kids; the kids still have to pick up their rooms and do chores! They assured us the kids had friends who kept them grounded. We talked about anything and everything from Utah, to accents, to jobs, to Harry Potter, to Alan Rickman. It seems we've found friends in the Harry Potter parents, and particularly in Mrs. Murray who spoke with us the most, and seemed to enjoy our quirkiness. What a fabulously wonderful lady! She vehemently declined getting her picture taken on multiple occasions, but before the day was through we managed to goad her into one!

As a side note, Melonie is in the planning stages of creating a website in honor of nice loos. She and Rachel were joking about having a section with celebrities coming out of the loo, which then led to the smashing idea of utilizing all the FANTASTIC costumes of the 501st Legion for this purpose! Melonie approached “Darth Vader” first, still bubbling with excitement at the new idea. He dryly agreed that it was indeed an odd request but consented to it anyway. What ensued was a whole slew of pictures of Star Wars villains (mostly) emerging from the loo - Vader, Jango and Boba Fett, Greedo, a Sandperson, and more! “Darth Maul,” being a personal friend and our make-up artist, dragged Melonie into the loo to get his picture taken... but that’s another hilarious story that isn’t appropriate for this webpage!

We decided to actually wait in line and meet the stars since our help doing crowd control didn’t seem to be needed (kudos to everyone who attended for being so well-behaved!). All of us are much happier having pictures taken with people rather than getting autographs, so we moved down the line merely to say hello and introduce ourselves. Unfortunately, we (and I must say they) were feeling very chatty, so we kept getting in trouble for not “keeping the line moving” especially because we weren’t buying autographs. Pshaw! Missi did manage to ask each of them what their all-time favorite movie was. The verdict was:

Devon Murray (Seamus): Tommyknockers
Matthew Lewis (Neville): The Shawshank Redemption
Oliver (George Weasley): Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
James (Fred Weasley): Forrest Gump and Happy Gilmore
Sala Baker (Sauron): The Green Mile and Braveheart, among others
Daniel Logan (Boba Fett): Sorry - we didn’t get a chance to ask him!
Ray Park (Darth Maul): Face/Off and The Iron Monkey
Harry Potter Parents: Most seemed to like Westerns and John Wayne movies

We took some of our sampler CDs to give as gifts to the Magnificent Seven. However, moving through the line we had managed to forget to give one to everybody except Sala! (Incidentally, he was very excited to get it, especially when we explained we had played at theonering.net’s Oscar party.) We decided in the end to give the CDs to the Harry Potter Parents because, as Rachel put it, "They'll hold onto them." They were all very gracious and seemed genuinely interested in us and our music.

Daniel Logan, who seemed to have the most trouble staying in one place, came in our general direction many times to visit his "adopted mom," Mrs. Murray. Apparently, he and Devon had become great friends and they were dreading the sad day when they had to go home!

Things began to wind down and it was time for them to go. We were satisfied with the way things had gone but there was still more to come! We moved outside for two reasons - we desperately needed fresh air, and we realized that several of the stars were outside (likely for the same reason!). We stood around as nonchalantly as possible, enjoying being in the casual presence of the stars but obviously separate from them. Happily for us, Sala, Ray and Daniel began sparring! Blessing her fresh roll of film, Rachel started snapping away. To her (and I daresay everyone else’s) delight, Sala and Ray noticed the attention and began a series of flattering poses which showed their arm muscles to best advantage. “See my shoe down there?” “East is that way!” (though in reality they were pointing more South, but we won’t tell!) The Harry Potter kids even joined in hilariously for one picture. Daniel, cooling it by a “speeder bike,” wasn’t about to be left out! Unfortunately, his muscles were so surprising that Rachel quite forgot about her camera, exclaiming “WHOA!” simultaneously with Melonie. This only set off a round of jokes at their expense made by Sala and Ray about two girls in shock to see muscles on a (not quite so) young boy!The show was over and everyone was making ready to leave. There seemed to be reluctance on both sides but the ushers kept reminding the celebrities that it was “time to go.” We approached the SUV containing the Harry Potter Parents and shook their hands, sad at the prospect of never seeing them again. We had indeed made not just acquaintances among that group, but also friends. They were so genuine and lovely! They will be very good at keeping their kids’ feet firmly on the floor!

As the second SUV was about to leave, Sala (who was next to the window) called to a girl from the 501st. Apparently Daniel wanted to exchange phone numbers! Sala, always the joker, kept remarking defensively, “It’s not for me! I’m married.” He held out a be-ringed hand as proof, but Missi and Melonie noticed it was on the wrong hand and told him so! Sala held his left hand under his right hand to make it appear that the ring was on the correct hand, and the car drove away.

It was an extremely delightful day, with many unexpected twists, and MUCH longer than we ever anticipated! What fun!