Altariel got invited to the LOTR cast and crew ball that took place on Saturday August 5th. No press were invited, so we’re lucky to have got this glimpse into the party.
Wellington, New Zealand , 9.30 pm on a Saturday night and I was late for a ball I’d tried desperately to get invited to and only just managed to aattend. As i stood outside the ballroom dressed in my flash frock with my little seguined mask in hand I was suddenly not so sure I wanted to go inside.
Having been given only three days notice of this momentuous event I’d had to rush around town organising gown,shoes and hair and hadn’t given any thought to the fact that I would be spending up to seven hours talking and dancing with what I had previously considered to be the enemy i.e all the production people who had turned me down for the many jobs I had applied for.
Yes, and as usually happens this all occured to me about 20 metres from the ddoor, but after a few seconds of panic I reasoned that if it didn’t work out iit didn’t matter because at $130 a ticket the hors d’oeuvres at least would be worth the experience. So I donned my mask and entered into the wierd and wonderful world of the rich and famous.
There were two darkened rooms filled with around 200 production crew and two bands, I quickly exited the room with the jazz band and convinced my escort that leaning against the wall, in a corner was the best place to be . As my eyes adjusted to the darkness I could see girls dressed in fabulous period costumes and jewllery (costume department personell)and most of the others adorned in an astortment of black tie, evening wear and fancy dress. Then a hush fell over the crowd(well it should have) and in came the stars who dived straight into it all with an unrestrained amount of glee.
There was Orlando Bloom decked out in a white suit, dark eye makeup and his now trademark mohawk, getting down with his bad self alongside an incongrouosly short Darth Vader and a dancing ape enjoying his champagne through a straw. Presently there came sailing through the crowd of the now much amused production crew the green sequined head of a large bug-eyed creature which later revealed itself to be attached to Dominic Monaghan who could easily have gone home with the best mask award if only there had been one.
But as most of you will know the person everyone wanted to meet was Elijah Wood, and it was easy to pick where in the crowd he was as crowds of young women formed and reformed wherever he went. And it was not hard to see why as he introduced himself to a young lady across the room by bowing and kissing her hand, needless to say she was suitably impressed by his gentlemanly manner.
As the night wore on the rather unhelpfull waiters continued to refill my glass with wine whenever it even looked like getting close to half empty and somehow I ended up dancing the night away with the likes of Alan Lee and Viggo Mortenson dressed as Zorro (I believe I can die happy now).
By about 4 O’clock everyone had danced with everyone else and most of the helium balloons had been sucked empty. Almost everyone in the room had been up since 5.30 the previous morning and the fact that they were (mostly) still standing was testament to the long hours they must be used to working.
I left at about 4.30 in the morning and had danced and talked with almost everyone there. I won’t tell you too much because the people were relaxing, enjoying themselves away from the public eye, what I will do is answer the question “what is it like to party with the stars?”
Fantastic-they know how to have a great time,how to be real gentlemen and had no problems talking and dancing with anyone and everyone there(well they danced with me didn’t they?) And we mustn’t forget that all this jollity was due mainly to the extrodinary efforts of Jan……..(Not sure of name,) Peter Jackson’s Personal Assistant who along with a few other people (whose names were unfortunatly lost in the cheers for Jan) orchestrated what turned out to be an excellent party.
Well thats all I have for now!
Bye,Altariel
