Keyser Söze and The Princess Bride

Woke up ridiculously early this morning for some reason, and couldn't fall back to sleep, so it was a very early 7:15 when I arrived at Rockefeller Center for Robin Wright and Kevin Spacey on the Today Show.  Marie was there when I got there, and Tony, Danny, Luis and Rick slowly trickled in while we waited in the cold.  After what seemed like forever, but really wasn't, Robin Wright arrived, wrapped in a heavy coat, hat and sunglasses.  I've met Robin once in Los Angeles, and she was incredibly nice, signing and posing for a picture with me.  Another time, in NY, she couldn't leave fast enough, so today was really a crap shoot.  But she was pleasant enough going in, stopping to sign a few autographs.  Dodging a tree and Marie, I tried to get a clear shot, but no luck.  She promised Rick a polaroid on the way out, so we decided to wait her out.


Listening to Tony babble on again about people I don't know or care about, I started to get restless waiting for Kevin Spacey to arrive.  Thankfully, Tony knew the driver, so we were pretty sure he wasn't going through the garage and I tried to tune the babbling out.  Note: idle chit chat to pass the time is one thing, but telling endless stories about people that nobody knows is annoying.  Don't do it.  We don't care.  Danny got distracted by a couple golden retrievers dressed in Super Bowl jerseys and followed them around the corner.  And that's where he was when Kevin Spacey finally arrived.

My toes were numb, my legs were tired, but a rush of adrenaline went through me as Kevin stepped out of the SUV.  I've never been a huge fan, but he was good in 'American Beauty' and his new project 'House of Cards' looks amazing.  Even though he was running late, he signed a few autographs before heading inside, promising to sign more on the way out.  I've heard he's a prickly personality, so this was a nice surprise.

Absolutely freezing, we waited as a publicist came out to collect another guest.  Nobody else was scheduled and she wouldn't tell us who she was waiting for, so we had no idea who would step out when the car arrived.  And I had no idea who DID step out until someone said 'Tate Donovan'.  I've heard the name before, and I know he dated Jennifer Aniston back in the early days of 'Friends' but I'm not familiar with anything he's done and I wouldn't have thought he was famous if I was there alone.  He posed for pictures and signed autographs for the unprepared grapherazzi, who were forced to use blank pages, before heading inside.

And then we waited, cold turning to numb, for Kevin and Robin to emerge.  My toes were so cold I wanted to step inside and warm up, and when my teeth started chattering I knew I'd been outside too long.  But at 8:45, Kevin came back out, and true to his word, signed a few more autographs before leaving.  A few, though seemingly interminable minutes later, Robin came out.  She didn't look too thrilled, but the grapherazzi and photographers were standing in a way that it as almost impossible not to sign a picture or two.  And so she did, not really looking up too often or making much small talk.  The only time she even hinted at a smile was when I told her I'd been a fan of hers since 'Santa Barbara' and she chuckled slightly, mumbling 'oh my God.  Thank you.'  And it's true.  My mother and I used to watch that show religiously back in the late eighties, when she played Kelly Capwell, who, in self defense, pushed her ex Dylan through a window to his death, only to be institutionalized until the family's butler Pearl Bradford rescued her from the evil Dr. Rawlings.  God I miss that show.