One short year ago, while I was at UCLA orientation,
“XXX” premiered at the Village Theater in Westwood.
Like most enthusiastic freshmen, I went to the red carpet ceremony,
hoping to somehow sneak into the screening or at least meet Vin
Diesel and Samuel L. Jackson.
After all, I was in Los Angeles ““ the center of the
worldwide film community. As Danny DeVito’s character, Sid
Hudgens, says in the opening speech of “L.A.
Confidential,” I “could even be discovered, become a
movie star “¦ or at least see one.”
Well, let me tell you a secret that in this town is “off
the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush”: movie premieres
are not all they’re hyped up to be.
I didn’t see “XXX” that night, nor did I meet
either Diesel or Jackson. I did, however, catch a glimpse of
Jackson’s left leg, and that was more than what some people
saw. I told myself I would never go to another premiere unless I
was walking the red carpet myself.
But I was in Los Angeles, where success is measured on the
grade-list scale of celebrity sightings. How could I live? How
could I compete? How could I survive? I didn’t even have a
car to get me from place to place on my star map.
During winter break, though, it finally hit me. The great thing
about film in Los Angeles is not trying to see movie stars, but
actually seeing their work instead. While in the city for the day
with some friends, we decided to see “Confessions of a
Dangerous Mind,” a movie that actually won’t be
released nationwide until Aug. 1. Because the city is so saturated
with film culture, the number of films released per year surpasses
that of any other city in the country, with the possible exception
of New York. That’s what makes the Los Angeles film scene
worth knowing about.
Yes, Los Angeles is noted for its studio film output. However,
independent films play in theaters in Los Angeles that don’t
play anywhere else in the world. All you have to do is find them,
usually in art house theaters like Landmark or Laemmle.
Also, theaters in Los Angeles offer the chance to see 35 mm
prints of older films. While DVD technology has made the experience
of watching a crackly Charlie Chaplain short enjoyable, nothing can
beat seeing it on a huge screen in a real movie theater, the way it
was seen when first released.
There are numerous chances to see screenings of older films,
even near UCLA. Every Friday night at midnight, the Landmark Nuart
theater screens a different older film. Every night the New Beverly
Cinema screens a double feature ranging from “Harold and
Maude” and “The Graduate” to “The Breakfast
Club” and “Sixteen Candles.” The New Beverly
Cinema even changes its double feature twice a week. The Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences holds weekly screenings of
Oscar-winning films in its Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly
Hills.
Still, the best chance to see films you never knew existed lies
on the UCLA campus itself. UCLA Film and Television Archive
screenings in the James Bridges Theater offer the opportunity to
see important film from across the world in a real movie theater on
campus.
So the next time you want to see movie stars, take advantage of
the opportunity to see them on a screen. That’s where
they’re meant to be seen, and given the wealth of screening
options in Los Angeles, it might be a rarer chance than you
realize.
Tracer’s biggest celebrity sighting in Los Angeles was
seeing Tia and Tamara Mowry in front of Royce Hall. E-mail him
yours at jtracer@media.ucla.edu.