My Twilight Night (NO SPOILERS)

Because I hate having things ruined for me before I get a chance to experience it myself, this post will be be totally spoiler free. It will have everything about my evening UP TO the movie starting. You may release your pent up breath now.

In April my friend Rochelle won a radio competition to go down onto the set and watch Twilight be filmed. For some unknown reason she chose me to accompany here. You can see many of those pictures HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE. That experience also included tickets to the advance screening that took place last night -- three days before the official release of the movie.

Both of us have been really looking forward to this night. There have been no reviews of the movie released yet, but we had both seen many trailers and teasers that the studio has released. They really have done a good job creating a monster with this movie! You will be hard pressed to find anyone who at least hasn't HEARD of it at this point. I took this opportunity to get a new shirt and scarf for the occasion and it was a good excuse to cover my grey. I knew it would be a laid back affair, but seeing as the target audience for this book and movie is teenagers, I wanted to look as cool as a 33 year old plump mother of three could.

I felt like I was getting ready for the prom. I'm lame, I know that. We decided to leave town at 3:30 even though we didn't have to be there until 6:10. We didn't want to risk traffic. We had dinner at Red Robin (Mmmm... BBQ Chicken Rollups) then headed over to the theater to scope it out. Thank goodness we did. It wasn't even 5:00 at this point and there was a line around the theater! I guess that bookstores had been giving out screening passes and several other people had won contests. The local press was also there to see it so they could write their reviews. We initially took our place in line. It was chilly and we were towards the back. We got to talk to some other fans and hear how they got their tickets and what they were expecting from the movie. Around 5:45 someone came through the line telling us that no cell phones would be allowed in the theater so we had to find places for them. Some girls behind us had been dropped off by their mom and were freaking out because they had no where to put their things. So I let them put their stuff in my car. It was while they were loading up that Rochelle found out our names were on a VIP list INSIDE and that we could have been inside in the warmth the whole time. So we headed in. Behind us in line was the actor who plays Embry in the movie. Very cool. We also met a really bratty local critic who I think was determined to hate this movie before she even saw it. She just acted like she really couldn't be bothered to be there that night.

Before we could get into the theater they took a few tips from TSA... they told us no cell phones, nothing that records audio, they had "wands" that the waved around us and they looked in all our bags. Serious stuff. The guy sitting next to us says that each advance screening copy is digitally coded and there is a security guard with it at all times. After the screening it goes back to Summit and is destroyed. Yikes. They are taking NO CHANCES.

So we got in and waited for them to fill the theater. We weren't sure at first if everyone (including the girls whose things were in my car) who was in line with passes was going to get in. But they did. The local stations did a few giveaways (Rochelle won a shirt) and we all got free wristbands and mints. They showed a preview for Push (another Summit movie) that looks pretty good. Then they got right to the movie. Yada yada yada... then we came home!!

It was very cool to see the scene that we watched them film. And to see places that I have been to and live near. And we were for sure the envy of all the girls around us when they heard our experiences on set. What a great way to round out the whole experience. Thank you Rochelle, for including me in your special nights!