Visit of the set of "Sils Maria" on Wednesday, Sept 3rd - Leipzig

On Wednesday, I arrived at the set of „Sils Maria“ at about 8.20Uhr. The crew had been filming in the Leipzig opera since Monday and all the trailers were put up on the Augustusplatz – right in front of the opera. Due to the relatively low budget of the production, Kristen shares a trailer with Chloe Moretz. As both Kristen’s and Chloe’s characters are “only” supporting roles and due to the fact that they don’t share any scenes (Chloe plays the younger version of Juliette Binoche’s character while Kristen plays the assistant of the latter in later years) the idea popped up that the two could share. So on Monday and Tuesday Chloe was filming her scenes while Kristen was still in Berlin enjoying a couple of days off with her friends.
But now it was Wednesday which meant that Kristen would be on the set today. When I arrived around half past nine I had to see that already one paparazzo and one camera team were waiting in front of the “entrance” (meant is the actual driveway of the Augustusplatz were all cars had to drive through to get to the set). They spent a lot of time talking with each other and when they were near me I heard them mentioning Kristen’s name. The female journalist said that she couldn’t understand the hype around Kristen and that she isn’t as beautiful as everyone said she was. In fact, she was actually nothing more than an ordinary girl like you and me. The pap replied that he agreed with her and that he wouldn’t “hop into bed” with Kristen even if they bound her to his body. The way they were talking about her made me incredibly mad! They don’t even know her for fuck’s sake! And the worst was, even though they didn’t like her and hated the waiting, they “used” Kristen to make money out of her. I heard the next day that the first batch of photos from the set that day (the first ones you guys got) were actually his and brought him 1000€ a piece!
It wasn’t until sometime around ten that Kristen arrived on set. She was driven in a black car and though the windows were blackened to prevent people seeing her, I could make her out pretty well because they drove right by me. She tried to shield her face from the paparazzi by letting her hair fall in front of it. They drove her right to her trailer which was relatively hidden and could only be accessed by crew members. The moment she got out of the car, a number of crew members came rushing towards her with umbrellas in their hands. They desperately tried to shield her from the photographers (the group now consisted of four paparazzi!) while she went up the stairs to her trailer. I saw her just very briefly and can say that her hair was falling down naturally, that she wore the “Those Mothafuckas” base cap, as well as some black skinny jeans. And before I could blink twice she was gone.
It didn’t take long until the crew on set was moving around excitedly. Juliette came out of her trailer and slowly made her way inside the opera. No one cared about her much at that point – the papz didn’t even take photos of her. About ten minutes later, shortly before 11am Kristen came out of her trailer. Again the crew shielded her from the photographers with umbrellas and Jack and Suzie were walking behind the entourage (it was quite a funny sight, to be honest). Kristen decided to enter the opera through the main entrance as that one was farther away from the papz and the film camera (Juliette took the shorter walk and entered through the entrance of the opera’s café – that, however, had her walk directly by the papz). As Kristen mounted the stairs she turned around for one second. In that moment one of the umbrellas wasn’t high enough to hide her face and the paparazzo got his photo. He yelled “YES!” and looked like he did an inner happy dance. That were the photos that brought him so much money.
Once Kristen was inside I had a chance to take a look around and think about what to do next. For one thing, I saw three older and scruffy looking men who waited for Kristen to sign something. I’m sure you know these kind of guys - they often hang with the paparazzi (and they didn’t care shit about Kristen but only wanted her to sign something so they could sell it on ebay). Anyway, so these guys were there as well as the press and I was standing right next to them. I know that there was no chance in hell Kristen would come over here. Her past experiences with the paparazzi are so bad that she tries everything in her power to prevent them from getting their photo. You could see that the whole situation made her feel uncomfortable and angry. And I pitied her for that part of her life. Many crew members and pretty much all fans except for me didn’t understand why she was “putting on a show”. They didn’t really believe it when I explained that I’m very sure Kristen would sign anything we gave her but that that would mean she was also photographed. And that was something she wanted to avoid at all costs. It made her not look very nice to some crew members – mostly those who didn’t have much do to with her in the first place. So I made the decision to “move” and sit directly on the stairs Kristen had just mounted. Since the Augustusplatz is a public place no one could say anything against it. I now had a perfect view of the area where the crew was which came in very handy later. I tried to keep my distance to let the crew do their job. Twice I asked if it was okay for me to sit there or if I was actually disturbing the shooting. They assured me that it was totally fine which is why I stayed. Just before I had packed my belongings and moved to the stairs, I saw a familiar face: CJ. He was walking near the café where the dressing room was.
After my move I didn’t have to wait long for something to happen. Because it was not just Suzie, Jack, and CJ accompanying Kristen on set but also Alicia. I needed some time to digest that they were so close -t hey were only about 15ft away and I could sometimes even hear a word or two they said. Suzie and CJ frequented the catering truck quite often. One time, all four of them were standing in front of said truck before moving to a small sitting area next to it. Jack and Suzie were really cute and they hugged and gave each other chaste kisses. One time Suzie even kissed his neck, it was really sweet! Anyway, they sat down in the sitting area and meanwhile the camera team had moved to a place not far away from me. Suzie noticed the camera and asked them what they were doing here and what it was they were shooting. Of course the journalist didn’t tell her the whole truth and left out the fact that they were collecting material for a well-known German gossip/entertainment show. Suzie was apparently satisfied with what they told her and turned back towards the group: Jack was sitting next to her, CJ opposite her eating something, and Alicia stood in front of the table smoking. I was pissed that the journalist didn’t tell them the truth but made it look like they weren’t doing anything but a serious report about the filming. So I took all the courage I had in me and went over to the group. That’s the conversation we had:

Me:
“Hey guys! I…um happened to overhear the conversation you had with the cam-era team over there and… um I just wanted to let you know that they’re from a gossip/entertainment TV show and that…um if I were Kristen I wouldn’t want to talk to them…”
Suzie:
“Oh, no, I thought they were something like that. I was just wondering why the camera was so big and what they were doing here.”
Me:
“Yeah, I just wanted to let you guys know… um so they don’t get to talk to Kristen or anything.”
Suzie:
“Oh no, thanks!”
Me:
“Alright, bye guys!”
The whole group:
“Bye!”

Yeah, so that was that. They were all really nice and friendly. To the fans and the crew. In the after-noon CJ even asked the catering guy if he could help a bit. He was then carrying a tray of fruit (was supposed to be a snack for the crew) around the set and was proud when the guy told him he did a good job! :D
But back to Kristen. The OG decided to help out with hiding Kristen from the papz and all got umbrellas. While CJ and Alicia made their way to the main entrance (stairs) Suzie and Jack walked around the building to the side entrance. But they weren’t fast enough because Kristen came out and was walked to her trailer within seconds. Such a beautiful girl!! She was wearing the same costume we have seen her in before and wore white sneakers and black socks. So when she was in her trailer (not before the papz took their pics of course) CJ and Alicia went back to the stairs and there were Suzie and Jack. “You missed it guys!”, CJ yelled and laughed – they all found that umbrella thing pretty funny. Only five minutes later Kristen came back. The OG was with her, all with umbrellas in hand, and they laughed. The moment Kristen walked by me (she was only five ft. away!!) CJ said something funny and Kristen laughed and said “Yeah, like awesome, man!” Don’t know what the convo was about but she looked so happy and really is a natural beauty (no matter what the press says). She wore close to no make up and had all tattoos and the long necklace with the tobacco tag around her neck (I think). I was so overwhelmed I was unable to make a video. But don’t worry I managed to make some videos in the end! :D Once Kristen was inside, CJ laughed and said “We need to film this!” They were still amused by the whole umbrella thing and in my head I called them “The Umbrella Brigade” from then on. In fact, they found the whole thing so funny that Suzie, Alicia, and CJ stood in front of the opera and posed with the umbrellas. Jack took photos with their iphones. They really had a lot of fun!
Twice I saw Kristen walking out of the set and back in again and you could really see in her face that the press pissed her off. It didn’t help that all the fans except for me for some unknown reason decided to overstretch their boundaries. Here is what happened: one time, someone must have decided that it might be a smart idea for Kristen to walk out of the side entrance – right be the papz and fans. As I found out later, the bodyguard of Kristen (who is really nice, by the way) talked to some fans who complained that Kristen wasn’t coming out and if he just couldn’t ask her, etc. So the bodyguard thought that by letting Kristen walk past them, they would at least see her up close, even if just for a couple of seconds. He had told the fans beforehand, that, should they see her, they should not approach her/talk to her. The reason, again, was not that Kristen didn’t like the fans but that talking to them would mean that Kristen had to stop, which meant lots of photos for the papz. So what happened? They talked to her. She was coming out of the café and I was told that two young fans said something to her. Kristen of course said hey back and waved but had to turn around doing that. She got down the stairs and walked along the street towards her trailer. There, three fans waited, two sitting, one standing. The one standing said hey to her as well, and, made her stop because they wanted to give her a piece of paper, like a small message for her. So Kristen stopped took the note, smiled, waved, and left. And the photographers had their pictures. Only minutes later the bodyguard came along and you could see he was really angry. “I told you not to approach or talk to her! You know it’s because of the papz and she doesn’t want to be photographed! I told you not to do that and yet you did! Now she’s really pissed. I gave you the little finger and you took the whole arm! I told you not do that, damn it!”
So I was sitting on my stairs and thought about what would happen next. It was clear to me that no one would get any autograph or photo of Kristen today. Then the bodyguard came around and I decided to talk to him. He was very friendly even though he was still mad at the girls. He even vented to his colleagues about it.

Me:
“Hey, I saw what just happened over there with Kristen and the girls… and I can imagine Kristen is not in the best mood right now.”
BG:
“No she’s not. I told these girls over there and there (he pointed to the two groups of fans) that they won’t have a chance at all today and that it’s their fault. She walked right by the papz for them and they made her stop.”
Me:
“I’m really sorry that happened and I can totally understand why she’s mad.”
BG:
“Don’t worry, it’s not your fault.”
Me:
“Is there… I mean do you think I have a chance if I come back tomorrow.”
Both the bodyguard and the guy sitting next to him said at the same time: “Yeah, tomorrow’s good. Come back tomorrow.”
Me:
“Okay, I will, thank you very much!”
He smiled and said: “You don’t have to thank me for that and you’re very welcome!”

Kristen went in one more time and I think they finished shooting around 7.30pm - but I'm not sure. I left the set around 7pm because I knew that nothing would happen anymore and I also saw Suzie and Jack with packed bags and their jackets. I guess Alicia and CJ drove with Kristen in the black car while Suzie and Jack had their own car.
CJ also told a guy that they were here to enjoy Europe a little bit and he and Alicia seemed to be rather excited about their time in Berlin. I’m just glad that Kristen has her friends with her and isn’t alone in Germany. :D

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