TheGreatmagic

Mine G. · @TheGreatmagic

14th Dec 2014 from TwitLonger

@TRCrowe @RussellCroweUK @TCFJon and fellow villagers, here's report 3/3 (also on Crowe's Nest on facebook). Turns out no words can describe the magic. But I hope it gives you an idea of what I tried to explain :)

December 5th, 2014 – Istanbul, Turkey.

On the day of the Istanbul premiere of the Water Diviner, I got up with the plan of going to the venue a few hours before the red carpet time, hoping to catch a glimpse of Russell Crowe, whom I’d miserably failed to see during his several previous visits and rather long stays in my city –yep, I’ve been great at being at the wrong place at the wrong time! And of course, I always refused to disturb him where he was staying.. out of utmost respect to his privacy, and my own principles.

The morning of the big day started with a DM on Twitter (from an account involved in the premiere organization), asking me to e-mail my phone number to a certain address.. Because there was a ticket give-away for the premiere (for 3 winners on Twitter and 2 on Facebook), during which so many fellow villagers had been keeping fingers crossed for me to win, I immediately thought I’d won.. and sent the e-mail right away. Then I got the call from the company, saying I was on the guest list, asking who my +1 would be, adding that there was a dress code for the event, etc.

Thanks to the fear of Istanbul traffic (especially on a rainy Friday!) we (my brother and myself) left earlier than necessary, and arrived way too early. Like 3.5 hours before the red carpet start! LoL!
(In my defence, once the traffic jam blocks the bridges, the 30 min. long way does turn into 3 hours, been there-done that.. sadly too many times!)
Since the venue of the event is actually part of a big complex including a shopping mall, killing time was not a big deal –apart from looking totally out of place in a cocktail dress! LoL!

Around 6:30 PM (one hour to the stars’ arrival), I decided to go outside, to the barriers on the side of the red carpet (explanation: I was allowed to go inside anytime, but because the number of guests was 2000+, I thought it’d be better to wait outside and see THE man arrive. And now when I look back, I’m so happy I chose to do so).
Gotta admit, it was a cold December evening, most definitely not the kinda weather to be outside without proper winter clothing, but because I’m very very tolerant to cold, I thought one hour would be OK. So…we started waiting… waited.. and waited…
At some point a tv program from Australia came up to me and my brother, Mete, and I have no idea what I told them, for I was a bit too euphoric with anticipation, not to mention that I was trying to keep my teeth from chattering from the cold, LoL! Then we went on waiting.. My little bro ever so sweet (though he had finals during the following two days), the other fans around probably thought I was a nutcase (i.e. funny contrast to people in winter coats, berets, scarves etc.), and then.. we got the info that they (Russell Crowe, Olga Kurylenko, Cem Yilmaz and Yilmaz Erdogan) would arrive 1 hour later than planned. Bummer! At that point, I simply made my peace with the fact that I would freeze by the time RC would be on the red carpet.

8:30 PM.
First car: Yilmaz Erdogan and his wife. Second car: Cem Yilmaz (and friends?)
Third car: Olga Kurylenko and RUSSELL CROWE! The one and only! The general! THE man!!!

Video of the moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VITCStKwXKQ
(Around 00:12 RC sees my sign and here’s a pic of the moment (I’m 99.9% sure it’s right then): http://oi59.tinypic.com/2uhokgn.jpg when he starts walking right towards me!)

Probably shrieking as he approached (along with everyone waiting there, of course), I simply could not believe my eyes! He’d seen my sign (http://oi61.tinypic.com/2hdscpu.jpg), and with a big smile, was walking towards where I stood.. which is when time (and my brain, I guess) froze!
I seriously cannot recall the sequence of events/words after that, and my brother was so surprised that he can’t remember it clearly, either. He actually even failed to take pics and/or videos out of excitement (and despite searching for 9 days now, I haven’t found much of it anywhere, although there were so many cameras all around! Argh!)

So, what happened is, there RC was, right in front of me, and somehow he just inclined his head.. and next thing I know, I was kissing him on the cheeks.
Right then it hit me “what the…. am I in a dream?!” and as shallow as I may sound now, gotta say this: “softest beard ever!”
Then.. Gosh, this is embarrassing… My first words -of all the things I’ve always wanted to tell him all this time- turned out to be: “I’m freezing here!”
(Told you, I must have had a brain freeze, no other explanation for such stupidity!)

He smiled as I tried to pull myself together saying it was of course worth the wait and freezing, and then he simply asked “But you did get your ticket, yes?”, and I was like:
“Yes, yes I did, but because it may be too crowded once inside, wanted to wait here to see you arrive.. wait.. how do YOU know about that?”
(Yes, until that time, I’d thought I’d won one of the give-away tickets. No idea why I never checked the list of winners, the list which did not include my name.)
After RC clarified the situation and put me yet in a whole level of shock/appreciation/thankfulness/gratefulness/amazement, I asked him if we could have time for a selfie inside (considering that the whole thing would be a bit of a rush as the program was already 1 hour delayed) and he said “no, probably not”. At that point my brother told him something about the Aussie tv program and repeated what he told them (I think?), i.e. being excited about the movie or something, I can’t remember what RC said to him, but then RC inclined his head towards me again, as if one would do to whisper to someone, and giving my hand a little squeeze he said (this I recall so vividly): “enjoy the film”, to which I replied with something along the lines of “I bet I will”.
Then he turned to move towards the other fans waiting, and I was like “oh no, wait, why don’t we have the selfie here?” and he was like “Selfie, right, OK” and… my brother took it (correction: he thought he did, it never worked, we saw ourselves posing for the selfie failure on tv, though: http://oi57.tinypic.com/149uvtc.jpg LoL!)

After that, RC had some more time for autographs/selfies with other fans, and I must add he was THE ONLY cast member who did that. And also, I’m glad I never won the ticket give-away because the winners were kept at the entrance at such an unfortunate spot that all they ended up seeing was RC arrive in a car, and they were allowed inside a bit too late.
So, after the super precious moments on the red carpet (again, I don’t remember what else he said or what else I told him, and this is so unlike me!), I left my spot and walked around the crowd to the entrance and walked the red carpet (while trying to face the fact that I had almost zero pics (apart from this: http://oi62.tinypic.com/esw86x.jpg ) of the time I got to talk to Mr. Russell Ira Crowe himself!)

Once inside, I saw that only the 4 cast members were standing to talk to tv cameras, all of the guests were being shown the way towards the area where the pre-screening time would be spent (briefly a biiiig crowd of celebrities, drinks and appetizers, no cameras, overall a nice ambiance with huge posters (some of them digital) and screens showing clips/trailers of the Water Diviner) and press members were waiting to get the classic shot of cast members.
I don’t know how or why but I ended up between Cem Yilmaz and Russell Crowe, both of whom were talking to different cameras, and next thing I know, RC turns to me, smiles and, this happens: http://oi60.tinypic.com/ete1yv.jpg!
After taking a couple of pics there, I told him that the selfie outside never worked, then thanked him on behalf of all the villagers I know, shortly explaining how his amazing villagers kept sending good vibes and supporting me in making a dream come true (I have no words to describe the BIG HAPPY SMILE on his face and the light in his eyes as he listened to me go on and on about the village). I added that I could give him individual names but that would be about 100 people and we could probably miss the movie! He did laugh at that point, that I remember very clearly. However, what else I said, what he told me.. again, a bit blurry. I’m pretty sure I was the talker and him the listener, though, LoL, I just did not shut up! But at least I made sure I thanked him for everything, and tried explain how/why I was so excited about the Water Diviner.

After this, the cast posed for the cameras very briefly, and walked down the stairs, and so did we. The cast members then went towards the elevators, off to wherever they’d be before the screening, and I, with my brother, went to the area where all the other guests were waiting, chatting etc.
In the theatre which holds 2,2000 people (where Hugh Jackman will perform in March 2015), we all got seated. Cast members showed up in front of the huge screen, briefly said a few words (what RC said: http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=301j9g7&s=8#.VI4A9NKUf6E), then they went to their seats (to my luck, only a few rows behind us!) and we were off to a beautiful journey… time-travel to Istanbul 1919: the Water Diviner. A masterpiece, no less!

After the film, the audience responded with standing ovation (Russell seemed a bit surprised by this reaction, but certainly pleased to see it, no doubt there), and the cast members finally walked back to the screen, waved the final goodbyes, and… left.

So… this is what my partially functioning brain remembers of the magical night.
What I’d like to add is: Russell Crowe in the flesh is even more charming, handsome, manly, and charismatic than the RC I’ve seen in movies/pics/videos/tv. And he’s a true gentleman, very kind, so friendly and down-to-earth, a real “people’s man”, and definitely the owner of the most amazing voice on this planet!
Last but not least, I have no words to express my gratitude for his golden heart. He cares, actually cares about his fans, and simply works miracles –the kinda stuff that makes you re-gain your faith in humanity and good people. Taken together, after that night on, my love/admiration/respect has reached a whole brandnew level, and I do consider myself lucky and proud to be a fan of such a special person. God bless you, Mr. Crowe.. and thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU!

Mine G.

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