| From Simona Russell Crowe, even after the big success of “Gladiator”,
did not have many major fans in Please notice I did not mean to become a stalker, since
I was – and I still am – a respectful and mentally
sane fan. So, how to find some hints? In the next hours, I sent 100-odd e-mails to anyone who
might have been in relation with the event, of course receving
no answer. But… Some days after, one of those contacts replied.
The e-mail read “Hi, Simona. I couldn’t help being
moved by your funny request, etc…” And he told me
day, place and time of the press conference to be held in PART ONE: THE GIFT OF PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE. At first I thought it could be a joke. But I decided
to try, and I headed to Once there, I froze. For more than one hour I stayed
outside the hotel, walking back and forth, not being brave enough
to get in. Luckily, no “terrorist attack anxiety” was
spread at the time… In the end, I decided it was a now-or-never situation.
And I entered the luxury hotel, mixing with the journalists. I
had been given the name of the Warner Bros woman in charge of the
conference. I reached her and introduced myself. She answered she
knew my case and explained that I could not be allowed to join
the conference, but that I could stay in the hall and wait there
in order to try to see Russell, somehow. She also gave me an invitation
for the next day premiére! And so I waited, sitting on a very comfortable sofa. At 2:05 pm, the hotel doors suddenly opened and Mr. Crowe
rushed in, followed by some bodyguards, and immediately disappeared
entering another room. It lasted a heartbeat. And I was almost
shocked. Was it all over? I could’t accept it. So I got back
to my seat… It was possible to hear people laughing inside
the conference room, but the questions and answers were not understandable.
At 15:30 almost anyone got out of that room. But no Russell, yet. A couple of TV cameramen came to sit beside me, and started
chatting with me. They explained he was having individual interviews
at the moment, a phase that could have lasted a long time. But
I went on waiting. Then, one of the Italian bodyguards started
annoying me “Kind lady, Russell will not sign autographs
today, so please go back home” – well, even in less
polite terms… I replied I did not mean to disturb anyone,
and that I simply wanted to sit there and see what was next. My
smile never faded, even if they went on irritating me for hours. At some point, a nice Italian man sat beside me. He seemed
curious to understand who I was and what the hell I was doing there.
I clarified I was a fan, hoping to have a picture signed by her
favourite actor. He wanted details, so we chatted a bit about Russell’s
career and talent. I didn’t know he was examining me! In
the end, he revealed he was Russell’s driver, and he asked
another man to join us. At those time I did not know who the latter
was. In the next months the key role of Mr. Mark Dumbrell was doomed
to be acknowledge by many fans… So, Mark joined us. And here is the concitated dialog
that followed… --------- Driver: “Mark, there's someone to meet Russell” Mark: “A woman?” Driver: “THIS woman, she came from Mark: “ I: “…some Mark: “Uhm… Not bad! Have you got anything
for him to sign?” I (taking a magazine cover from a folder): “This
picture” Mark: “Do you want me to take it to Russell, or would
you prefer him to come down in person?” ----------------- (Break. Now, have you ever heard a more teasing
question?) ----------------- I (faking calmness): “I’m sure he must be
tired, so I don’t want to disturb him, but of course…” Mark (laughing and patting my shoulder): “OK. I’ll
bring him down for you then!” ----------------- I was thunderstruck. Everybody around me was looking
at me. The driver added “Look, the girl is regaining some
color on her cheeks!”. And I could finally hope. Mark left
us and time went by. At 6:30 pm a waiter approached me and sentenced “I’m
sorry you must go out of the hotel”. I was neither a customer
nor an invited journalist, so I had no choice and sadly went out. PART TWO: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. Suddenly, a bunch of people came downstairs and passed
through the hall. Russell was among them. Mark was looking around
to find where I was. Luckily, he spotted me outside the hotel and
invited me to enter. I almost jumped over a waiter and I was immediately
inside again! Mark led me to a smaller room, where Russell and some
Warner Bros people were. The Warner Bros woman could not believe her eyes “Are
you still here? You never give up!”. And there he was. I was finally in front of Russell Crowe,
not on a cinema screen, but in 3D. Russell and I shook hands (if
you have never met him in flesh, you cannot know how brilliant
his eyes are. No camera has really captured that incredible spark).
I think my overall behavior was acceptable, but the portion of
my brain devoted to foreign languages went out of order… And
after many English classes, all of a sudden almost no trace of
them was evident. Sigh! --------------------------- Russell: “Where are you from?” I: “ Russell: “Oh, I: “Simona” (and he signed the picture spelling
my name correctly) Russell: “Do you know my band, Thirty Odd Foot
of Grunts?” I (facing some difficulties composing the sentence!): “Of
course. I have ordered the new CD on the Internet, I am waiting
for it to be released” Russell (giving me a signed copy of BLOC with a gorgeous
smile): “Now, Simona, wait no more. But don’t cancel
your order, ok?!” I: “Of course I won’t, thank you.” >Russell: “So you’ll have something nice to
listen to, driving back home” I: ”Yes. Thank you for your patience.” ---------------------------- He reached out his hand again and I grabbed it, then
he bent towards me and kissed me on both cheeks. Let me confess
it: you may think I’m silly, but that, being absolutely unexpected,
almost made me collapse. Instead, I was able to stand on my feet
and greet him one last time. I guess all the fans living these brief close encounters face the same thoughts and emotions. You would like to talk to your “myth”, because you would like him to know how much you appreciate his many talents, his cleverness, his characteristics as a unique human being which continuously insipre you. You have comments and questions about thousands of details, but there is no way and no time to express them. And, in the end, you fear you’ll look as an ordinary and annoying stalker, with a crush on the handsome star, looking for a quite useless autograph. PART THREE: BACK HOME AND THEN… Then, I went out, clearly showing my more than smiling
face - and my present - to the ugly and nasty gorilla… Who,
in the end, was finally smiling back. Once out, it took me some minutes to completely realize
what had appened. And that I had in my pocket an invitation for
the premiére! I had to get back home, but thanks to my friend Barbara,
the next day she and I were in Screaming fans were pushing to gain an autograph; Barbara
was able to have her own, too. When Russell entered the theatre,
we finally left the fans and walked the red carpet ourselves! It
was a weird experience, with photographers taking pictures of us,
too (!). The Adriano Theatre is a multiplex. We were assigned
to a minor section, while Russell was attending the screening in
another, bigger one. But we could spot him smoking a cigarette
outside the theatre, right before the screening started. He waved
to us. I couldn’t help thinking how wrong the press is
when trying to portrait Russell as rude. If I were in his shoes,
with people constantly looking at me, rushing to me and expecting
me to be nice, I wouldn’t succeed in being as kind as he
was. Five years have passed, but the memory of those days
is still incredibly vivid. That was not the most important experience
of my life, of course. I do have a life, a quite busy one indeed,
full of deeper joys and sorrows. But, being a true admirer of this man, it was really
something to remember. It was fun, it was thrilling, it made me
feel happy, for stupid as this may sound. |