By Laura Medina
Once hitting its stride in four years in Manhattan and much clamoring for it, New York Magazine's pop culture section's pop culture festival has hit the Hollywood Roosevelt, as Vulture Festival LA, http://vulturefestival.com/la/
New York Magazine's Vulture Festival LA took over the historical hotel for one weekend, this recent weekend of November 18th to the 19th. New Yorkers have awe and respect for something culturally historical.
It goes beyond the cut & dry speaking panels promoting their latest movies and tv show screenings. Vulture Festival throws games to really have attendees get to know their favorite stars. Alia Shawkat, of "Arrested Development," is now a break-out star of TBS' "Search Party."
In homage to "Search Party," Alia and TBS have guests go on a scavenger hunt where they track down then find cast members scattered all over Hollywood. Towards the end, the guests and stars mingle together at a cocktail party as a reward and reinforce the fan base.
Get to know the cast and Hollywood locales.
In-between the deep career advice, it was all fun and games between celebrities and their fans.
Vulture tests the pop-culture savvy of the cast of Lifetime’s UnREAL and the cast of NBC’s Superstore, in a game show format hosted by D’Arcy Carden. UnREAL cast members include Constance Zimmer, Shiri Appleby, Craig Bierko, Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, and Genevieve Buechner, and Superstore cast members include Ben Feldman, Lauren Ash, Colton Dunn, Nico Santos, and Nichole Bloom.
New York Magazine's Vulture Section always has it's finger on the zeitgeist pulse, of the moment. Those events, moments, and personalities that define that era.
Since their loyal readers are omnivores of what's the freshest in pop culture, Vulture Festival does some cool activities that are fun for all ages. The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is swimming from hipster Gen-Yers with their Gen-X elders, mingling with "of the moment" Millennials, Gen-Y aspires to.
To celebrate their break-out star and show, HBO threw a Wine Down With Issa Rae, where the star/creator and fans get to know each other, over wine.
Yes, New York Magazine's Vulture Festival LA, is an opportune chance for stars to hawk their latest movies while doling out career advice, to their ideal market of devoted fans.
Actor/director James Franco and actor Dave Franco join Vulture Festival to discuss their new film The Disaster Artist – a film about the making of the modern cult classic The Room (known to its many fans as the greatest bad movie of all time). Interview will be led by John Horn, host of KPCC’s The Frame. Vulture critics have said “The Disaster Artist is James Franco at his peak” and “The Disaster Artist is a great movie about a terrible one.”
The festival opened its first day with the opening episode of Scandal's last season. How telling. Of course, Kerry Washington had to show up for the closing that open the festival.
Obviously, Vulture Festival is the intellectuals' dream of a fan-meet-and-greet with their favorite directors, writers, and producers while fawning over their favorite stars, while watching their favorite stars' movies. Vulture Festival is a complete fan base package, but intellectually hipper and sharper...and deeper.
Film culturatis flock in doves to listen to director, Guillermo del Toro discuss then watch his latest whimsical-romantic thriller, "Shape of Water."
Of course, the Queen of Intellectual Hipness & Knowing, director Sophia Coppola did a Question & Answer session, moderated by New York Magazine's editor, Adam Moss.
A rapturous audience of young female film-makers idolized under Sophia's spell, as she discover her heroine journey in a world full of men; and how she hold herself in that male-dominated universe and still succeeding.
They were ruptured when Sophia discussed how she hold their ground, by setting her foot down through her femininity, in a family of men, headed by her father, director Francis Ford Coppola and surrounded by four brothers. Acting wasn't for her. Illustrating wasn't for her. She followed her passion for fashion by interning at Chanel, which guided her aesthetics in visualizing her movies.
She is also a culture vulture herself. She wasn't afraid to use the difficulties of being married young and hip while your spouse neglects you on a business trip in "Lost in Translation" with Bill Murray. Then, even herself said trying to get Bill Murray was a trek unto itself.
Her cultural sensibility also informed how built the characters in "The Bling Ring." She was a Vulture Festival ideal headliner because she can put her finger on that zeitgeist, then present it for people.
Fan girls and fan boys were fawning over the self-deprecating Robert Pattinson, while promoting his career-breaking, gritty crime thriller, "Good Time."
Despite his charming looks and having a mom as a model booker, it wasn't easy sailing for him. When his mom sent me out on go-sees, presenting his portfolio, people would tell him, he's ugly.
Each and every role was a stepping stone and a building block.
Even though he was second-banana as Hufflepuff Cedric Diggory to "Harry Potter" main cast, he still stays in touch with these young adults and can't help but comment how grounded they are.
He always treat his latest movie as his last job, so he never quit hustling.
Popularity does have its down side. He recently stop social media because he's always been hacked.
Playing a rough and tough New Yorker in "Good Time" is just another building block for him.
While promoting their non-Christmas movie that's going to be released during Christmas, "Father Figures," Owen Wilson and Ed Helms play brothers from the same mother but setting out on a road trip locating their various, might-be fathers.
They used the alcoholic, mid-life crisis buddy movie, "Sideways" as an inspiration.
Noted trivia, Owen's dad managed Dallas' PBS station and he was the first American to bring Monty Python to America in the Seventies.
Both Owen and Ed Helms are impressed by Ed's hometown of Atlanta, how it gets better with each and every film. Ed said he already filmed four films there, in his hometown.
Since they know that the audience wants to their career secrets, Ed wisely said, when you're ready, that is when it happens. Once happen, enjoy the ride as long as you can. It's a rollercoaster. Eventually, the ride will end.
TBS' number one cable comedy, "The Detour" is the new "Malcolm in the Middle," a wacky road show of a family of professional con artists, always on the lam from the law with sarcastic tween kids and befuddled parents.
Vulture Festival treated people to a free screening of the opening episode of Season Three, with the wacked out family trying to fit into an Alaskan town, by lying again.
People were treated to a cool, yummy trio of Original Popcorn, Chocolate Popcorn, and Parmesan Popcorn. It was practically lunch for this hipster audience.
This past recent Vulture Festival weekend was a chuck a block of A-listers and hipsters that this scribe has to do it again, when it returns, just to get the whole scope.
Time for another adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment