Red Carpets and Model Geekery

So I learned a couple things at last night’s PIFF red-carpet premiere of Coraline:

(1) Portland is incapable of being fancy.

(2) Neil Gaiman is adorable and nice.

(3) Portland does know how to be nerdy at awesome, articulated-model afterparties!

Turns out that Portland has no idea how to conduct themselves at one of these Hollywood-like things. There was a rough-and-tumble mixture of sequins with raincoats and an unseemly fan-girl mentality present on the red carpet (okay, that might’ve been me), as the cast and local mucky-mucks sashayed down the red carpet.

Tons of pictures, the lowdown on the afterparty, and observations about Teri Hatcher’s restroom habits after the jump.

There was a horde of press people behind a velvet rope when Alison and I arrived at the Schnitzer last night, standing on their little assigned spots nervously waiting to ask inane questions to the likes of Dakota Fanning and Henry Selick. Neil Gaiman was talking about Twitter, Dakota was going off about having her voice come out of an animated character’s mouth, and Henry Selick had an amazing flick of his luscious hair (oh, and by the way, Governor Ted Kulongski is adorably tiny).

After the parade of importance, we were treated to speeches from Laika’s Phil Knight. Gov. Kulongoski was a bit of a buzzkill to the exuberant crowd with his long speech about the economy. Alison wondered if it was depressing that he was even at the premiere. Doesn’t he have more important things to do? At one one point, he joked that the character Coraline should be helping him with Oregon’s economy. It officially became depressing at that point.

PIFF Director Bill Foster managed lift everyone’s spirits, followed by hearty thank-you speeches from Laika’s Travis Knight and director Henry Selick.

3D makes me really want to pee, so I was outta there like a shot after the credits started rolling. Apparently Teri Hatcher feels the same way, ’cause I had the dubious honor of listening to her urinate in the stall beside mine. We did not speak, however, instead sharing an unspoken sisterhood… that, and I was scared of her bodyguard standing right outside of the ladies room. (By the way, she pees like a normal person).

Then we were off to the Portland Art Museum for the afterparty, which was effin’ amazing. Check out the decor:

Stationed around the ballroom were working office spaces manned by different Laika employees (costumes, armature, hair, knitting) who were answering questions and doing demonstrations. There were also dozens of different models from the film in all their detailed glory. The model of Coraline’s house was especially impressive looming above the partygoers on the room’s stage. Top all this nerdy awesomeness off with Cosmopolitans, tons of excited children, a buffet with vegetable crudite shots (?!), and the giddiness of Portland in its geeky element made for an amazing afterparty. Well worth all the money that PIFF reportedly spent on the shindig.