Scenes From The Skeleton Twins Premiere

Well, it happened, and you guys made it happen. The Skeleton Twins “won” the weekend according to IndieWire; it was the #1 film in 12 out of the 15 theaters where it played. Now it’s expanding to more cities–Seattle, Minneapolis, Dallas, Boston, San Diego, Palo Alto and San Jose next week–and will continue to grow if you all keep going out and supporting it.

On Wednesday, our families and friends and people who worked on the movie all gathered here at our apartment for a champagne toast before we all headed off to the premiere at the ArcLight Hollywood. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how it all went down.

For starters, we had to figure out our outfits. Two weeks ago, Craig and I went shopping and got into a fight because I kept wanting him to try on different things and he kept rejecting them outright (I’m sure that happens with most couples) so I said to him, “Why don’t you just go with a stylish friend who can help you pick something out without fighting every step of the way?” So he went with his friend Brendan to Venice Beach and picked out the nifty jacket you see in the lead photo from GANT which he matched with a white shirt and a pink tie.

On Monday, of last week, I realized that I didn’t have an outfit for Wednesday so I scooted over to The Grove–L.A.’s favorite outdoor shopping mall–and dug around at J. Crew and Nordstrom’s (do you really want to hear all this? Well this is what it’s like getting ready for a movie premiere)–and wound up at a store called Union Made where I found a pink shirt to go with Craig’s pink tie and a gray tie to go with my pink shirt. Here I am trying it on in the dressing room (don’t worry, I’m wearing pants):

Outfit selected, the next step was shopping for the champagne toast I’d be hosting at 4:30 on Wednesday afternoon. This was Craig’s manager Emily’s idea and it was a really good one; a chance for everyone to gather before the chaos of the premiere.

First things first, I went to Silverlake Wine and bought 10 bottles of champagne at $12 a bottle (Domaine Collin Cremant de Limoux Brut, in case you’re curious). I also bought chips and ingredients to make The Barefoot Contessa’s herb dip (I already had scallions) which is basically just cream cheese, mayonnaise, and sour cream blended together. Very healthy.

On Wednesday morning, I went to Clementine Flower Shop in Silverlake and asked for a gothic bouquet to put on the table that would be Skeleton Twins-appropriate. They created this using roses and purple basil and I loved it:

Meanwhile, I told our neighbor Barbara, who owns The Village Bakery, about the champagne toast and asked if I could order two dozen skeleton cookies to put out on the table. She said, “Of course!” and so I picked them up that afternoon…aren’t they cute?

What else did I do? Oh, I bought plastic skeletons to hang on the door; and when the guests started showing up, Craig and his sister–the real life Skeleton Twins–posed for this skeletal picture:

Having everyone over at this hour felt a lot like gathering at someone’s house before prom in high school. Remember that? All of the anticipation, all of the picture-taking. Here’s me and my mom:

Our dads:

And here we are with Craig’s family:

Craig and our friend Sasie and gathered guests in the background:

At around 5:30 or 6, a big black car pulled up to whisk us off to the premiere. That’s when we kicked everyone out and told them we’d see ’em at the Arclight. Here we are getting in:

This wasn’t just a car ride to the movie premiere; this was a complex operation. Turns out our driver, named Tim, was in constant communication with our “handler” who was waiting for us on the red carpet which, it just so happened, was the site of a protest by the projectionist’s union. Craig had to use the bathroom, so we pulled into a McDonald’s parking lot around the corner from the premiere, and when he came back out, our driver waited to get the go-ahead from our handler. (God, this all sounds ridiculous.)

When he got the go-ahead, and we started entering the ArcLight garage, I quickly asked Craig, “Wait, am I supposed to walk on the red carpet with you?”

“You can if you want,” he said.

I wasn’t sure what to do, but before I knew it, I was out of the car and our handler asked me if I was walking the carpet with Craig. “Yes,” I said and before I knew it we were standing there, on the red carpet itself, dozens of flashbulbs going off in our faces. “Over here,” yelled one guy. “Over here,” yelled another guy. Here’s the image I could find of us online, where I’m mis-identified as Craig’s co-writer Mark Heyman:

After that, I skittered away from the flashbulbs and left Craig to do his interviews with journalists and camera-wielding people:

Pretty soon, it was time to go inside where the Arclight had a whole Skeleton Twins display:

At last, we were in the theater with Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig and Mark Duplass (who produced the movie) and also Dianne Warren (who wrote “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” featured prominently in the story) and Mickey Thomas (who sang it); Craig did a quick intro and the movie began.

I’ve seen it many times–almost 13, I think–but I still find it fun and moving to watch; I get something out of it every time. When it was over, 90 minutes later, there was a nice round of applause and Craig got lots of hugs from people, including Mark Duplass here:

Then, it was off to the premiere party, hosted at The Argyle. There were lots of little booths and cocktails on trays and little burgers and pizza to nibble on. Here’s my family and Craig with Kristen Wiig:

Sadly, that’s really the only picture I have to show of the party, but it was a fun time. I met Zooey Deschanel. I ate a miniature cheesecake with a raspberry on top. I waited patiently, at the end of the night, for Craig–who has limitless energy–to talk to the D.J. about how much he enjoyed the setlist.

Then we wound up where all good nights must end in Los Angeles: In-N-Out Burger. Here’s Craig retrieving our Double Double Animal Styles from the window:

And so it was that we attended The Skeleton Twins premiere and had a grand old time. Glad I got to bring you along with me.