Access Granted

So I spent the afternoon with Hugh Grant.  And about fifty other people, but hey, Hugh and I shared the same room for three and a half hours.

Not surprisingly, the event was a two part panel discussion about the Leveson Inquiry, at which he'd made a very public testimony regarding the hacking of his own phone, so it wasn't all that unusual to see him in attendance.  More notable was the fact that after living 13 1/2 months in this city, this is the first celebrity I've come across during that entire time.  Unless you include seeing the very top of the Queen's Jubilee Barge as it made its way downriver for the anniversary parade, but I don't think that counts, as I only really saw Her Majesty on the large screen alongside the Thames.

I didn't even recognize him at first.  He sauntered in late, just as half a dozen others had, so I didn't pay any notice until the moderator made some comment about the "moderately famous" person who had just entered.  My friend whispered to me, "Hugh Grant."  But I didn't believe it.  Until I put on my glasses and confirmed her assertion.  Oops.  Guess my distance vision isn't exactly what it used to be.  Hugh Grant indeed.

It's funny to observe the effect a celebrity will have on a crowd.  This group was small to begin with, and presumably quite serious about regulation of the journalism industry, enough to be spending several hours of their Saturday in a small lecture hall in Bloomsbury.  But enter Hollywood superstar, and you'd think we were all teenagers again.

In addition to the Channel 4 news camera which was covering the event, and seemed to also be documenting Grant's attendance, I saw more than a few camera phones trained in his direction during the presentation.  At the halfway break a couple spectators requested photos with him.  My own lame attempts to document the moment were characteristically blurry and of the poorest possible photographic quality, given my cheap phone.  I did manage to capture an audio clip at the end of the sessions when Hugh finally graced us with a soundbyte quote regarding the issue at hand.

But I've always had mixed feelings about approaching celebrities, not in regards to their personal privacy, but about my own sense of dignity.  It's always been a fantasy of mine to casually encounter a random star, let's say Johnny Depp, at a merchant counter or a gallery somewhere, and make some fantastically witty off the cuff comment to start up a conversation.  By the end of it, the so-called star would be left thinking, "Who was that girl?  I simply must see her again!"  But by then I'd have disappeared back into the crowd, leaving said celebrity intrigued and wanting more.

I know that if Hugh hadn't been engaged by others in most of his free moments, he would've made his way across the room to the woman in the pink jacket with that certain something about her--not sure exactly what it was--but he wouldn't have been sorry.  :)

After a while, I became accustomed to the fact that an A-list actor was sitting just yards away from me, and I'd look over thinking, "Yeah, there he is."  Looking quite ordinary, really, with his somewhat geeky horn rimmed glasses and understated pullover sweater.

My friend sitting next to me scratched a note on her paper--"We just got to spend two hours with Hugh Grant!"  To which I responded, "He's lucky to have gotten so much time with us."

And so he was.

---
hey, celebrity
if you're good I may grace you
with a word or two