Singer Calls Fans “Main Characters” In Concert Film – Deadline
Taylor Swift arrived tonight in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles for the premiere of her Eras Tour concert film premiere at The Grove, generating more noise and glitz than an Oscar Best Song performance atop the Academy Museum. Heck, there the fountain at the outdoor luxe Rick Caruso-owned mall was spouting pink water.
And while Swift’s appearance caused The Grove to close down for the day, in addition to streets, the premiere in the 600 square foot space wasn’t a chaotic affair, rather quite organized. Swift appeared very early in the evening before a crowd of screaming fans, before ducking inside. The screaming throng were separated from the high-brow attendees who showed up to the AMC The Grove 14 including Emmy winners Julia Garner and Mariska Hargitay, Adam Sandler, Flavor Flav, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Vice Chair Adam Fogelson and Swift’s mom and dad, Andrea and Scott. A preparty reception of champagne and movie concessions preceded the film which finally kicked off at around 8:40PM after many began arriving as early as 5PM.
If you were in the AMC Grove’s Dolby auditorium, well, then you got the company of Swift who sat alongside fans to watch the 2 hour and 48 minute feature directed by Sam Wrench.
“You’re stuck with me, because I’m going to sit with you and watch this thing,” beamed Swift in her introduction before screaming girls in the theater.
“This tour — let me preface this by saying, I’ve always had fun doing this,” said the 12x Grammy winner, “I can’t believe music is my career. That’s crazy to me, I’ve always loved it.”
“I’ve never had a fraction of the amount of fun I had on the Eras tour before — ever,” she continued.
Giving a shoutout to her crew in the room, Swift added, “My fellow performers on the stage –the dancers, the band, my background vocalists– they would go out on stage, in sickness or in health, in any weather conditions we would face.”
“We pranced on that stage grinning because of what met us on the other side and that was you” to great screams.
“I think you’ll see that you absolutely are our main characters in this film because that’s what made the tour magical; that’s what made it different from anything I’ve ever done in my life. Your attention to detail, your passion, your intensity, you cared so much about these shows and that made all the difference for us,” Swift continued before her followers who were clad in various costumes from her career.
“It made us want to add even more shows, and just keep doing the tour,” said Swift, “I’ve never felt this way about anything, the way I feel about this experience.”
Swift concluded her intro with “I think I’ll just watch it with you now!”
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour opens this Thursday night now in a last minute add, in what is expected to be a global opening of $150M; a bulk of that coming from U.S. and Canada. In a first, the No. 1 circuit in the world, AMC theaters, is releasing the film.
