It was a fun premiere last night for Sony’s “Caught Stealing.” I learned a lot.
Coming off the red carpet before the cast (Austin Butler, Zoe Kravitz, Bad Bunny, et al) and crew arrived, there was an army of young people. I mean, mid 20s. They were dressed up to the hilt, maybe more “Rocky Horror” than formal wear, and nearly all tattooed. The women wore low cut dresses and stiletto heels. The guys had a lot of rings on their fingers and in their ears.
This very odd gang caught my attention. Who were they? What were they doing at a big Hollywood premiere?
My friend and fellow film critic/journalist Joanna Langfield pondered this question until a light bulb went off over our heads.
“Influencers,” we said snidely, the way Seinfeld acknowledges Newman. “Let’s talk to them.”
And so we did, since we — old and experienced, over the hill — were not invited to the premiere, but they were, so why not find out their secret?
A bunch of these people revealed to us that the studios underwrite their trips to premieres, fly them in, put them up and so on. One couple was imported from Madrid. They each had about a million followers. Wow. Rock stars. Another couple, two men who live locally, also claim to millions of followers. Wow again.
All these people, and more, turned up later photographed on the red carpet as if they were celebrities. You can see their pictures on wireimage.com. It’s quite extraordinary. (See below.)
I really liked all of them. Gianna Christine from Florida, once labeled “SnapChat’s It Girl,” a petite sexy blonde who knows to flaunt it, told us she had a business degree. We asked if she felt indebted to Sony for bringing her to the premiere? “No,” she said, “I make up my own mind. I don’t like most movies anyway.” She listed some she’d seen thanks to a studio’s largesse. I’ll leave out those titles.
Alaire, a cheerful dynamo who attracted a crowd on our corner from her own fans, told me I should be posting videos. She does it all the time, on her phone, with just a tripod and one of those round lights. While we were talking, a young couple from Paris approached her and her beautiful fiancee, Jordan, like they were rock stars. (They’re on their way to Paris for fashion shows next.)
I asked them all, including an 18 year old and her friends, also fans of Alaire, a question.Â
“Do any of you have cable TV?” They looked at me blankly. “I mean like HBO?”
The 18 year old said, “I have HBO Max.” On your TV, I asked? “No, streaming.”
None of them watch regular TV or cable TV. They’re getting all their information from social media and streaming.Â
Finally one of them asked us, What do you do?
Joanna replied, dryly, “We’re film critics,” as if this might mean something (like when we were in awe of Andrew Sarris or in the presence of Rex Reed).
They looked at us like we were a pair of triceratops. I said, jumping in, “Like Rotten Tomatoes?”
“Oh,” said someone, and then everyone drifted away.
PS All kidding aside, I liked them all a lot. I did feel like a hundred years old. But this is the new world. The studios only want them now, and they’ll happily pay for it. The critics? We did get free popcorn and drinks. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth!
Pictures c2025 Showbiz411
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