I’ve never been the type to celebrate St. Patrick’s day in particular. I usually wear something green as small as it will come, like a bracelet or a pin just for tradition’s sake. But, I never was the type to go out and engage my Irish roots in the bar festivities around town. Last year, in 2011, however, I was extremely excited to celebrate St. Patrick’s day, as I learned that actress Jodie Foster would be attending a special event for South by SouthWest in Austin, Texas. Having been a fan for quite some time, I signed up for the event at Lambert’s immediately and secured Two tickets.
My guest and I got to the event early to be sure to get a spot up close to the stage. I was so nervous, I didn’t even try any of the free food that was spread out for all of the guests. Everyone around me was non-chalant, chowing down on all of the snacks and hypothesizing about whether or not Mel Gibson would be attending, as this event was for Foster’s film, The Beaver. Suddenly, there she was. Jodie Foster had entered from a side door of the building with a small entourage of what I assume were the film’s producers, as well as the film’s other star, Anton Yelchin. My first thought upon seeing Jodie was that she was much tinier than I had imagined, though still as beautiful as she appears on screen. I don’t know why I always imagined that she’d be really tall, though. She was around 5’4″. Maybe. Yelchin looked different in person, too, although his hair was longer and curly compared to the nearly shaved head he sported in the film we’d seen the day before.
One of the film’s producers took the stage and began to speak about the film. During her speech, Foster was offered green beer, considering the day, which she accepted much to the crowd’s delight. After a sip or two, it was Jodie’s turn to speak and she tried to make her way through the crowd towards the stage. She was extremely polite to my guest, who she had to smash up against, as everyone was crammed up behind my guest like sardines, saying that she was, ‘So sorry,’ to have to squeeze by. Jodie spoke for a few moments in that velvety voice we all know and love about the event and then about her film. After she thanked everyone for being there, down from the stage she came to a swarm of people and camera flashes. She vanished just as quickly out the side door that she entered from earlier.
We didn’t get to take a picture with Jodie before she left, however Anton Yelchin stuck around was was more than happy to take a photo with us. He was extremely polite, just as Foster had been, and thanked us for our praise about his performance in the film.
It lasted only for a few brief moments, but spending that time in a room with Jodie Foster and Anton Yelchin was pretty awesome and will definitely be difficult to top, making it my favorite St. Patrick’s day memory.