SF Chapter 58: Premiere II
Amanda Seyfried lingered a second longer after Lindsay walked toward the cameras.
Daniel turned slightly toward her. "Take your time. Soon it'll be you receiving those screams."
She nodded politely, then after a moment inquired, "Did you actually write all of it?"
"Yes," he replied, pausing before adding, "...mostly. The boobs joke wasn't me, I swear."
She rolled her eyes, but let out a soft laugh.
Amanda teased, "If people start asking me for weather updates, I'm blaming you."
"Hey, that's not fair!" he protested. But he thought better of it. "Fine... fine," he repeated.
"I'll buy you dinner as an apology," he added, sounding as though he were being heavily punished.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Wow, I can see how 'timid' you are."
Daniel ignored the comment and returned to the previous subject. "I wrote it, but the movie turned out way better than I imagined," he said, obviously having already seen the final cut.
"You were incredible as Karen," he praised with a genuine smile.
"Thank you," she smiled. "What made you do it?" Amanda finally asked, voicing something she had clearly been curious about.
"I will tell you a story, Miss Seyfried. When I was eleven, I looked at my father and said, 'I want to be a screenwriter.' 'A what?' 'A screenwriter,' I repeated. 'A movie writer.' That's how it started..."
"Uh-huh, I can totally see that," she mocked, knowing he was bullshitting her.
"Oh, if it were Karen, she'd put a hand over her heart, go 'ohhh,' and probably kiss me," he commented, making the gesture with his hands.
Amanda chuckled. "Nah, I think you two would be hooking up even before that."
But then she raised an eyebrow, probably still expecting a serious answer to her previous question.
"Let me ask you something first," Daniel said. "Did you dream of being an actress since you were a kid?"
"Yes. Yeah, I'm that cliché," she replied honestly.
"Well, in my case, it wasn't like that. I never said I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid. I wanted to be a painter or an illustrator."
"I used to draw everywhere - on the walls of my house, at school, even on the ceiling of my sister's house," he revealed.
She smiled. "A little troublemaker. And then?"
"Long story short, I got praised for a homework assignment - you know, when you're in fourth grade and have to write something."
"I kept writing. It turned into a book. I whined to my dad to publish it and got it as my thirteenth birthday present. After I'd already written a few books, I eventually moved on to writing movie scripts..." he finished.
"But if you want to know more, you'll have to accept that dinner offer," he joked. "Now, I think we should go greet other people."
"I'll think about it," she replied. "It was nice to meet you, Daniel."
And each of them went their separate ways.
"Whoa, you two look stunning," Daniel said, giving his friends an appreciative look.
"You look incredible too," Penny replied, adjusting his blazer.
"I thought you'd prefer to stay with your new friends," Alexandra teased lightly.
"Are you jealous, Lexi? Because you don't need to be. You know I have a big... heart." He smirked.
She rolled her eyes. "At least you're still the same, even when you're basically hosting the whole thing," she said, giving her friend a hug. "Congratulations, this place looks fantastic."
"Thanks. Do you two want to sit next to me?" he asked.
"Really?" Penny looked surprised. "I thought you'd want to sit next to one of the leads."
"Nah, I prefer sitting with you two."
"How sweety," the blonde smiled.
"Where is Bernadette?" Daniel asked, remembering her.
Penny turned and discreetly nodded toward her friend, who was talking alone with Leonard.
"Nice," he smiled. "Now, let's go take a look around," he invited, and the three of them walked through the premiere.
Daniel took a few photos with the cast, with his family, and with friends afterward.
He also meet the second lead - perhaps the one who might steal most of the spotlight - Rachel McAdams.
In his opinion, Regina was more memorable than Cady.
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As they sat down in their seats, Daniel commented to his friends, "Wow, the red carpet did feel different."
Penny smiled and then said dreamily, "Maybe one day it'll be because of us, Lexi."
"Yeah..." Even Alexandra wasn't so stoic at that moment.
A few rows behind them, Haley was pouting. "So he chose to sit next to his girls friends..."
Alex made a sarcastic remark. "You've known Dani for how many years? And you're still surprised by that?"
Claire turned her head slightly; she was seated in the row in front of her daughters. "You two better behave. I don't want to hear you arguing."
A little further to the side, Monica was also scolding, "Joey!" because her friend was acting like a child in a toy store.
"But this is so nice, Monica," he continued, excited about the place.
A short while later, the lights dimmed and the movie began to roll.
As soon as the opening credits started, a shout was heard. "Ay, Jay!" Gloria exclaimed loudly when she read Jay Pritchett listed as Executive Producer.
"That's my brother-in-law," Cam said proudly, reacting in a similar way when "Story by Dani" appeared on the screen.
"Cam," Mitchell said embarrassed, trying to get his attention.
Aside from that, Claire and Phil patted Daniel on the shoulder.
Right from the beginning, a few scenes already drew light laughter.
On screen, Karen - the ditzy character played by Amanda - commented after hearing Cady, the main character of the film, say that she had lived in Africa.
"So if you're from Africa... why are you white?"
"Oh my God, Karen, you can't just ask people why they're white," her friend immediately admonished her.
Phil burst out laughing, along with part of the theater.
And the movie went on.
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[Dunphy family commentary]
The Dunphy family was sitting together after watching Mean Girls.
"The movie was sooo good," Haley said excitedly. "It's so accurate. I think all my friends are going to love it," she added.
"'On Wednesdays, we wear pink' is totally going to be a thing," she quoted one of the movie's lines.
"That's because your friends are basically the Plastics," Alex mocked. "And Karen is suspiciously similar to you."
"Oh, don't be jealous, Alex. Janis is just like you. Especially in the looks department," her sister retorted.
"Okay, girls," Claire scoffed, pulling one of them back slightly. "I thought it was a very funny movie. Dani was incredible writing it."
"I would've liked it more if Mom hadn't covered my eyes during half the movie," Luke complained, while Claire ruffled his hair.
And Phil wrapped up the family's commentary. "It was incredible! I loved it! It's already one of my favorites!"
"And I think Dani was inspired by me in one part," he added with a smile, quoting Regina's mom's dialogue: "'Just want you to know, if you need anything, don't be shy, okay?
There are no rules in this house. I'm not like a regular mom. I'm a cool mom.' That's like me. I'm the cool dad."
"Phil!" his wife glared at him.
[Commentary ends]
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