Pirates Premiere: Wenches, Scoundrels and Supermodels, Oh My!

I've had a few big, big, days in my short run here at E!: The Academy Awards. Visiting the set of Harry Potter. Interviewing George Clooney. The 90210 DVD release party. However, nothing has been as out-of-control, insane, crazy, off-the-chain massive as covering the world premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The event took place at Disneyland, and all of Main Street was transformed into a Hollywood red carpet, with stars from the worlds of professional sports, TV, music, movies...you name it. 

 

Unfortunately, my future wifey Keira Knightley wasn't there, and the press gauntlet assembled on the carpet was so huge that Orlando Bloom and Captain Johnny Depp never made it over to my little patch of the red, but they did get with my partner in crime, Catt Sadler. She was on cloud nine (see for yourself in the video clips at the end of this blog). Check out all the action on E!'s Live from the Red Carpet special all this week. 

In all, I think I banged out something like 60 interviews in the span of only a few hours, with some huge, huge people. Very surreal, as always. Here are some of the highlights:

Dave Winfield is a large, large man. For those of you who don't know him, Big Dave is a Major League Baseball Hall of Famer who has won a World Series, played in All-Star Games and hit home runs in Yankee Stadium. He was even drafted in three sports, by four teams! (Baseball, football and basketball, both the NBA and ABA.) Despite all these impressive accomplishments, he was pretty overwhelmed by the sheer size and craziness of the premiere. Pretty cool to see your heroes—people you're in awe of—who are in awe of Hollywood.

I think Janice Dickinson has a thing for your favorite movie critic. That's right, one of the most famous supermodels of all time just walked up and kissed me. What?! She rocks. What up, Janice! Another life, and we coulda been something...

Two other beautiful, beautiful women on the red carpet were Vanessa Branch, a real star on the rise, and Stacy Keibler, whom I saw doing her thing last week up in Winston's. Both have their whole careers in front of them. Vanessa stars as one of the wenches in Pirates, as well as having a bunch of projects on the way, including Suburban Girl with Alec Baldwin, which I saw at Tribeca. Stacy is still riding high from her WWE days and from her run on Dancing with the Stars. No word yet why she kinda dissed me the other night at the bar. Story of my life, I guess.

Mickey Mouse is afraid of Wilmer Valderrama. Why, you ask? Well, big W.V. used to breed and sell mice back in the day, before becoming a TV and movie star. Can you imagine that feeling, starting out as an immigrant speaking no English and selling mice for quarters only to become a multimillionaire with a successful producing, writing and acting career? Only in America.

Jerry Bruckheimer has said twice now, on camera, that he will cast me in some of his TV shows. I've got the tapes! The guy produces so much stuff, it's hard even for him to keep track. However, he did mention a few projects, like CSI and some TV show I had never heard of, that I would be "perfect" for. I think that might be Hollywood talk for "Get away from me"—but I'll choose to think otherwise. 

On a night of big, big stars, there was one that shined the brightest. Not Johnny. Not Orlando. I'm talking Sanders. Steve Sanders. You probably know him as Ian Ziering from Dancing with the Stars, but I know and idolize him for his portrayal of Sanders from Beverly Hills 90210, one of the great TV characters of all time. The dude is a living legend. We talked about who was more of a bad boy—Jack Sparrow or Dylan McKay? He said both use a lot of illegal substances, so it's about neck and neck. What was more disappointing—being booted from Dancing or letting down Mrs. Teasley? Of course, he said, letting down the principal of West Beverly. He told me what it was like to kiss a tranny at a gas station in Palm Springs (he was no Celeste), and what he would do if he saw John Sears, his old rival from the KEG house (kick his ass, of course). It was pure magic.

Emma Roberts has gone Hollywood—in a good way, though. I say this because she is just so, so comfortable with her success, so humble and classy, almost like an Old Hollywood star. She knows that she is about to explode onto the scene—she stars this summer in Nancy Drew, based on the incredibly popular series of books that have inspired generations of young girls around the world—and she handles herself so well. Of course, growing up with Julia Roberts as your aunt has to help a little bit, but the kid is a star on the rise, and I wish her all the best.

Cuba Gooding Jr. was not feeling my reference to Boat Trip, a movie he made that, like Pirates, takes place at sea. He was a good sport about it, but I could tell deep down he was like, Who is this loser? Ha! Whatever, that guy is Rod Tidwell to me. Show me the money, Cuba! Crazy that the dude from Boyz n the Hood is now an Oscar winner. And go see Boat Trip!

I also spoke to some people from the movie—it was the Pirates premiere after all! Chow Yun-Fat, one of the most badass action stars of all time, said that even after countless films, across all genres, he has never learned so much from another actor as he did from Depp.

I had to ask Jack Davenport, who plays Keira Knightley's old flame in the movie, what the hell he was thinking by giving up on Keira! He reminded me of course that it's the movies. I still think he's nuts.

What's a big summer movie without villians, right? I spoke with both Davy Jones and Lord Beckett, the great character actors Bill Nighy and Tom Hollander. They both told me how they love playing villians, because as bad guys, they have the freedom to go even bigger, and try things that they never could as conventionally "good" characters.

And how could I forget the beautiful Naomie Harris! Truly stunning...she never looks the same from movie to movie. Next up for her is an indie with Forest Whitaker. Stay fly, Naomi!

So there it is, a recap of my big day on the red carpet at Disneyland. I also interviewed everybody from Dancing with the Stars, lots of Disney Channel kids, NBA players, you name it. Truly, a day I will never forget. Shout-out of course to the entire live events crew at E!. They are the real stars who make everything happen.

Check out Catt Sadler making it happen with Johnny, Orlando, Geoffrey Rush and Keith Richards in the Live form the Red Carpet video clips below!