Cowboys And Aliens San Diego Premiere! Comic Con 2011! Harrison Ford! Daniel Craig! Olivia Wilde!

Erica was out and about in San Diego for the Cowboys and Aliens Premiere. The star studded event was the big draw at Comic Con this year and it was a chore to get tickets trust me! There were bricks, hidden tickets, etc… you can only imagine! So, needless to say our resident writer was fortunate enough to get in! And we are fortunate enough to get her recap!

Check out her full report after the jump!

I’m used to reporting about premieres from the sidelines as the stars arrive for the red carpet. This time, I’m reporting from a different viewpoint – from inside the house!

The big marquee event of San Diego Comic Con 2011 was the world premiere of Cowboys and Aliens the new blockbuster directed by Jon Favreau.

Jon Favreau is one of the most fan-friendly people on the planet. He’s been a favorite at Comic Con ever since he snuck into the Paramount panel to preview footage of Iron Man and totally blew the roof off the packed house. He revved up the crowd for the actual Marvel panel the next day as I’ve never seen fan boys so buoyant! I think there might have been tears of joy. Truly!

To show his appreciation of fan support, he has not only brought the red carpet premiere to San Diego, but he is also inviting 1000 attendees to come as well! There was an elaborate search for gold bricks which contained the chance for coveted tickets to the premiere and after party.

After a lot of searching and some help from friends (thanks Elisa and Sherrie!!!) I managed to score tickets from Jon Favreau himself! (Jon was signing for fans with movie artist legend Drew Struzen.)

Ye haw!!!

On Saturday the actual event began rather early for us fan attendees as there are 1000 of us and we need to be security screened. Universal/DreamWorks arranged a nice holding area so we weren’t out in the hot sun. My friend Elisa, the biggest Daniel Craig fan on the planet, waited 13 hours in line to make sure she got the best seat in the house. Now that’s dedication!

Instead, we had a nice waiting area where we were fed beef jerky (in keeping with the cowboy theme) and soda (not very cowboy-like, but much appreciated). The beef jerky was rather handy as a few of us raided the beef jerky display as there is a tie-in between Pemmican and Cowboys and Aliens and, well, we appreciated the lovely signage.

We all waited rather patiently as they set up the red carpet and the party.

At just about 7 pm, we trooped into the theatre and watched the red carpet arrivals which were televised inside. There were tons of whooping and hollering when Jon Favreau, Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and, of course, Harrison Ford hit the carpet!

One by one, as they finished their interviews, they were led backstage to wait for the introduction before the movie. We just happened to be sitting on right side to catch a glimpse of the stars as they walked by. The first person we saw was Daniel Craig making a mad dash for the door.

The funniest incident was Steven Spielberg who was trying to tiptoe to the backstage quietly. However, with a 1000 fanboys in the house he got a huge ovation so he dashed by us with a smile on his face and an attempt to “shush” us. It didn’t work. You can’t stop fans from cheering for Steven Spielberg!!

We also saw the ushers guiding Rachel Weisz to her seat so it looks like the cast will be watching the movie with us. And why not? This is probably going to be the loudest audience ever!

At 8 pm, Jon came out to start the speeches and was greeted by a standing ovation.

He kept the speech short and began to introduce the cast and producers. With the caliber of talent he was introducing, you could barely hear him over the roar of the crowd. One by one, Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard join him on stage.

Ron Howard stopped to take a picture of the audience…

…which he later posted on twitter. I don’t think you can see me, but Elisa is fourth row center.

The enthusiastic cheering continued as the rest of the folks were called to the stage.

When everyone finished their bows, they start to head off the stage to their seats. Jon tells one last story about getting unexpected gifts at Christmas. His hope is that Cowboys and Aliens is this year’s unexpected gift for moviegoers everywhere.

And he’s right – the film is a bit unexpected. It’s really a Western where the hero seeks redemption – with some fierce aliens thrown into the mix. It’s a lot of fun with some surprisingly heartfelt moments.

When the movie finishes, we head outdoors to the after party which is right outside. On the way out, some of the actors are leaving with the crowd as they head to their VIP party. Some are nice enough to stop for a quick “congratulations” and a few signatures.

Adam Beach (Smoke Signals) chats with fans and obliges us by being the first to sign the beef jerky sign. Adam seems to be running around everywhere, but he always has time for fans. Such a nice guy!

Next we see Sam Rockwell (Moon, Iron Man 2, Charlie’s Angels) who is walking with his Iron Man 2 co-star Clark Gregg! Mike the Fanboy readers may recall that Sam is not good to fans. Really not good.

However, Clark is great and we say hi to him and he looks at what we are getting signed. He points to the beef jerky signs and says to Sam, “Those are cool. You should sign those” and Sam reluctantly scribbles an “S” for us. Wow! I think that might be my first and last Sam Rockwell autograph and I owe it all to Clark Gregg! You rock Agent Coulson!

We also run into the lovely Ana de la Reguera who signs as well as young Noah Ringer.

Jon Favreau is walking by and stops to sign for everyone. He actually heads out to the “riffraff” party to take pictures and sign for folks. The rest of the cast is headed off to the VIP after party.

Our “riffraff” after party is quite elaborate with a ton of food and lots of high spirits. We all take pictures on the red carpet and Elisa and I pose with our prized Pemmican beef jerky sign.

Hours later, we head out and find the VIP after party. No way! I can see a lot of professional autograph seekers and there are lots of limos left so there have to be some cast members around.

Sure enough, a few minutes go by and Keith Carradine walks out. He signs for us and is curious about what in the world he is signing. He’s amused by our beef jerky explanation. Nice guy!

Abigail Spencer leaves and is very playful with us before her people pull her away.

Johnny Galecki (Big Bang Theory) also leaves – it’s been a long day for him as his 5 o’clock shadow is starting to take over his face.

Walton Goggins (recently nominated for an Emmy for his role in Justified) also exits and chats with us.

Various producers also leave, but there are still several limos left. We hear some of the staff mention the name “Ford” in the walkie talkies and suddenly we get excited! No way! Harrison Ford is still around!

After some false starts, we see a bunch of folks come out with Calista Flockhart at the head of the pack. This is going to be Harrison’s group!

Sure enough, Harrison exits and goes right by the professionals. They plead and he must be in a good mood as he stops to sign!

He finishes with that side and has to walk towards us to go to his car. We start to plead and he looks like he’s going to walk by, and then he sees our beef jerky signs. His eyes widen and then he heads towards us! No way!

I scramble to get my pen out and I compliment him on his scenes with Noah. He actually smiles! Dear diary, today I made Harrison Ford smile!

Harrison has a smirk on his face as he finishes signing and when security mentions the remaining autograph seekers ran from the other barricade, he stops signing and hands me back my pen.

Wow! Harrison Ford signed my beef jerky sign! Yeah!!

And so ends my first world premiere red carpet.

Go see Cowboys and Aliens which opens this weekend!