I am heading back later today to the CineVegas film festival to catch among others "All God's Children Can Dance" and "Kurt Cobain About a Son." This is my favorite part of the film festival, during the weekdays when actual movies are easy to see and the crowds mellow. By this weekend things will pick up again as the star power increases to include appearances by Charlize Theron, Ben Kingsley, Anthony Hopkins and director Mike Newell.

 

Still, the amazing thing is that so much Vegas talk remains focused on the CineVegas opening last week. I don't think anyone in the local media really grasped in advance how huge that red carpet was going to be outside the Palms. I certainly include myself among those dumbfounded by the thousands of fans who turned out. 

 

One publicist working the event told me that she does on average about 25 red carpets a year in Vegas, not including "club red carpets."  Of the Brad Pitt and George Clooney extravaganza red carpet last week, she says: "During my ten years in Las Vegas, the Ocean's red carpet for the opening of CineVegas was the largest red carpet event I have been involved.  We had over 200 media outlets (print, radio, photo and Internet) on the carpet. It also probably had the most star power at one time for any red carpet in Las Vegas in recent years."

 

So, many stars were on that red carpet in fact that no one seemed to miss the one person who wasn't there. Only this morning I realized, this might be the first red carpet I have covered in years that lacked Paris Hilton. Yet, no one in Vegas noticed.

(Photo by Sarah Gerke)