A Fat Purple Fig

On Saturday morning, Eva and I left bright and early (ok, 8.30am) for our Warner Bros. Studio Tour.

Now, I love movies. My family had an old-fashioned (but extremely to-the-minute back then!) video store during my youth, so I grew up around movies. On the hottest days of summer, I remember picking bags full of them, with the sole intention of sitting in our one air-conditioned room and watching them all back-to-back. And little has changed. My idea of relaxation is still to ‘watch something’. It is the ultimate marker of having time to myself, and the thing that makes me detach from life…in a good way.

The Studio Tours run like clockwork. There is a fleet of carts, each with an over-enthusiastic guide, who group their numbered visitors in front of a Starbucks, before commencing a spiel that they no doubt repeat several times a day.

Our lovely guide, Katherine, started the team-building exercises early, asking us to shout “yes” as loudly as we could, every time she called out the name of a program we liked. Naturally, Eva and I sat right in the back and were completely silent, but reserved the right to be annoyed at the choices of the other people in the cart.

“Seriously? They picked Pretty Little Liars? Ughhh…how annoying.”

I was still rolling my eyes when the cart drove into the “jungle” and past a vaguely familiar-looking building. It was Merlotte’s from True Blood.

MERLOTTE’S FROM TRUE BLOOD.

I was sold. I was never a fan of DVD extras, believing that they would somehow ruin the illusion for me, but consider me a changed woman. I took piles of photos, but I’m guessing they will get lost in translation. Let’s just say I really liked standing next to the façade where Spiderman kissed Mary Jane, and standing in the comic book store from The Big Bang Theory, knowing that they would be filming in there tomorrow.

Some highlights:

• The gorgeous concept artwork from Harry Potter
• The props department and, in particular, the blue Tiffany chandeliers that they no longer hire, due to increased worth and insurance costs
• Superheroes (predisposed to be good value)
• Over-enthusiastic Katherine, who turned out to be a credit to Warner Bros. I sure hope, but doubt, they pay her accordingly

The Studio Tour was worth every penny. Although I’m not sure why they needed our money, given that Friends apparently STILL earns them $3 billion a year…the size and scale of the whole thing was simply staggering.

This one’s for you, Carol!