Calling Sky Captain! Come in Sky Captain!

On Saturday, September 11th, Harry Knowles from Ain't It Cool News and the Alamo Draft House held an advanced screening of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow in Austin TX. Among those in attendance were Kerry Conran, Sky Captain writer and director, and his brother Kevin (production designer).

Having the uncanny good fortune to score an invite, I flew to Dallas and drove to the event with Mr. Philip Wise. The Draft House went the extra mile to set the atmosphere - employees decked in vintage WWII flight gear, music and air-raid sirens, etc. Highlights:

• Robert Rodriguez showed, though I didn't see anyone besides myself recognize the guy. We ended up sitting behind him in the theater (and the dude to my left arrived in a yellow Lamborghini Diablo).
• Harry arranged for a couple fly-bys from some WWII-era fighters, including what we were told was the only P-40 Warhawk still flight worthy.
• A question and answer deal after the movie, where Kerry and Kevin discussed various aspects of making the film, hidden stuff in the backgrounds (King Kong!), cut-scenes, forthcoming DVD, yadda-yadda-yadda.
• After the movie there were drinks and snacks to be had up in the lobby. Philip, however, pretty quickly discovered that back in the theater was the place to be - Kerry and Kevin, along with some other folks who had worked on the movie were chatting it up with Rodriguez and Harry. Standing for a bit with Kerry and Robert while they discussed movie-makin' techniques and preferences was just, like, so totally rad.
• The next day we had deep-fried Twinkies which, much like Sky Captain, surpassed lofty expectations.