Melyanna's thoughts and memories - Elijah at Giffoni. Pt. 3

While heading to the place where we thought the press conference was to be, I talked with Alessandra, who is a Frodo and Lord of the Rings fan, but not a great Elijah’s fan. It was the first time she had met him , but she immediately had the impression that he was different and unique. She said that she never met anyone like him, that he looked like a character out of a fairy tales book, so lovely and ethereal. I happily realized that our Lij made an impression on a person who is not involved in the fandom, but could feel the magic, too.

When we arrived at the Monastery yard, we immediately realized that no one knew if that was the place for the conference. You have to know that everything, during the festival, was a WIP, with locations, times and scheduling constantly changing. But we managed to stay in the area where the previous day there has been the photo session with Sabrina Ferilli.  A few other journalists were there, too, waiting.

The S. Francesco Monastery, where we had the press conference

Then the disaster: my phone rang again to announce me that all the private interviews with Elijah had been cancelled by his agent. The reason apparently was that someone had a discussion (a fight?) with the agent, she went mad and cancelled everything.

That’s what I’ve been told. I was not there when this happened and I’m only saying what I’ve heard, so please take it as a possible truth, but not necessarily THE truth.

At that point I was really disappointed because a dream seemed to be vanishing in the thin air. But I didn’t want the bad news to ruin my day. There were still a lot of things to do, attend and enjoy, so I just thought, OK, who cares? (anyway, who could care about having a private interview with Lij? Just a boring thing, you know!).

So I called the person who had organized the interviews and she told me that she was discussing the matter with the agent, trying to reschedule at least some of them.

In the meantime, speculations were spread that there were some journalists complaining about Lij having been rude with them.

At that point I felt I could not stay silent anymore. I immediately took Elijah’s defence and I said to those people:

“I don’t think so. I’d like to know in which way they approached Elijah. I’ve met him a few minutes ago and he has been extremely kind and polite with everyone”.

I could not believe that, and Alessandra was astonished, too, because we both had an extremely positive and wonderful impression about our previous meeting with Lij.

In this case, too, I’m only saying what I’ve heard, so who knows what the truth really is. For sure something very strange happened, otherwise interviews would not have been cancelled.

And a very curious thing was that no one there knew that Elijah had been meeting kids in Giardino degli Aranci. In fact, I have to say that on the day program there was no mention of those events and we had to find out ourselves. In that, fans are more capable than journalists, being a  lot more motivated and very, very stubborn.

At that point, someone yelled that Lij was coming and we all launched outside and towards the main entry of the monastery. I climbed the stairs in a hurry, just in time to see the car arriving and Lij getting out.

He was immediately surrounded by a horde of various people, fans, photographers, reporters, body guards, but I managed to get really close and take a couple of pics, while trying not to fall from the stairstep and not to be blinded by the sun.

 
Trying to shelter from the merciless sun (I think)


This is very similar to another pic I already posted, but a different shot

Once inside the hall everyone tried to approach Elijah, with more or less success, but there was a lot of confusion, so the organizers and body guards decided it was better if, for a brief moment, Lij posed for the photographers. He obliged and smiled for everyone, so I was able to have a pic of him too in a relatively calm way, without a lot of people pushing to gain a better view of the “star”.

 
Lij posing for the photographer in front of an ancient wall painting

And because I’m a very stubborn person and I have a never ending patience, I waited “in the shadow” (like a bird of prey) for the best moment to try and approach Lij before the press conference began.

And there he was, left alone and “unattended” for a few seconds, admiring the beauty and the art in the place.

He was absolutely lovely, concentrating on the details of a wonderful wall painting and if I didn’t know who he was, I could have said he was just another tourist enjoying his trip abroad.

Lovely Lij looking just like a common tourist, with a water bottle in in hands
 

So I approached him, very casual like, and asked: Do you like it, Elijah?

He turned to me (that blue, amazing gaze again!!!), smiled and said: Absolutely, it is wonderful!

He was really interested and curious, so I went on: We have a lot of art here in Italy and we are so proud about it.

He: Oh, but you have to!

Me: Is it your first time here? (in Giffoni, I meant)

He: Not the first in Italy, but I’ve never been in Giffoni before. Oh it’s an amazing place, really, very beautiful, I like it, a lot.

Me: Oh yes, it’s very beautiful. It’s the first time here for me too!

He: Where are you from?

Me: I’m from Rome

As if I had pronounced a magic word, Rome, his face illuminated, he beamed, his eyes widened in joy or surprise or whatever, he flashed a gorgeous smile and: Oh Rome!!! That’s so great!

And then the security staff grabbed him and took him away from me ….  Damn, we had just started to talk about Rome … and possibly me!! And he was genuinely interested! Damn again!

That most curious thing was that, save for the very first moment I approached him (with my heart beating madly), I felt very comfortable in engaging a bit of conversation with him. He was so simple and genuine, so eager to talk, so curious about everything and everyone, that I truly felt at ease.

It has been just so natural to start talking to him, not like a fan to an idol, or a journalist to an actor, but simply like a person to another person, on the same level. And I appreciated it, it was a great sensation that I never thought I could feel in front of someone so famous and who I admire so much.

Then we all were asked to take a seat because the conference was about to begin.

TBC