STARSTRUCK
On the Red Carpet
America loves its movie stars. We put them on the cover of magazines, in ads for everything from Coca-Cola to insurance, we read their biographies and wear their perfumes, but most of all, we put them on pedestals.
Psychologists have argued that the one-sided relationships that many of us develop with celebrities is a natural outgrowth of social evolution where it was beneficial to pay attention to people at the top of the social hierarchy. Being aware of what the king said, what the emperor’s wife wore, and who the chief was smoking the peace pipe with was a formula for survival and success. When technology and media were added to the mix, we suddenly had celebrity fascination and the proliferation of parasocial relationships where one person invests emotional energy while the other person is completely unaware of the other’s existence.
In our celebrity-obsessed world, it’s easy to be sucked into one of these relationships – how many of us tune in to Ellen every afternoon or Stephen Colbert every night? Don’t you feel like you really know Oprah? Who doesn’t want to know if Brad and Jen are really getting back together?
Nowhere is that phenomenon more apparent than on the ultimate celebrity platform, the red carpet. It’s during red carpet moments that we see stars at their most glamourous and perhaps, their most vulnerable. Can you imagine being in their shoes? You feel a rush of adrenaline as you step out of the limo, the crowds calling your name, waving photos for you to autograph. Surrounded by handlers, you’re guided down the line as hundreds of cameras click. You’re just happy to make it down the carpet without having said something stupid to the reporters who shove microphones in your face and ask impromptu and sometimes absurd questions. Questions which, if answered incorrectly, could tarnish your image or even worse, alienate your fans (the very ones you don’t even know you’re in a parasocial relationship with).
The flipside of this phenomenon are the fans themselves. Ladies and gentlemen, meet The Steves. Steve Cutler, 52, and Steve Markin, 57, are unlikely regulars on the red carpet. The couple, who met on the party circuit some fourteen years ago, developed their fascination with celebrity by chance, having won a contest promoted by a local TV station. The prize? Tickets to the 2010 Palm Springs International Film Festival’s Awards Gala.
“I thought it was going to be a big deal, that we would get to go in and see the stars receive their awards. It turned out to be tickets to the bleachers along the red carpet,” Mr. Cutler recounted. Down, but not out, the couple started gathering pictures of the celebrities they knew were going to be receiving awards. “We went out there, screamed and yelled and got 7 autographs.” The very first was from Anna Kendrick. “It was fun. Mariah Carey came in totally wasted and signed the photo right across her face.”
A ritual was born. “After the first and second year it became our thing,” Mr. Cutler adds. “The next year we scoped out our spot and camped out for three days.” Although famous for its glorious weather – it only rains eleven days out of the year – Palm Springs can be cold, especially at night in January when the Awards Gala occurs. Have no fear, The Steves come prepared. “We bring below-zero sleeping bags, little propane heaters, handwarmers and footwarmers.”
So, what drives them? “I’ve always been a fan of Hollywood and always thought I’d want to be an actor,” Mr. Cutler said, “but I never thought I would be standing on the red carpet trying to get autographs. I never even dreamed it to be possible, but I was starstruck the very first time… Mariah Carey was right there. Quentin Tarantino was right there. It was so cool.”
His partner adds, “When we first met, we were crazy, out partying all the time, and we said this is enough, it was time to grow up and start getting a life. The red carpet was exciting and new.”
The two are logging seconds towards their own fifteen minutes of fame. In fact, in 2017 they were the subjects of a 2 ½ minute piece on a local news station. That was a good year for them, snagging autographs from Octavia Spencer, Sally Field, Helen Mirren and Johnny Depp who came down the carpet and was just about to sign for them when his security team tried to lead him away. According to Cutler, “Depp made a dramatic move and said, ‘No! I need to see my adoring fans’,” before proceeding to sign autographs for everyone along the red carpet.
Despite the star wattage of Brad Pitt, whose photograph hangs in their apartment, and Angelina Jolie, whose autograph they didn’t get, 2012 got off to a shaky start for the pair. At that year’s gala, they witnessed a man having a heart attack on the red carpet. In a scene reminiscent of Day of the Locust, amid the chaos as the crowd surged forward, eager to get a closer look at Brangelina, people stepped on the fallen victim who later was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. According to The Steves, it took emergency vehicles nearly an hour to get through to him.
In their living room lined with autographed photos, the pair reminisces about their favorite star sightings. Number one is Mark Wahlberg who good-naturedly signed autographed for everyone. Other favorites include Quentin Tarantino, Jessie Eisenberg, Tom Hanks, Amber Herd, Adam Driver, Salma Hayeck, Michael Fassbinder, Timothée Chalamet, Awards Gala Hostess, Mary Hart, and Charo, who, in lieu of signing a photo, grabbed a Sharpie and left her John Hancock on Steve Cutler’s arm. When asked who was the hottest, it was a toss-up between Bradley Cooper and George Clooney. Topping their wish list for future sightings are Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino.
Not all their encounters have happy endings. The duo was disappointed by Rami Maleck who refused to sign for anyone, Jeremy Renner, Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood who drove himself to the gala in a vintage Mustang and avoided making eye contact with the clamoring fans.
Given the sheer number of media outlets reporting on celebrity news, it’s not surprising that the public often feels like they really know their favorite stars. According to James Houran, a clinical psychologist and president of 20/20 Skills, a Human Resources company, “People seem to confuse having a lot of information about a celebrity with genuine intimacy.” Therefore, it’s not surprising that many fans at this year’s Palm Springs International Film Festival’s Awards Gala were upset when a climate change protestor dressed as a polar bear infiltrated the crowd to protest carbon-based cinema. His disruptive presence prevented many of the big-name stars from posing for selfies and signing autographs for their fans. Disappointed, The Steves were only able to get 5 autographs. Nonplussed, Cutler said, “If I’m going to be honest, my enthusiasm is waning. But we’ll probably be back next year. It’s become our thing.”
