United with the One and Only James Franco

A wise woman once said: “Love is the most magical thing”. Imagine reading that with a Spanish accent and a lisp, and you are placed in my shoes when I was in Cuba, last year, attending a dance show in our resort. Maybe this isn’t love. In fact, it is not. But, it is love for a fangirl. And I, shamelessly, fangirled all day Thursday, waiting to meet THE James Franco. The actor, writer, director, professor…he really does it all. Although I’m not a huge fan of his writing (never finished Palo Alto), I couldn’t pass up on the chance to meet this hunk of a guy. I’ve met athletes in the past, mostly hockey players (and, in case you didn’t know this, I love sports). Meeting them was always pretty cool and exciting, but meeting a world renowned celeb doesn’t even compare. Let me tell you how the day went down…

If you wanted to meet Franco, you had to be among the first 500 people in line at the Indigo bookstore at 9am in order to receive a bracelet and purchase his book “Actors Anonymous”, granting you access to the celeb’s autograph session that took place at 7pm.
I was by a friend of mine to get there before 8am if I even wanted a chance to meet Franco. I thought to myself, naively: “Will there even be 500 people at this thing?” Surely, he is a popular guy, but we’re in Montreal, not New York. Boy, was I wrong…

I arrived a little after 7am. The line went all the way to Style Exchange, so I could tell that there was at least 100 people in front of me. So, I parked my ass on the ground and waited. None of my friends were able to make the trek with me, but I didn’t care…I REALLY wanted to meet him. At that point, I knew that 500 people were going to be there, and that several others will be disappointed. The PR guy must have had at least 5 coffees and a Red Bull, because I have never met anyone so energetic at 7am. People had been waiting since midnight…now that’s dedication.

By 9am, they opened the doors to the store and I got my bracelet and book (34$ with tax…budget breaker, but, the life of a Franco fangirl follows the “ANYTHING FOR FRANCO!” mantra).

The rest of the day went by quickly, as I anticipated the event that evening. What was I going to say to him? Will I even be able to verbalize anything, or will my voice run off, abandoning me at the worse possible moment? I would always plan a little something to say whenever I would meet an athlete at a signing, but it never worked out, so why bother? But then, my best friend dared me to ask him if he would be my honorary Valentine (LOL). I thought to myself: “Well, I’m probably never going to see him again, so why not?”

It was 7pm.  The signing took place on the 2nd floor of the bookstore. A sea of females with the occasional male flooded the entire area surrounding the stairs. Franco was fashionably late, stuck in Montreal traffic apparently. The PR guy from this morning was trying to get the crowd going with a “Franco! Franco!” chant, but I wasn’t down (it just sounded super lame). I was bored, and left the store for a bit. Finally, an hour and half later, it was my turn to meet him. As I approached the signing area slowly, I tried taking as many pictures of him as I could (I don’t look creepy at all). I finally get my chance, my one-on-one with THE James Franco, a man I have “loved” for years. I simply couldn’t believe it. The dialogue went as follows:

James Franco: “Hi”. ( He smiles, starts signing book…those dimples though)

Me: “Hi! It’s an honour to meet you! … (takes a deep breath) …My friend dared me to ask you something…”

He approaches his face to mine, lending me his ear. I’m fairly certain I lost half my ovaries in that moment.

Me: “Will you be my honorary Valentine?”

He looks at me, nods his head, smiling, and shakes my hand. And that’s when I knew I lost the other half of my ovaries.

Completely star-struck I was, and impressed that I didn’t chicken out at the last moment. That folks, was the best 15 seconds of my life.