MEETING ROBIN TUNNEY

(Monte-Carlo Tv Festival, June 12, 2013)

(New York City, Smokefall, March 11, 2016)

Following the stories of my little adventures in Monte-Carlo and New York City, to see Robin!

MONTE-CARLO - 2013

CLICK HERE to see all the photos I've taken during the day Robin attended the Monte-Carlo TV Festival.

So here's a little report about these 4 days at the Monte-Carlo Tv Festival!
Well, I should say 3 actually. In fact, when I arrived on a Sunday afternoon, the weather was so bad that I had to run away back to my hotel! A huge storm was just right on Monte-Carlo, so my idea to see the red carpet of the Opening Ceremony vanished...

The next day, Monday, was a sunny and very hot day!
So here how it works during this tv festival at the Grimaldi Forum. The only way to have the chance to see your favourite actors is basically to spend the whole day next to the red carpet. They usually all arrive early in the morning, and they all usually stop to sign autographs and take photos. Then actors have to go inside for photo calls and press. Some of them were being interviewed outside the Grimaldi Forum, and that was a good chance for the public to see them again, and try to get an autograph or a photo. A lot was up to the time they had in-between interviews.
I've seen a lot of French actors on Monday, and I had the chance to snap a photo with the cast of "Grimm" and an actress from "Once Upon A Time", Anastasia Griffith, who was really sweet and kind with everyone, on Tuesday.

But the big day was Wednesday, June 12th. Robin Tunney arrived early, 9am, at the Grimaldi Forum. There was already a lot of people waiting. As she arrived, we called her name and she stopped to sign autographs and take photos. I waited until she came in front of me, and I showed her the Lisbon's Season 1 cross, the one she sent me as a thank you for the Fans' Book Project.
As she saw the cross, she said: "Maria, what are you doing here?!", and I replied, "Just for you!!". We hugged (best moment, ever, needless to say!!), and I asked her if we could take a photo, so we took a photo, and then we said bye. She's been incredibly sweet, and I will cherish the memory of these moments with her forever. Meeting her has always been a dream, and I would have never imagined one day this dream was going to become true. Taking this trip has been the best decision!
I don't think I need to tell you this, but how beautiful she is...!
Robin signed a couple of photos, and then she had to go inside the Grimaldi Forum for photo calls and press. After an hour, more or less, she was back outside to be interviewed right next to the Forum. We could see her getting ready for the interview, making funny faces while techs adjusted her earpiece and microphone!
She waved and said hi to the fans who were calling her constantly, and she began her interview. After that, she signed and took photos again with the public, and she went back inside the Forum for other press.
At around 3pm, she was back outside the Grimaldi Forum, for an interview with Stephen Amell from the tv series "Arrow". After the interview, she signed again autographs, and then she was back inside the Grimaldi Forum.
And that's it... this has been a fantastic day, a day I will never ever forget!

I want thank Elodie, we kept each other company during the long hours we waited outside the forum, and I've also met some really nice French and Italian girls (special thanks to Giulia, who took my photo with Robin!)

It's been such an amazing experience, and I went back home with lots of memories, emotions, knowing that a big dream came true.

***

NEW YORK CITY - 2016

Travelling to New York is already an amazing experience by itself. Travelling to go and see your favorite actress in a play makes it a million times better.
So when I left for New York I was feeling happy, excited, very nervous! I was about to meet other Tunnies as well, and this is one of the most amazing things that can happen when you're in a fandom, you know new people. And you have the chance to meet them in person and share an adventure like this one. It is one of those memories that will always have a special place in my heart.

So, we were lucky enough to meet Robin outside the theater before the play began, on Friday night March 11th. Talking about being in the right place at the right time. We were waiting to get inside the theater (it was kind of early, but fangirls are never early enough), just chatting and taking selfies with the play's poster, when a car stops and suddenly Robin appears.
It was so sudden and unexpected I could barely say hi! But she told us not to be nervous, that she was very happy we could come. Robin has a way to make you feel so comfortable and at home.
Sarah gave her the TunneyWeek book, a book that puts together all the birthday tweets, activities, messages, fan art collected during the Tunney Week last year for Robin's birthday (if you want to know more about the Tunney Week, take a look at the Blog HERE and HERE you can read more details about the book's delivery!). She was so moved and excited about it, absolutely happy to receive it!!
I could give her a paper about the donations made to GEMS last year, and again she was very grateful and happy about it! If you want to know more about the GEMS donations, click HERE.

(Big thank you to Sarah for taking the video while I was giving Robin the GEMS donations paper!)

After she went inside the theater, and while we were waiting for the play to begin, we see this tweet from her:

Tunnies stay in your seats and I'll come out and hang for a bit.

— Robin Tunney (@RealRobinTunney) March 12, 2016

You can only imagine our excitement!!

So the play. It is very hard to describe it because it is very complex. Past, present and future mix together, and the characters step from the past into the present very rapidly.
Robin plays a mother of a teenage girl who decided she won't talk anymore. She's pregnant with twins and her husband is about to leave her. She has a father who won't sometimes even remember who she is. So her role is very complex. She is the heart of the family, the glue that tries to keep the pieces together. She loves each and everyone of them with all her soul. She talks to the twins who are about to born very often. My heart just melted when she sang them a lullaby. Robin's voice is so tender and sweet, making you feel the enormous love she has for her babies. The message her character delivers is that no matter how to love someone can be difficult, and hard, and will lead to pain and disappointment, she would do everything all over again, because as her father says: "the greatest act of courage is to love". There's a very moving scene with her daughter, played by the amazing Taylor Richardson (I'm so happy I could stop her for a second outside the theatre after the play, to tell her how wonderful she was), where the both of them share a very heartbreaking moment. You can see the tears falling down Robin's face and it is so real. You can feel her sadness, all the feelings, all the pain. It is incredible how she can convey to the public what are the character's emotions.
It was an incredible chance seeing her playing in such a great play. The theater is very intimate and you really have a feeling you're part of the story as well. You are so involved in everything that happens, and there's not a second in which you have a moment to think about anything else but what's going on on stage.

After the play, we waited for Robin as we were told. She was so kind to take a couple of group photos and even selfies with us. She was so happy to see us hanging out together, she asked what we saw in New York, what we were going to do the next days.  She was so happy when we told her we were going to eat in Chinatown! :)

(Big thank you to actor Tom Bloom, who stopped by while we were with Robin, she asked him if he could take a group photo "with my girls", and he was so kind to do so, with Sarah's camera!)

(selfies taken by yours truly, with Jordan's phone, because I had the longest arm in the group! ;) )

I told Robin how amazing it was for us fans to have the chance to see her performing in a play, such  a different and incredible experience, as we're used to see her on tv, but in person is a total different thing. I also told her how incredible she was, the tears falling down from her face and she seemed surprised, as if it was a normal thing for her. It certainly wasn't for us!
She made some autographs, she hugged each of us, and we said goodbye. Outside the theatre, she took photos with the people waiting for her.
I will never say enough how grateful I am for the time she has dedicated to us, for being so sweet and humble. Her kindness is not something you see every day from a famous person. But she doesn't feel that way at all. For her, she is just doing her job, with passion, and she feels very grateful for all of those who could come to see her and support her, and also for the ones who wished they could have come but couldn't.
As I write this, and as I relieve the moments spent with her, and the play, I find myself smiling and having this warm feeling inside my chest.
These days in NYC have been such a wonderful escape. I will always be grateful for them. Sharing this adventure with Sarah, Jordan and Bine made it even more beautiful, to be able to share it with people who feel the same feelings is a blessing.
To be able to applaud the performance of your favorite actress, see her smiling from the stage is something I will always treasure in my heart.
In life, you go through up and downs, sometimes more downs than ups. But then an experience like this happens, and it gives you the chance to feel like a child who's happy and carefree, and these moments really help.

A big thank you to Robin, for making all of this possible. NYC, meeting the amazing girls, seeing a wonderful play, letting us spending some time with her. It was like a dream, but the amazing thing is that it really happened. Thank you Robin, I will always treasure it.
Thank you also to the people who, even though they weren't there, they made us feel their love and support, and that we tried to bring in our hearts, by sharing our experience and feelings. I will never forget it, never.

To finish, I'll leave you with a wonderful NYC sunset from the Top of The Rock!