Everyone who has once dreamt of something for a long time, will quite understand, how it felt when one of my friends wrote me a message recently, telling me that Benicio del Toro will be present at this year's Movie awards in Karlovy Vary. I have been waiting to hear this for last twelve years, no kidding. My most favourite actor ever and I quite can't explain why he is so particularly dear to my heart, was about to come to my country and I had a once a lifetime opportunity to meet him, if I acted fast. I decided not to waste a single minute, as the Festival was about to happen in only two weeks. All the hotels were almost fully booked out and those that were available were extremely expensive. My sister said she would go with me, which was a very welcome news. I booked and rebooked hotels/ buses as the chances of seeing him were changing from day to day and to cut the long story short, it was quite a terrible process to secure hotel and bus on the exact correct date, as nobody officially told me when and where could I meet him. I just took a chance. Later on I found out that on the 9th of July, as he will be seen on the Red carpet, he will also attend and personally promote Usual Suspects in the theatre. I immediately asked one guy who lives in Karlovy Vary, if he could obtain the tickets for me. And yes, he did.
He picked us up on the terminal and drove us to the theatre, where we had some time to kill. I knew from the newspapers, that Benicio is accommodated in the most luxurious hotel, the Grandhotel Pupp, which luckily happened to be just around the corner. I told my sister to just go for a short stroll, as we didn't know what else to do. There was about ten other people standing by the hotel's entrance in a line, behind a protective barriers. The taxis and cars were driving up and down to transport all sorts of rich people, who travelled around the city. We were quite nervous, as it was just ten minutes before the movie would start and my sister constantly kept reminding me of the time and that we should go and leave. I wouldn't give up. I believed he will come out eventually. He always came on a last minute, I knew that much. There weren't enough people around so we thought nah, if Benicio was here, surely there would be crowds of hundreds. This much was confusing. Five minutes left. Just as we were giving up all hopes, a dark tall figure popped up from the hotel's door and I screamed :'There he goes, there he goes' and I could see how the others immediately jumped up and prepared their albums with photographs. I was almost the last in the line. I yelled at him :'Benicio, por favor!', trying to get his attention, but it was almost unnecessary, as he was dutifully giving signatures to everyone in front of me, slowly coming closer. I love him for this. He is famous for being kind and gentle with his fans, always making time to take selfies or give autographs. His white car was parked right in front of me and one of his three bodyguards put a hand between me and the guy before me and said :'that's it!'. I thought he meant that everyone gets their signature up to that point, except me. I was gobsmacked and asked him, if he means that I won't get to see him. He assured me that no, it wasn't me, but the guy next to me. I guess he was there everyday, begging famous people for signatures and then selling them for money, that's why they weren't happy, I suppose.
Then Benicio came up to me. I think my heart must have stopped. I gave him my last minute print of himself (with half of his head missing) for signing. He held his own permanent market, so I hid my one away. He wore a beautiful expensive grey suit, his hair was combed high and he wore black sunglasses and to finish it off, he wore pair of green runners, which I found amazingly cute. I imagined this moment over and over for so many years. Now it was reality and I had only few seconds to bathe in that moment and try to remember it as well as I could. He had such an incredible charisma, that it almost knocked me over. As he was signing my poster, I asked :'Dame una foto por favor', to which he answered simple :'Si'. Then he briskly leaned over to my side and my sister took a picture. Then he moved over to another person and as he was signing a guy to my right, he laughed over the photograph he was given, saying something like :'this isn't James Bond' and he lingered a little longer in front of me, so I could just stand and watch, absorb his energy. It was fantastic feeling! After that more people gathered around us to grab his signature, so I tried to push through the crowd to get away and let others in. I felt weak in my knees and I said to my sister :'Shit, I'm gonna faint'.
One woman heard me and smiled at me. I guess she completely understood my feelings. After that we had only few minutes to get to the theatre, so we quickly crossed the street and as we were crossing once more, Benicio was just driving around us in his car. He got to the theatre few seconds before us, so we only saw him walk up the stairs engulfed by hungry crowds of paparazzi, that wanted every piece of him. There were still plenty of people queueing on the stairs, so we stood behind them for a while, until one of the staff walked out and asked if anyobody else still has the tickets. To cut the story short, we were told that we are late and we lost our seats. We were lucky to get inside at all. There were last two seats up at the top of the theatre, so me and my sis had to sit in different zones. I couldn't see much of the movie, as there were reflectors on my ride side. Benicio came on stage at the beginning to announce the movie and talk about it for few minutes, then he posed for photographers with the audience in his back. It was a pity we couldn't be sitting there, but if you'd ask me if I'd sacrifice this for my previous personal encounter, I'd definitely say yes, it was all worth it!
After the movie, we went to my hotel for a while. I was staying at promenade at one of the more luxuruious hotels, hotel Salvator. I saw Benico once more from a long distance, while attending red carpet. He was supposed to arrive at 6pm according to the official timetables, yet, unexpectedly, he turned up at 5.15, so if I wasn't standing there already, I would have missed him althogether. This time he didn't sign anyone's posters, nor did he take any selfies, he just posed for the photographers and walked inside the Hotel Thermal lobby. I was so lucky to see him after our arrival, I can't even emphasise enough how much was that important in order to see him face to face. Fate has always its own little paths and eventough you prepare for something, it usually ends up differently, but after this I believe even more that what's meant for you will find you.
Of course I wish I could have met him and talked to him and hug him, whatever. But let's be real. These things don't usually happen. I was lucky to be able to fulfill my dream that's been hanging on my bucket list for a while now, and that's all what matters. Never give up on your dreams. Even if you think your chances are small, even if you think it's impossible. Because nothing is impossible.
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