Pop Star On Ice starring Johnny Weir had its New York City premiere on June 11 at the NewFest Film Festival. Johnny was able to attend and do a Q&A with the audience after the film because he lives and trains in Wayne, New Jersey, just a car ride away from the theatre. I think Galina Zmievskaya (his current Russian coach) gave him permission to take time away to do this since she's been fairly strict about how Johnny should allocate his time. Johnny's dedicating his time to making the Olympic team so attending all these premieres throughout the U.S. would be a huge distraction, so we lucked out that he took part in the New York one.
What a treat for the audience, who also had a chance to ask directors David Barba
and James Pellerito, and Johnny's best friend Paris Childers, about the making of the film. (As an aside, if Bravo is watching, can someone please give Paris his own talk show or reality show?) Also in attendance for the premiere were Johnny's mother Patti and aunt Dianne, Viktor Petrenko (coach), Nina Petrenko (choreographer) and daughter Viktoria (whom I barely recognized because the last time I saw her was when she skated at Rockefeller Rink for a celebration of Mia, the new skating doll by American Girl Place). Angela Maxwell, who came in eighth at the U.S. Nationals, and Daniella Favot, who came in fourth at the Canadian Junior Championships, also came to the premiere to support Johnny and the film.
Coming up next is my one-on-one interview with the filmmakers, as well as an extended interview with Johnny, mom Patti and best friend Paris. Stay tuned!
Special thanks to the talented Giovanni Spinelli, PSOI's composer, for allowing us to use excerpts from the documentary's score. For a sneak listen to more from the original soundtrack, please visit http://virb.com/giopoprock. Giovanni also tells us that the soundtrack should soon be on iTunes.