Embed from Getty Images
Jennifer Garner made a surprise appearance at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday for the Deadpool & Wolverine panel. Jen reprises her role as Elektra from the 2005 film with the same name. That film was a spin-off of 2003’s Daredevil, where she met Ben Affleck. I didn’t realize this, but it was her first Comic-Con! I guess DD and Elektra came out before Comic-Con really blew up in 2008/2009 thanks to the Twilight movies, so SDCC wasn’t a part of the must-promote-at circuit.
Jen appeared as one of many surprise guests who make cameos in the movie. I won’t spoil you on anyone else, but there are some good ones! On Saturday, Jen found herself stuck in an elevator at the Hard Rock Hotel with an attendant and members of her team. The HRH is just across from the convention center and one of a few hotels downtown where celebrities and panelists stay. They also do a lot of press and have industry parties there. So what does a gal with a big personality and a lot of social media followers do when she’s stuck in an elevator? Why chronicle the entire adventure, of course!
Garner posted a series of seven videos capturing moments in time while she was stuck, each with a timestamp in the righthand corner. First responders finally arrived on the scene after an hour and 12 minutes, per the post.
“Hey guys, um, we’re stuck on this elevator,” Garner began in a clip from two minutes into the ordeal.
“I could use a Wolverine, I could use a Deadpool, I could use someone,” she continued, adding that she would look for stairs in the future. “Thanks for having us here. My first Comic-Con.”
At 11 minutes in, the Family Switch star, who was wearing a floral top and jeans, said: “It’s toasty, I’m sphitzy, I need to blot.”
“Don’t cut the blue wire is what we’re hearing,” she joked to the camera.
In the next video slide, Garner was sitting on the elevator floor because she said she heard on Brooklyn Nine-Nine or The Office that it’s what someone is “supposed to do” when stuck in an elevator.
By 41.5 minutes in, the Juno actress was leading her group in a round of the popular song “99 Bottles of Beer.” (There was an elevator attendant, a man in a suit and people from her team off-camera, but no one else was singing.)
“We’re 45 minutes in. We’re calling 9-1-1,” Garner whispered to the camera in the fifth clip, which panned to people with their cell phones out.
“I thought we were in Vegas,” she whispered when someone said they were in San Diego.
An hour into the journey, the elevator began beeping, lights went on, and Garner started singing Madonna’s hit “Like a Prayer.”
Garner’s eyes went wide with excitement at 1 hour and 12 minutes into the saga when she realized first responders had arrived and everyone started cheering.
Being trapped in an elevator is a lot of people’s worst nightmare, especially if you’re claustrophobic. The videos are funny and it’s endearing how she seems to be the only one in the elevator who’s taking it all in stride. That poor elevator attendant, though! He thought his day was going to be full of pressing buttons for famous people to ride on the elevator and he had to do some unexpected field work. I would not have waited an hour to call 911, though! If it couldn’t be fixed within 15 minutes, I would have been on the phone so fast.
One of our good friends stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel during SDCC about eleven or twelve years ago, and I remember him complaining about how slow the elevators were back then! We were all so jealous that he randomly managed to book a room there through the hotel lottery, and he was all, “It’s super cool here but the bathrooms have glass doors so there’s no privacy and the elevators are really slow.” I’ve never forgotten that tidbit about the bathrooms, lol. Anyway, the hotel is lucky that this happened to a good-natured actress during the daytime and not during a big press event or party.