The story of how a schoolteacher found herself jostling on the red carpet with major film stars could be the plot of a Hallmark movie. After 25 years Sarah Knight Adamson retired from the profession she loved to pursue the glamour and glitz of the movie world. Fresh back from her first time at the Cannes Film Festival, the Naperville film critic is reflecting on what got her to this point.
“I feel so fortunate because I have turned a passion into a second career,” she said. “I always say it’s a good day when I see one movie, a great day when I see two and an awesome day when I see three.”
Although many of us fall in love with the movies as children, Adamson actually grew up in the center of the movie making world.
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“I grew up in Orange County, 10 minutes from Hollywood,” she said. “My first experience of going to a movie theater was a friend’s birthday party when I was nine years old at Grauman’s Chinese Theater. During the holidays my family would watch the Hollywood Santa Claus parade, which was full of stars in their convertibles. My mother would go for lunch at the Brown Derby in Beverly Hills and tell me who she had seen there. I would watch the Academy Awards with her and have loved movies ever since.”
Adamson spent her teaching career in Naperville School District 203. She helped start Project Idea, their program for gifted students, as well as teaching second and fifth grade.
– Original Credit: Naperville Sun
Majoring in child development and psychology taught her the critical thinking and evaluation skills she now uses as a self-taught critic. Her foray into the world of cinema began by chance when she was invited to be a film extra.
“I was at a Cubs game when I was handed a flyer,” she explained. “They were looking for extras for a movie called The Express with Dennis Quaid.”
The movie told the story of Ernie Davis, the first African American winner of the Heisman Trophy. Although it starred Dennis Quaid, the movie also provided the first role for Chadwick Boseman. Invited to write about her experience for a local magazine, Adamson used the opportunity to develop her own column and website, Sarah’s Backstage Pass.
“I didn’t want to just write about me, I wanted to promote movies as an art form,” she said.
After her movie appearance, Adamson took a voice over class. There she met radio host Carl Amari, the founder of Hollywood 360 Radio. He invited her to review movies on his syndicated show. Within five years she was being broadcast on 110 national and international channels.
Her first red carpet was in November 2007 when she covered the TV Family Awards at the Beverly Hilton, Hollywood.
“I asked Paula Abdul about her song Straight Up,” she recalled. “I’m not usually star-struck because when you have a job as a journalist you have to get those questions out and think quickly.”
– Original Credit: Naperville Sun
That’s not to say she doesn’t find meeting celebrities exciting. She recalls talking to Quentin Tarantino at an event to celebrate the release of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at a Hollywood restaurant.
“I loved that movie, so it was easy to talk to him,” she said. “I usually get a photo after so I asked him if he would mind directing it! He took my chin and placed it one way and then my hat another. He said, ‘I think we’ve got a good one’. When I looked up there was the paparazzi taking our photo wondering who I was.”
But being a film critic isn’t all lights, camera, write about the action. Adamson has worked hard to build a reputation. She was invited to be a critic for Rotten Tomatoes and is particularly proud to be part of Roger Ebert.com. She first met the late famed Chicago film critic at an event at Anderson’s bookstore, Naperville. Diagnosed with thyroid and salivary gland cancer, he lost the ability to speak so he answered her questions via email.
Adamson said she was invited to be part of Ebert’s legacy at his memorial by his widow, Chaz. It was a great honor.
“He is my role model,” she said. “What I learned from him is the key to being a good critic is to always be true to yourself. He said you have to tell people what you feel personally. If you can do that you can continue to tell your truth, don’t consider what other people are saying. If you do that, your readers and listeners will trust you.”
Adamson says one major difference to being a critic over a regular moviegoer is she gets to watch a movie with no preconceived ideas. In the live action version of Aladdin, directed by Guy Ritchie, she didn’t hesitate to call him out for showing physical violence in a children’s film.
She’s also happy to sit on movie juries, like she did for the International Children’s Film Festival in Chicago.
“I’m a lifelong learner. I want to continue to learn and I have some knowledge to offer other people,” she said.
For now, Adamson is still basking in the warmth and brilliance of last month’s Cannes Film Festival.
“It was very glamorous. I like sequins, I’m a glamour girl so it was like a dream,” she said. “The audience really dress up for the films at Cannes so there were many beautiful gowns. You’d eat in a regular French bistro and see sequins and tuxes everywhere.”
The thing Adamson likes most about movies is how they share stories that allow viewers to put themselves in other people’s shoes.
“In the visual medium you can say so much,” she said. “As Roger said, you can say everything you want about a photo, but that photo has the last word. It’s the same with a movie.”
Follow Adamson at www.sarahsbackstagepass.com
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Hilary Decent is a freelance journalist who moved from England to Naperville in 2007.