The stars came out to Arclight Cinemas Hollywood last night for the gala premiere of the new Disney+ sitcom Diary of a Future President. Series creator Ilana Peña (former writer for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) and executive producer Gina Rodriguez (star of Jane the Virgin) introduced the screening, which included the first two episodes of the show about a middle-school girl who grows up to be president and her eccentric family.
Other attendees of the premiere included Disney+ president of content and marketing Ricky Strauss, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend star and creator Rachel Bloom, Battlestar Galactica actor Edward James Olmos, Avengers: Endgame costar Ariana Greenblatt, and fellow Diary of a Future President cast members Charlie Bushnell, Carmina Garay, Harmeet Panday, Michael Weaver, and Jazzy Jade. A special blue carpet was set up outside the Arclight Cinemas entrance along with a step-and-repeat in front of which the celebrity guests posed for photographs.
Diary of a Future President stars Tess Romero (Blindspot) as Elena Cañero-Reed, “a confident and strong-willed 12-year-old Cuban American girl with a desire to become a future president of the United States.” Rodriguez guest-stars as the future version of Elena, as she rediscovers her adolescent diary while working in the Oval Office. Newcomer Bushnell plays Bobby, Elena’s athletic older brother, while Selenis Leyva (Spider-Man: Homecoming) costars as her overworked mother Gabi. Weaver (Super Troopers) provides comic relief as Gabi’s newfound love interest several years after her husband– Elena’s father– passed away.
At the post-premiere afterparty, the Diary of a Future President cast and crew celebrated with photo ops, a Latina DJ-led dance floor, buffet food, an open bar, and custom monogrammed diaries reminiscent of the one Elena uses in the show. The wait for the diaries was a lengthy one due to the slow-going process to create them, but I stuck it out in line to get a copy with the Laughing Place initials.
Diary of a Future President premieres this Friday, January 17, exclusively on Disney+.