Stars Shine at the Opening of the 12th Annual Newport Beach Film Festival

Peter Fonda, Michael C. Hall and Brad William Henke (or their holograms) face the adoring crowd.

​"I'm the oldest," Fonda told the adoring opening-night crowd as he stepped into the spotlight in front of the stage as the end credits rolled. Knowles had invited everyone who worked on the picture and was in Newport to join him for the Q&A. Hall, Light, Brad William Henke (who plays Bliss' high school buddy and later seemed to be having a ball bouncing around the Bloomingdale's Courtyard) and everyone from a financier to a make-up artist came up to share the love.

"I can watch this a lot," Knowles said of his picture. "I have watched it a lot. I could watch it again."

The breezy pace of the flick may have had something to do with a 24-day shooting schedule, a well-rehearsed cast and a well-oiled crew, which got it all done three days early.

Asked what attracted him to the role, Hall said he could relate to Morris being "stuck in life" and liked the fact that, through him, the audience "was a witness to all these crazy characters. This was a listening job."

Knowles said what attracted him was Light's novel, which he realized had movie potential as he read it. He told the crowd the author just sealed a deal to re-publish the book in light of the movie.

When someone asked Hall about the hotties who throw themselves at Morris, the actor explained that the audience is catching the shlubby character during an extraordinary period of his life, when he's actually "on a roll."

So is NBFF at 12.