Julia & Hayden Premiere Long-Awaited Indie Flick

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It seems near impossible that a film headlined with big stars like Ryan Reynolds, Hayden Panettiere and Julia Roberts has been put on the backburner for the last three years, but on Wednesday night the cast of Fireflies in the Garden finally celebrated the long-awaited premiere of their movie in Hollywood, CA.

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With an intended release date of 2008, the independent film opened overseas, but the U.S. release was canceled after the production company shut down.

"A moment like this takes patience and effort," Roberts told ET, as she reunited with castmates she hadn't seen for years along the red carpet. "Making a small film is harder than it used to be," she explained, but despite the long, hard road she's "happy to be here."

Panettiere, who arrived at the premiere perceptibly older, exclaimed it was "wild" to see everybody again after so long. "We went to the Berlin Film festival [in 2008] with it and walked the red carpet there, and the fact that we're here now celebrating its opening is really cool. It's a walk through the past."

MORE: Ryan Reynolds Confronts Family Demons in 'Fireflies'

The film, which opens in limited release this Friday, follows young novelist Michael Taylor (Ryan Reynolds) as he returns to his small, Midwest home for a family reunion seventeen years after his mother (Julia Roberts) was killed in a tragic accident. Told in flashbacks, three generations of family struggle to deal with the disaster as secrets and buried truths come to surface.