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Peter Jackson "Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers"Click here for account of Press Screening and Spoiler-filled review of The Two TowersTickets clearly stated no cameras so I'm afraid there are no photo's to go with this Web Log report |
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My lasting impression of today is one of being in a completely surreal environment.
This started when
walking down a corridor of screaming fans (reporters estimated about 3,000-4,000 were in attendance) stopping every now
and then for my friend Brian Sibley to sign copies of his book for fans at the crowd barriers. It ended some time later at the
premiere party where, in turning away from a conversation with Karl Urban, I realised that to my immediate left were two hobbits,
seated just behind me (looking very lonely) were a TV hospital drama actor and his pop star girlfriend, with Miranda Otto
standing next to them and just ahead of me on the dance floor was Jonathan Ross, good humouredly faffing around with some make-up
as a TV crew prepared to shoot something with him. I'd got to the venue with Richard E Grant and Peter Jackson queueing
just in front of me and Cate Blanchette immediately behind me. 'What on earth am I doing here?' I wondered!
It all seemed too bizarre for words!
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I was actually here because my friend Brian Sibley's partner had to work and so I got to go in his place :-) The premiere
screening was a most peculiar affair, but highly enjoyable. The screaming for a seemingly endless procession of soap
star, or ex-soap star actors and actresses, and Celebrity Big Brother contenstants is what lingers in the mind.
That and people shouting 'Who are you?' at me as I waited for Brian to sign books or offered to take a fan's camera and snapshot
them with Brian. They might well have asked. I felt distinctly out of
place, and yet part of it (intoxicated is the word I'm looking for, I guess) at the same time. All quite insane!
Inside the relative safety of the Odeon Brian and I found our pre-allocated
seats (3rd row from front just to left of centre in the Circle - nice!) occupied by a large bag of crisps (just the thing for a
packed movie screening - not!) and a bottle of water. On the cinema screen images of celebs arriving outside were alternated
with live interviews in the upstairs foyer. An incredibly ill-prepared but enthusiastic presenter asked one celebrity after
another the same question over and over again "What do you think of the reaction tonight?". Actually that's unfair -
she had a second question ready for the women: "What are you wearing?" Like I said, very surreal but wonderful
'dumbed down' viewing for the masses I guess. Thoughtless interviewing aside, it was a fun way of waiting the hour for the
movie screening to take place (it started over 40 minutes late) - watching one celebrity after another cope brilliantly with the
same banal question, delivering delicious sound bite after sound bite. The ultimate moment of surrealism came when the
afore-mentioned excited interviewer kept pestering poor Bernard Hill's young child about what he was excited about the movie,
oblivious to the basics of interviewing small kids. Whole comedy series have been
built around less!
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One depressing observation (I saw a lot of something similar when I worked in the music industry) - isn't it incredible how the
A-list celebrities turn up on time or early and spend lots of time signing autographs, while the distinctly C-list crowd
(Chris Eubank and Goldie if we're naming names) turn up outrageously late and then keep a whole cinema waiting while they delay
even longer, posing for the papparazi. One amusing sight was a Marilyn Monroe-clone wearing what some might describe as a fashion
belt for a dress, posing for the cameramen and the second she was inside from the bitter cold wearing a thick coat throughout the
screening. Bizarre is not the word!
Peter Jackson was introduced by someone (the cinema manager?) who had to read his name off a piece of paper - oops! Maybe he was the brother of the interviewer we'd seen earlier? At least he had the decency to look embarrassed as he fumbled with his piece of paper for the name he'd forgotten. PJ himself was his usual laid back self. He introduced the cast members present one-by-one. I wasn't taking notes but up stepped Brad Dourif, Bernard Hill, Sean Astin (doing a "we are not worthy bow" to Peter), Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, John Rhys-Davies, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchette, Howard Shore, Barrie Osborne, Mark Ordesky and possibly others I've forgotten (if so, sorry!) Most hugged Peter as they came up on stage, all talked about having expected a quiet reception and being blown away by the crowds and cheering, and John made a point of saying he wasn't staying to watch the movie but was instead going to go outside and sign things for the fans. In fact most of the cast were not present during the actual screening, except perhaps Cate Blanchette who I don't think, from what she said later, had seen the film before tonight. To be honest, the crew were clearly exhausted after New York and Paris. All credit to all of them, but most especially Liv Tyler who arrived early, spent some time signing things for fans and had huge black wheals under her eyes from tiredness that make-up couldn't disguise. Advice to organisers for next year: premiere events close to Dom's birthday are probably not a good idea if the cast and crew have been out helping him celebrate! Notably absent, although present at the Paris screening the previous night, were Elijah Wood, Christopher Lee and Richard Taylor. |
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The venue for the after-screening party was The Empire, just across the way. Lazy journalism in today's papers has it that this was
decked out to look like Middle-Earth. Hmmm, looked like it was decked out with cotton wool to look like snow and lights to look
like Christmas to me! The invites for the party were a nice souvenir, but unfortunately confiscated from us at the door. One
wonders why organisers never think these small details through properly. Did they not wonder, like us, why there were so few
table menus about - it soon became clear, people were grabbing them like mad as souvenirs of the event in lieu of the lost
tickets (OK, I'm guilty too
m'lord). Seating was hard to find but there was good standing room for most. We were given champagne and the food looked good I
thought. We also received a free gambling ticket to the value of £100 (see below) for a fun casino that I never got around
to visiting.
The celebrities were in special reserved areas with security staff keeping the riff-raff like me away, but we spotted John Rhys-Davies with Charles Dance slumming it with the rest of us so, like the sad fan boy I am, I went to get his autograph. I had a quick natter to him about his popularity with fans in New York as one of the few celebrities at the New York premiere making the effort to cross the road to speak to frozen fans who'd waited all day, but frankly I think his mind was elsewhere (probably thinking 'How do I get away from this bore?'). I must say I find it difficult approaching people for autographs at events like this - celebrities are there presumably to party too and they deserve a break from endless fan signing and photo opportunities. As luck would have it being with Brian was a special pass into the infamous reserved areas and he did most of the awkward negotiations for autographs for me. |
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I don't want to repeat the various conversations I had, as these were never "on the record" but I'll just say thanks to Peter Jackson's PA Jan Blenkin who took a complete stranger under her wing, happily listened to his inane conversation and, along with Brian, made extreme efforts to make sure I met everyone and got their autographs in "the book". Peter Jackson and Howard Shore looked shattered but still made effort to talk to me, Mark Ordesky and Barrie Osborne made me feel really bad about all my New Line whinges - they are so upbeat and cheerful - now if only they could get that to percolate down to the New Line staff that most fans seem to have to interact with they'd find they had a huge supportive fan base the way Weta do. And I am now officially a Liv Tyler fan - one would expect a woman from her background to be a bit star-rey, but she was having none of it. I don't think I've ever seem a celebrity just treat everyone alike and be so open about how they feel and what they think, the way she did. A very nice lady indeed. Moving to the downstairs reserved area, Andy Serkis' face lit up in recognition and he shouted across to me, despite having only met me very briefly when I took his photo at the book launch a few weeks back. A very nice guy. Miranda Otto was a delight and suffered my boring tattle for more than she should have done, as did Karl Urban. I'm sure he won't mind me repeating part of our conversation. I told him about the whole Mark Ferguson/Craig Parker thing at RingCon (see separate report), culminating in Mark's "Well, if Karl had a personality he wouldn't have to do that!" Quick as a flash Karl responded with "Yeah, well if Mark had a career...." RingCon 2003 just have to get this guy, Mark and Craig on stage together - it would be a riot! I left Dom alone as I'd met him at Comic-Con, but hassled Billy Boyd for an autograph, asking him to write something very rude along the lines of 'Go forth and multiply' in my book as all the "nice to meet you"'s were getting a bit sycophantic. He wouldn't write anything very rude but he did write "Ian, How are you! Leave me alone, I'm drinking!!!" LOL! It was pretty soon time to go, collecting our "goodie bag" containing Howard Shore soundtrack CD, limited edition Paris premiere Games Workshop figures, Lord of the Rings jelly rings (oh dear! How on earth did that get past quality control at the Tolkien estate?!), a holographic mouse mat, Topp trumps Lord of the Rings cards and an Air New Zealand key ring, all presented in a nice Two Towers carrier bag. The final signature I'd collected was from the charming Chris Henna who wrote a charming message, adding "Any friend of Brian's is a friend of mine", which is a sentiment I totally agree with and ends this report off nicely since he was the reason I was able to write it. 24 hours earlier I'd never have dreamt I'd get to see a premiere preview of the world's hottest new movie not once, but twice in the space of 12 hours, never mind meet so many actors and crew members I'm such a fan of. Thanks Brian! |
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| Email: ian@iansmith.co.uk |