or How not to attend a film premiere (More at Empire).
Now it wasn’t Leicester Square okay and thank goodness for that. As Leicester Square is normally packed with hundreds of people and the red carpet is really long. No this was Chelsea which posh level suited a Brideshead premiere better.
I was there in good time and found the man who was going to hand me the ticket. He was standing opposite the cinema and handed me a golden envelope. There were some policemen in front of the cinema and there were a lot of press mosquitos. I opened the enveloper, checked my ticket (front row seats – wow) and read the letter that accompanied it. Welcome to the premiere yada yada – Dress code: lounge suits.
Now I had no idea I was going to attend this event when I put on my clothes that morning so I was wearing jeans, sneakers and a jacket that really could not be categorized as anything near a lounge suit. I shortly considered going home and just drop the whole event but decided to make a very fast red carpet sprint type of thing and hide myself in the darkness of the cinema. I found my seat, covered my shoes with my bag, ate the supplied bag of peanuts and drank the mineral water we received.
A short speech from director, producer, exec producer, a even shorter appearance of the actors for a photo and the film began.
So how was the film? Well – it looked nice, visually speaking. And it has some fine actors (Ben Whishaw (Perfume), Emma Thompson (Love Actually) and ok Matthew Goode (Matchpoint, Imagine Me & You)). But while the story has the potential of real drama I wasn’t touched by it at all. Charles is played as a very unlikeable character and seeing as it’s his story we are following – what do we care about him anyway.
The NYT did not like it very much either. The verdicts of the UK press are not in yet.
Despite the not so great film it was big fun to attend the event. And next time I will be dressed properly!
Ahh, it would be hard to match the TV series (and why try to bother). Such was the effect on me, living in provincial NZ and avoiding rugby, that I started wearing ties and asymetric haircuts. It was just so damned exotic down my way. Of course now I see the catholic/alcohol/class things much more, and it’s hard to see how it could all fit in two hours. Probably looks good though, maybe we’ll see a resurgence in silk dressing gowns and teddy bears?
The teddy bear makes two very very brief appearances, and really it wasn’t great. I have never seen the TV series though. And surprisingly enough – neither had Emma Thompson!
Well, if Emma hasn’t seen it, why should we feel bad :o))) Funny thing the universe; You get these tickets to a premiere (and a premiere lesson ), you get to go to this special bar for people just like you. I think the universe is preparing you for making a film…..
Good luck with your meeting. I am thinking of you this very moment while you’re in that ‘members only’ bar, and I am keeping my fingers crossed for you. Everything will work out fine.
@Annerie – I do not dare to think such thoughts :)
@Zazz: it helped! The members only bar was very posh but a nice place to work. The meeting went incredibly well, will write more about that tomorrow – but thanks for crossing your fingers!
I loved the book and the TV series. There’s something about the opulence of TV dramas which let you tell a story this grand over many weeks. Trying to cram it all into an hour or two just doesn’t seem right. Next time I bet you get to enjoy the red carpet experience…