Hi there! I missed several premieres over the past week because I was on holiday out of the country (I know... inconceivable!) however I'm now back and quite ready to make the best of week two and onwards of the London Film Festival.
(By this I mean I missed yesterday's French film because I honestly couldn't work out which cinema it was being held at even when I had the name. But that's not important because that was a French Film and only a hot actress and Harvey Weinstein showed up). (Damnit.)
Anyway, George Clooney's in this one, so enjoy!!
There are major refurbishment works in place for Leicester Square which meant that the construction works had to move their perimeter fencing back about a metre and a half AND fill open holes with tar and lay board just for the premiere before they could lay the red carpet. It's a 'behind-the-scenes' thing.
Compared to most, the female-to-male ratio at this premiere was kind of 'non-standard'. (I guess the ladiez really dig Philip Seymour-Hoffman...?)
"OMG... what if George Clooney doesn't show up? Or worse, what if he shows up and I'm facing the wrong way??" Yeah, that'd be harsh.
George Clooney is both the director of and actor in 'Ides of March', the movie poster for which features the quote "Oscars All Round' to promote its blend of awesome cast, sexiness and brilliant acting. Well... sure.
Incidentally, I've already photographed George Clooney twice before "including here" and "here", so I felt less stress about doing so again. However, I had NOT previously photographed the great Philip Seymour Hoffman and the cool-name-sounding Evan Rachel Wood. (Or Ryan Gosling, who is in this film but didn't attend)
"OMG! George Clooney's here?? That's so awesome". Philip Seymour Hoffman has won a best acting Oscar, however I genuinely believe his start to the road of acting RESPECT came from when he poured everything into his role as Dustin Davis in Jan De Bont's TWISTER (1996)
Philip Seymour Hoffman was also brilliantly menacing as the villain in Mission Impossible III. (I believe it's necessary to switch to Black'n'White whenever referencing that movie, which I felt was fantastically gritty and totally undeserving of the low box office it achieved just because it coincided with Tom Cruise's 'couch jumping meltdown' phase). I call this photo "Seymour" (Me, 2014 : or simply "PSH" when I'm feeling melancholy)
Philip Seymour Hoffman wants to know what on earth is more worthy of photographing at this precise moment than he is. (I'm with him - I haven't even SEEN Evan Rachel Wood at this premiere...)
Far from being insouciantly standoffish (or psychopathically crazy), P.S.H. was very happy to not just sign autographs, but even stand back and take photographic requests from non-paps in the crowd. (I would have asked him to please look cool while signing autographs and not make direct eye-contact no matter what happens - winner!!)
Evan Rachel Wood faces the Papazzi cordon. Between you and me, the story of my life is very much about photography... and my bad luck (as such) with The Ladiez. Awesomely, my attempts at photographing Evan Rachel Wood at this premiere proved to be a neat microcosm / metaphor for this very issue.
Evan Rachel Wood does not turn around when posing for the Paparazzi (not even to do that 'over the shoulder' look they're always asking for). Still... it got the security guard looking camera-wards. He was pretty cool - even kept an unbidden eye on my bag when I switched locations later in the premiere... (like I said, tragically, my trouble is with The Ladiez) (perhaps I need to stop calling them that?)
I really like this shot as it captures everything about the excitement and frenzy of a premiere. Thanks for not spoiling it by facing in my direction, Ms Rachel Wood!!
So *very* close. I took literally a hundred or so shots of E R W at this premiere that didn't turn out or provide more facial detail than this. (In case you don't care, Evan Rachel Wood, incidentally and unbeknownst to me, was in The Wrestler (which I've bought on DVD but am yet to watch) and True Blood (which I stopped watching after Season 2 because that season was a waste...))
Since photographing Miss Rachel Wood is clearly a failing proposition, here once more is Mister Clooney.... Or "Mr Clooney who owes me five dollars", as I like to call him. (Or "Batman". Because, incredibly, for one movie, he was.)
And he's digging around for a fiver!! (Tell you what, Mr Clooney. Get Evan Rachel Woods to turn around and we'll call it even. You were her DIRECTOR - you have SWAY!)
Ron HOWARD arrives?? Ron Howard might have been in 171 episodes of "Happy Days" from 1974-84, and 209 episodes of something called "The Andy Griffith Show" from 1960-68 as well as over 50 episodes of "Arrested Development", but he's also a director with two Academy Awards to his name. Here he is, possibly getting his parking validated. He appears to have no connection with this film though. Odd.
The side-lighting from a billion and a half paparazzi flashes was never going to do this photo any technical favours, but I'm calling the blur and effect "Art". And a big thanks to Ron Howard for directing films like A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, EdTV (which only I remember), Frost/Nixon, Parenthood, Coccoon and many more. You rock! (Not so much Willow, though)
Meanwhile, back to tonight's possibly futile challenge to photograph ONE person who is here SPECIFICALLY to promote a movie by attending a public premiere..... And a huge thank you to implausibly-wide-brimmed-glasses dude!
Wait... what...? No... .REALLY? Well.... I'm calling it "ART" rather than calling my photography career over. It's not like she was stopping to pose, but I really feel like I could have captured that ...
Here is the awesome profile of Evan Rachel Wood, whose cheekbones are amazing. (I'm very much in the Thandie Newton at the RocknRolla premiere zone, where photography was so frustratingly hard I wasn't ever able to confirm whether the actress had two eyes or not). sigh.
E R W (as I like to now call her) had a coven of not one but THREE assistants whose duties basically involved standing on either side and behind her (not every girl I've liked has had *THAT* arrangement, I'll be honest)
Crowd goes wild - I get the shot (It's not a GOOD shot, but as always my aim is 'recognisable'. Because when you gotta aim, AIM LOW)
Meanwhile, elsewhere: "What do you mean, 'it wasn't as good as the one with Jim Carrey in it'??". The thing about Batman and Robin is that it was always awful.. but Batman Forever has aged really REALLY badly. So Mr Cloonery may have (hypothetical) point.
"Can I lean my head in even further than I have been? Why, sure!"
So, to summarise : Cool, calm, suave, , good looking and sophisticated. Only *I* can get away with wearing a hoodie and shooting with a Pentax at a premiere 8)
Goodnight, and until next time!!
And here's the "Premiere Archive" in case you want to see more.
By the way, if you ever want to know when I post one of these journals feel free to follow me on twitter @berndt2_photo or on facebook at premieresdotco.