December 5th, 2012.
Just two days after the Tom Hiddleston dominated "Life of Pi" premiere, which due to him had 10x more views in the first day than my "Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2" premiere journal, it was time for a world premiere in Leicester Square, that of "Les Miserables". My position proved to be rather odd, but not unworthy.
Here's how it went down.
It's Les Miz - it's a musical, but fairly popular. I'm surprised they didn't get Baz Luhrman to direct it, but for now I'm just happy that they're not playing the trailer noisily every few minutes for two hours. I'm listening to The Dark Knight Rises soundtrack. It doesn't fit.
The host on the left apparently played the character of 'Marius' in the original stage version of the show 27 years ago. The woman on the right just figured out that he's been lying about his age. (?)
You have to go way down into the cast listing on imdb to verify that Isabelle Allen plays "Young Cosette" who is also the girl whose face is on all the posters and the side of all the buses. I hope she gets a percentage.
Next up on the big stage is Samantha Barks, best known for the land-shark attack that cost her part of her dress. Also a TV series called "Groove High" that I've not previously heard of. She does however also play the role she plays in the movie (Éponine) in the stage production of Les Miz.
Samantha Barks shows off her mad DJ skillz, and if she learned that for the film,it could mean that Napoleonic France was maybe a bit more modern than I’d first thought.
Young Daniel Huttlestone plays Gavroche in the film and he's just won a massive staredown contest. On this basis, I suspect he's also a mean card shark.
"There are rumours the movie went fifteen million dollars over budget after you took Tom Hooper to the cleaners in an extended session of Texas Holdem. Care to comment?"
In kind of a nice treat for them, the stage cast of the current theatre production of Les Miz was given tonight off to be at the premiere. That's nice. I hope they told ticket holders
This lady clearly prefers 'Phantom, while I myself am really looking forward to Book of Mormon. That's starting next year in London and is meant to be excellent.
Eddie Redmayne (Marius in the film) bows down to the original Marius, whose name escapes me.
"By the way if you see that kid, tell him I want a rematch. I want my watch back..."
I last photographed Eddie Redmayne at the premiere of "My Week With Marylin" but everyone keeps going on about how great he is/was in "Pillars of the Earth". Okay... but I kinda want to start watching The Walking Dead before I commit to more TV Series....
If these are the original guys behind the musical, I'm going with composer Claude-Michel Schönberg at left, directed by Robert Hossein in the middle, and 'libretto written by' Alain Boublil on the right. Either that or three ordinary cinema patrons are answering some pretty detailed questions with AMAZING aplomb.
More so than even the premiere-slumming (and occasional director) Dexter Fletcher, I believe Stephen Fry should be a mandatory attendee at every premiere in London, because he lends class and credibility to Everything.
"OMG you're Stephen Fry!!"
"OMG you're Russell Crowe!!"
"OMG i'm just going to die a little inside right now...."
So clearly it's winter in London at the moment. (It snowed in St Albans this morning. True Story)
"And here he is. The man who dances, who sings, who defeated Magneto and helped train the fighting robot who knocked down Zeus... and now plays Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. It's the one, the only.... (wait. who are you?)"
"Just keep talking, mate"
Hugh Jackman kind of snubbed me, autograph-wise, back around the premiere of "Australia", and then I was unprepared at the premiere of "Real Steel" last year. So the question was : who would snub who this time around? (I had my moleskine journal with me...)
"Obviously the Wolverine Claws aren't real. I mean sure, I have them implanted for the duration of filming. Or, actually, not this time around. I kinda lost them to that little kid in an on-set poker game."
"OMG you're Hugh Jackman!!"
"OMG you were in that movie I was in!!"
Amanda Seyfried plays Cosette in the film, and also played the role of "Not Olivia Wilde" on the movie poster of the underrated (but almost not) film "In Time" which I was also at the premiere of
"You look kind of cold. Wanna borrow my jacket?"
"I was going to knife you right here on stage and steal it from you, but okay, your way would be faster"
(From left to right) Doesn't remember "In Time", and Didn't watch "In Time", respectively. Awkward.
"I believe I'm wearing a dress, Lady"
"So there I was, ahead on the Turn card, but then the kid comes up with a straight flush on the River and I'm down to my underwear. Don't tell his Mum, though. we were supposed to be teaching him singing techniques"
"Okay, but if I can't blame it on the sunshine OR the moonlight, what can I blame it on??". Russell Crowe has arrived.
Based on the scratches, Russell Crowe has been holidaying on Pandora again. (He plays Javert in Les Miz, and as far as I know has not been auditioning for any of James Cameron's Avatar sequels)
"Okay guys, I can sign one as "Russell"; one as "Crowe"; and one as "Pi55 Off" before I do an interview. Who wants what?" In contrast to his reputation (?), Russell Crowe was nothing but friendly at this event.
But first, Helena Bonham Carter takes to the stage. She plays Madame Thénardier in the film. I haven't watched the musical, I don't know who that is. However, she's pretty awesome so I suspect she's nailed it.
Anne Hathaway is very pretty, and potentially slightly less thinner now than when she was filming this musical (in a good way), at which point she was attending the premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises". Maybe she's put on 1 or 2 of the 12 kilos she lost for the movie?
Helena Briefly interacts with Hathaway, who is heading towards the stage. I'm going to admit that I'm wearing approximately five layers of clothing (including two thermal and one insulated). And I don't think what Anne Hathaway is wearing technically counts as one layer yet.
"I hear she's already put on one or two kilos, the cow...."
Sir Cameron Macintosh (at left) is a producer of Les Miz, but Russell Crowe could beat him at an arm-wrestle I suppose.
"So I said I really wanted to do an animated movie called 'The Miserable', but then all of a sudden I'm making a movie based on a stage musical. Not sure how that happened. But that said I'm quite pleased with it" Tom Hooper probably didn't say that. And he won an Oscar for directing The King's Speech.
Tom Hooper takes a photo of his own red carpet before heading inside. And you know what? That's pretty awesome.
I've never seen Sacha Baron Cohen at an event where he wasn't attending AS the character he plays in the film (like "Bruno" or "The Dictator"). Sadly, he rushed past.
So... that was another premiere. It was cold and occasionally frustrating, but overall good.
And there's still one more this year that I'll try to get to.
But for now, it's another for "The Archive of Movie premieres"
Until next time!
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.