July 10th, 2013.
Premieres are back in Leicester Square, and this one was a relatively big deal due to the anticipated presence of an actress I've conspicuously failed to have my path and hers intersect at no less than five premieres over four years....
AND the unexpected presence of a comedian I've wanted to photograph for the past four years but most recently missed at a Musical Opening night (I don't do musicals. Or generally opening nights)....
AND me totally missing photographing one of the cast on the rare arrogance of thinking 'miscellaneous old guy? pass'
So.. now that you know how it went down, here's exactly how it went down.
Intriguingly, facebook asks me to tag every face except Nick Frost's, third from the left. I didn't know Zuckerberg had an opinion on Nick Frost.
I... wait... what?
My understanding is that in womens circles, this level of identical dress-ness really IS the end of the world? I call for a knife fight to settle this.
Edgar Wright directed Shaun of the Dead which I loved, Hot Fuzz which I hated, and Scott Pilgrim which I loved. Which kind of means I have to watch this film and presumably hate it, if there's any chance of watching the upcoming ANT MAN and ....loving that? (ps. Ant-Man? Is that REALLY real?)
I was all set to say "who on earth is Paddy Considine?" when IMDB comes to the rescue and provides the caption "I was the journalist Simon Ross in The Bourne Ultimatum". Ah. Of course.
Paddy Considine was also in the widely forgotten Russell Crowe boxing movie The Cinderella Man. I vaguely remember it not being that bad but I can't tell you with much certainty of being right to within +/-5 years of when it was even released. I'm going to say 2002
Meanwhile on the other end of the blue carpet, Nick Frost. I think he's now done every variation of hair and beard/moustache other than short hair and clean shaven. Per imdb his next movie is "Cuban Fury" so I'm looking forward to that premiere to see if he can mix it up further.
"My biggest fear as an actor? Having a pretty girl in a white dress standing behind me, grabbing all the attention"
...I'm sorry Mr Frost. I honestly wasn't listening.
I've already forgotten her name. But almost worse than that, I totally missed photographing David Bradley, who is both in this film and also Mr Filch in all the Harry Potter movies. Almost no amount of sparkly dress can make me feel better about that. (Almost).
"David Bradley? A gem to work with. Usually wears neon orange jumpsuits so he's really conspicuous at premieres." That's so likely. But possibly devastating.
"So even with these tinted shades, I'm noticing your hair is somewhere between blue and green, yeah?" It's Simon Pegg, missing nothing
Back on the main stage, these four play the younger versions of four of the five older actors in the film. Their names currently escape me and may continue to do so.
Eddie Marsan is fantastic in his small role as inspector Lestrade in the two Sherlock Holmes films, AND he was in V for Vendetta. That's good casting.
"The flash on my nokia is rubbish... do you mind if I take a photo of you from this distance?"
Eddie Marsan. That shade of green is totally IN this summer, but the hat and belt-less look? ... not really my thing. But it does remind me I need to replace the black 'LA' cap. I lost that at the Olympic Rowing regatta last year. Because... London is Sunny now? Since when?
"And then as a prank they told me I'd be directing a hero in the Marvel Universe called Ant Man. *ANT MAN!!?* Oh, how I laughed and laughed and laughed. Because, like, no way that's real. Am I right?" Totally.
And then talk inevitably turned to Eddie Marsan's olive/khaki ensemble and all conversation stopped
A very random but very welcome attendee : comedian Bill Bailley, whom I have never previously photographed despite owning four of his comedy DVDs, having been to two of his concerts and having been in London for four nonconsecutive years with (presumably) opportunities to do so. I have these little victories sometimes. I'm still single, though - big victories tend to elude me.
"Die Another Day? Yeah I was in that. Come on, if nothing else, the title theme was good" And the fencing scene Rosamund Pike was in was indeed memorable. The other 98% of the movie, though... I'd rather forget.
My camera? Seven frames per second, but when the buffer is full it does one frame per second waiting for the buffer to clear. The gap between frames at one frame per second is hard to describe the awfulness of but summarises to having to stop yourself shouting "Please don't do anything pretty for about 9 out of every 10 tenths of a second!!"
I pointed my camera away from Rosamunde Pike on the main stage to photograph THIS?? Even I don't understand my programming sometimes
"Nah... just gonna chill here. Admire my shoes if you want" It's been a long road to photographing Rosamunde Pike : She missed the premieres of Wrath of the Titans, Johnny English, and An Education.. while I missed the premieres of Made in Dagenham and Jack Reacher
Oh, to be one of the 1%, seeing premieres from up high and being able to admire Paddy Considine's hairstyle from an angle not normally intended
or Bill Bailley's, I guess
Rosamund Pike? Finally photographed. Intriguingly, I don't think I ever got a photo of her smiling prettily... she seems to be an actress who looks best when in motion or posing or acting, but not speaking. I can't see how this could possibly be construed as a compliment in any sense so.... ummm.... yeah. I'm still single...
So... that was another premiere in London. Good times? Pretty much so, yes
Here's the rest of my "Archive of Movie Premieres". I surely must be getting close to the magic 200 mark?
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 facebook at premieresdotco) (or both!)