May 21st, 2015.
It was warm, it was sunny, and I brushed off a couple of semi-business meetings that I was able to vaguely imply I had something more important to do than be at. And so I found myself in Leicester Square on a beautiful sunny afternoon in London's Leicester Square for an event that was both a World Premiere and a coinciding World Record Attempt, both featuring actor and former wrestler (and, once, Tooth Fairy) Dwayne (formerly 'The Rock') Johnson.
Here's how it went down:
"Is the earth shaking where you are? Put down that triple espresso, that's probably why. This movie hasn't come out yet"
Ordinarily I'd expect this movie to be directed by Roland Emmerich and sold as the more intimte yet somehow more destructive sequel to '2012'... or an unusually geological instalment in the Grand Theft Auto series of games.
This gentleman represented the Guinness Book Of World Records, here to see whether the proclaimed King of Selfies, Dwayne The Rock Johnson could break for the world record for the most taken in 3 minutes. (Different person, had to be infocus, had to include head and shoulders)
Pretty awesome cap.
As noted at the premiere of "Tomorrowland" last Sunday, this one awesome (and very stable) moustache...
A long line of civilians on the red carpet has been instructed to file rapidly past Dwayne Johnson and get out of the way to make room for the next person. (I forget whether smiling is optional in the selfie world record sense). We're told 75 in 3 minutes is the record.
"I can do this all day. What's the record for most selfies in six hours? We can ship in every person within eight miles and line them up next to each other. On rollerskates"
While the dude from Guinness goes off and tallies selfies, Dwayne Johnson starts signing autographs. Ironically he poses for no further selfies. His smile must be hurting something fierce after his 3 minute ordeal...
"My jaw muscles are going to need a few hours to recover"
Young Art Parkinson is in this movie, and was also Rickon Stark in 12 episodes of Game of Thrones. His hair may still have a recurring role in that series...
Director Brad Peyton is arguably best known for directing "Journey 2 : The Mysterious Island" and "Cats & Dogs : The Revenge of Kitty Galore". Now that he's destroying whole cities and eastern continental seaboards his next logical step would seem to be DC Universe film...?
"And then the earth shook and nearby buildings started collapsing. Not in the movie... just every time Dwayne Johnson got out of his trailer. The dude is STACKED!!"
Australia's own diminutive pop princess Kylie Minogue walks the red carpet. She's in this movie! (in an acting rather than mere 'featured on the soundtrack' capacity)
"My role as the green fairy in Moulin Rouge got me this gig. Worth it!"
I don't usually get quite this much apparent disdain from fellow Aussies..... (and I was wearing SUIT JACKET to this premiere!)
"I hear Dwayne Johnson's neck muscles have their own instagram accounts. True or false?"
"I hear Dwayne Johnsons Abs have their own additional separate abs. True?" Morgan Griffin is perhaps best known for being on Nickelodeon's "The Sleepover Club", but she sadly wasn't at the premiere of Angelina's "Unbroken", a movie she was also in.
Alexandra Daddario is so pretty I'm about to forgive her for being in not one but two of those insufferable Percy Jackson films. Not right away.. maybe in two or three photos time.
Alexandra Daddario's name contains four (4) letter 'A's, which is relevnt in that the 'A" button on my laptop keyboard is quite broken. So every time I write her name it hurts one of my left fingers a little. But I don't mind.
"I hear Dwayne Johnson can benchpress a VW Beetle that's squashed into a metal cube and placed inside a second VW beetle. True?"
"All of a sudden nearby windows would start shattering and I'd feel as though my retina was melting from the pain. That's how white Dwayne Johnson's teeth are when he's smiling"
"Ukraine is not the same thing as Russia". Alec Utgoff is best known for being in Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit (and its premiere), Mortdecai (but not its premiere), and The Tourist (I'm not sure if there was a premiere)
"Careful. This dress cost more than your education. Or the combined sum total value of all the shirts Dwayne Johnson has broken with his abs, biceps, abdominals and possibly even eyebrows"
Carla Gugino was in (and at the premiere of) the underrated and rather excellent Zack Snyder directed "Watchmen", as well as Sin City (2005) whose sequel I watched last weekend and concluded it was every bit as bad as reported.
"What's the diameter of one of Dwayne Johnsons biceps?"
"Those things people have been saying? Almost all true"
"Voss water? I never drink anything but". Fine. Just for once I'll give a brand a shout-out in one of these premiere journals. My email address is at the bottom of this website and my fridge is mostly empty. Contact me, Voss. (Your water is delicious)
"Is this movie going to win any Oscars? Neither did Transformers 4, baby. And this is more fun than that. And also my biceps weigh as much as one Mark Wahlberg each, in case that's a deciding factor"
"Sure, I can bestow blessings on young children at twenty paces. Check this out...." Actually, Dwayne Johnson appears to be a surprisingly humble and friendly guy.
"What do I need to do to get you to watch this movie? Dance? Sing? Take a world record number of selfies? Tear off this suit I'm wearing and threaten the migratory patterns of birds by flexing my abs? Tell you what.... let's see how I went on the world record thing first...."
Eventually, the Dude from Guinness came back with his verdict on the number of complying photos taken in 3 minutes.... and....
Every tourist in London with a selfie stick is going to go out and try to beat it tomorrow, but today?
"OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!!!!!"
So... that was quite a lot of fun, actually. Good times. All the best to all involved, and I've finally photographed The Rock after missing him at two prior premieres I couldn't attend.
I still haven't photographed Ryan Gosling, Gal Gadot, and composer John Williams yet, though...
Still, it's another entry for the almost-at-300-events behemoth that is my accumulated "Archive of Movie Premieres".
Until next time!
ps. if you want to know whenever I post a new premiere journal, feel free to follow me on twitter @berndt2_photo or on facebook at premieresdotco.