Last King of Scotland Premiere, London

On Wednesday, October 18th (yes, over TWO months ago - I am so far behind with the premieres... sorry readers!) was the opening night for 'The Times BFI 50th London Film Festival' which, as I was about to find out, was a busy two weeks to have a hobby like mine! It started on the Wednesday and finished on Thursday the 2nd of November.

The opening night movie for the festival was 'The Last King of Scotland' starring Gillian Anderson (The X-Files... umm... and yeah... that's pretty much what she's remembered for), Kerry Washington (Save The Last Dance, Mr and Mrs Smith), James McAvoy who's set to be the next big thing (The Chronicles of Narnia) and Forest Whitaker who I really liked and was waiting to see (Panic Room, Phone Booth and he directed Sandra Bullock in Hope Floats). He is tipped to be in the running for the Oscar come February 25th.

I arrived after work and secured a spot near where the cars come out and totally not where I normally stand. I was with a friend of mine and we were waiting patiently for the celebs. They all finally arrived and I managed to get an autograph of James McAvoy only. Kerry Washington walked pretty much past us, said she'd come back then went off to do interviews. She did come back, but not as far down as we were. Gillian Anderson got out of the car, looked at the ground and then walked halfway up the red carpet before stopping to do interviews. I didn't really want her anyway, because I met her when she did a shopping mall appearance in Australia at the height of 'The X-Files'. Plus, I heard she doesn't sign X-Files stuff.

James McAvoy was the loveliest of all the film stars and walked up and down the barrier signing for everyone that he could. He spent the most time with the fans and when I asked if I could take his photo, he was happy to oblige.

While those celebs were coming, we were treated to a few extras... Thandie Newton ('Crash'), Jason Isaacs (Lucias Malfoy in the 'Harry Potter' films), and running very late was Joseph Fiennes ('Shakespeare In Love').

Jason Isaacs was very funny. He is known for always playing the not so nice guys, especially in the Harry Potter films, but he was really nice and he was running late.



We were calling him down and he's like 'Oh F*ck... I can't I'm going to be late... I'm going to get in trouble'. We were yelling out to Jason to come down and he's like 'Eerrr.... F*ck ok, I'm coming'. We called him down cause we yelled that I was from Australia, so he came and signed for me. I asked if he liked it when he was there filming and he was like 'Oh yeah, it was f*cking great... I wanted to stay'. Mouth on him like a trooper... but a really nice and funny bloke!



Thandie Newton was really lovely, she's in town filming 'Run Fat Boy, Run' which is directed by 'Friends' star David Schwimmer (who I am still YET to see in London and he's been here for months!). I got my photo taken with Thandie and when she finished posing, she patted me on the shoulder and said 'That's going to be a lovely photo'. She was very sweet.

I missed out on Forest Whitaker, he almost headed straight up the red carpet, but the autograzzi were yelling out to him and he stopped to do a couple. I don't know why, but he signed for the blokes on either side of me, but missed me and my friend! Great... now we were going to have to try Friday night for him at the National Film Theatre (he was due to do an interview).



After Jason, I was about ready to leave and then a car pulled up and out jumped Joseph Fiennes. He was terribly late, but the dealers on either side of me were yelling for him to come over, so he rushed over and signed about 4 autographs before doing a mad dash up the red carpet. I just loved him in 'Shakespeare In Love', but then, didn't everybody?

(Sorry for the CitizenImage watermark on the James and Joseph photos. I've done another Hughe and am represented for the photos).