Thanks to my Splendor Cinema Podcast co-host (and boss at the Duke of York's cinema) Jon Barrenechea, I had tickets to last night's premiere of Matthew Vaughn's new comic book adaptation Kick-Ass (a movie which is both an independent and a blockbuster). Jon (who is currently in Toulouse for a film festival) couldn't make it, so he sent the lovely Felicity Beckett of Flick's Flicks (also a boss of mine at the Dukes!) and I in his stead and missed out on a wonderful night with (or at least near) the stars. I haven't been to a glitzy Leicester Square premiere before, so I was very excited by the whole thing, which took place at the Empire Theatre. It is a really lovely cinema inside and out, boasting a terrifically large screen (it looked to me to be the size of an IMAX!) and seating many hundreds of people. I was in awe of the surroundings the whole time from my seat in the third row.
On our way in we walked down the red carpet and between the fans on one side and members of the press on the other, who had come to see Brad Pitt (one of the film’s producers) as well as its stars Aaron Johnson (recently seen in ‘Nowhere Boy’ as a young John Lennon), Mark Strong (the film’s villain), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin’ from ‘Superbad’) and the young Chloë Moretz (who is slated to play the vampire girl in the remake of ‘Let the Right One In’ later this year). As well as these fine chaps I saw: ‘A Single Man’ star Nicholas Hoult standing by the popcorn kiosk; the reality TV pop star Lemar; 90’s comedian David Baddiel and Jaimie “school dinners” Oliver posing for photos with his adoring fans. My only brush with celebrity in any concrete sense came in the form of telling Sam Taylor-Wood (fiancée of Aaron Johnson and pictured above) that I liked her debut feature ‘Nowhere Boy’, to which she replied with a polite “thank you”.
My favourite moment of the night (other than the film itself, which I really enjoyed and will review later this week) came during Matthew Vaughn’s (extremely) brief introduction to the movie, during which I could see a nervous Chloë Moretz (only 13 years old) mouthing to her co-stars that there were lots of people in the cinema. It was really nice to see that she was impressed and excited by (what I assume) is her first big film premiere, not yet disinterested or jaded by what was going on.
Anyhow, thanks go to Jon and his contacts at Universal (who supplied the tickets) for allowing me to go and have a great night out at an exciting movie event! And, of course, to Flick for keeping me company. I really hope the chance to do this comes along again in the future. For a taster of the film, watch the (foul mouthed and ultra-violent) 'Hit-Girl' trailer below, although be warned that it does show some of the films very best moments:
'Kick-Ass' is on general release from Friday the 26th and can be seen at the Duke of York's where a superhero-themed fancy dress premiere is taking place on the evening of the release. My review will be up here before then, so please check back and read my thoughts here!
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