It’s strange that where my trip began is where my childhood kind of ended. It just so happened that the red carpet event of the decade was happening around the time I was due to head to London for LFCC anyway so it made perfect sense to me to head down a day early, complete another 101 list goal and experience the magic of a film premiere.
Thursday the 7th July 2011 was of course the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two. Being held in Trafalgar Square as it had outgrown its original home of Leicester Square thousands of us gathered to say goodbye to our favourite franchise and thank you to the amazing Jo Rowling for the story that she gave us.
I thought I was hard done by having to get up at 4am for my early morning flight but others… well others had camped out (minus the tents – as security confiscated them!) for days on end to ensure that they were one of the lucky 8,000 people who were able to get wristbands allowing them (and them alone) access to Trafalgar Square where in reality they would be able to see everything. Unfortunately the message about the wristbands was not communicated well with information only being released last-minute and then once we were there conflicting information being received from the stewards and security guards!!
In the end I met up with Jackie just around the corner from Leicester Square in the pouring rain (I’m told it always rains for a Harry Potter premiere!) no-one seemed to know what route the stars would be taking from Trafalgar Square to the Odeon but I wasn’t convinced that we were in a prime location so we went for a walk to scope things out. Somehow, we failed to miss the giant Deathly Hallows banner right outside the cinema on the first lap but stopped to take pictures the second time.
It was at this point that we realised we were directly outside the Odeon. The Odeon that all the main cast would be watching the movie in. And there was hardly any people about due to several lorries taking up residence right outside. So we stayed on the edge of the crowd (closest the road) and started chatting to some people who were also hanging about. This is where we met Emily. Emily is a premiere veteran having attended all the Harry Potter ones since Goblet of Fire and several others to boot. She confirmed for us that this was indeed a good spot to have so we settled in for the long haul.
And the long haul it was. For over 10 hours we stood in the wind, rain and shine for those that had brought our favourite characters to life on the big screen. We chatted about our love of Potter, TV shows, films and how we were all huge geeks. We huddled under umbrellas for warmth, complained about the foreigners trying to nudge their way in and clung to each other as they finally put barriers up in front of us so that our precious front row spots were secure. Then, the waiting continued…
A short while later there was a slight bit of excitement when the red carpet started to be laid out and we caught out first glimpse of Carpet Boy!! Carpet boy was one of the staff who were helping to lay it and was always running past us in one direction or another! At one point he went to the right and about a minute later appeared from our right – we’re still not sure how he did it but we decided that he was a superhero and proceeded to yell his superhero name at him every time he went past. (I think this is maybe a you need to be there to get it story but nevermind!!) It turned out that they’d put the barriers too close so we could actually put our feet on the red carpet!
We knew that the stars were due to start arriving at Trafalgar square at around 4:30pm and that they’d be spending a lot of time there doing interviews so I think it was about 6pm before the first people sauntered down the red carpet. They were mainly competition winners, crew and friends & family of the cast but then the smaller members of the cast appeared; the children from the epilogue and the goblins. There was a wave of excitement when Jamie Campbell Bower went past but he kept to the other side and didn’t stop for autographs which was a shame.
Finally we started to get to the good stuff. The proper stars both young and old. I can’t remember who arrived when but I was extremely happy to see Evanna Lynch and Tom Felton up close. Evanna seemed happy that someone knew her name when I said thank you, everyone else was shouting Luna, and looked right at me! Devon Murray, Matt Lewis and the Phelps twins were all looking gorgeous in their suits.
Helena Bonham-Carter was unfortunately hurried past when she got near to us but she did go up to the balcony to wave and blow kisses at us. And Nat Tena, the amazing Nat Tena who I met at Glasgow a few years ago came back out from the theatre when it became clear that things were running a little late and looked absolutely stunning!
At this point things got a little crazy. The barrier was being edged forwards thanks to the people behind pushing us with all their might and security had finally had enough. We were pushed back and I ended up losing my precious front row spot (and freaking out as everything including my passport was in that bag attached to the railing!) personally I would have got security in at the back and pulled people back rather than pushing from the front but at least they didn’t kick us all out.
The movie was supposed to start at 7pm but by 7:30pm we still hadn’t caught glimpse of the trio or Jo Rowling. They were running late and in the end they were brought up the red carpet in cars which was a huge disappointment. We’d waiting for over 9 hours and we couldn’t even catch a glimpse of them nevermind ask for autographs! Then just when we thought it was all over Rupert Grint made our day and popped back out for a short while to interact with the fans. I wasn’t lucky enough to get an autograph but just seeing him there was amazing. After all Ron’s everyone’s favourite ginger!
Tired and bruised Jackie and I headed to our hotel for a well-earned bath and sleep! I didn’t even have the energy to venture out for food. Overall it was a fantastic experience and I am so glad that I did it to say goodbye I mean only so many people can say that they were there and I’m one of them. Huge thank you must go out to everyone there. Jackie, Emily, everyone else that I spoke to in the crowd, every single person who walked down that red carpet, the staff helping set up and mostly, security.
This guy was a legend – he kept our spirits up, told us stories of previous premieres and events, was helpful, mostly fair and kept us safe. I made sure as I left to say thank you to anyone I saw in a high vis vest as I’m sure they don’t get enough credit for putting up with us! These are just a few of the better pictures I got - you can see the rest here in my Facebook album.
2 Responses to “#30. Attend a film premiere”