Tuesday, December 11, 2001
World Premiere Report! - Xoanon @ 01:19 PST
From: Eledhwen

LOTR World Premiere

Well, I’m back.

What a day! I had an incredible, amazing time. I made notes through the waiting period, so I’ll give it to you almost as it was – I’ve just tidied it all up.

I posted my last message at 3.15pm, and was back in front of the cinema by 3.30, where I got back my place in the second row of people in front of the main doors. By 3.50 I’d taken out pen and paper …

3.50pm: TV crews are going around interviewing people, trying to find the most obsessive Tolkien fan. News reporters complete with stepladders are gathering in vengeance, as is the crowd. There’s a police dog van – the dogs are checking the cinema for bombs and things. My feet are already getting cold and painful. I wish I was a press photographer … there seem to be different coloured passes – yellow on the left, blue on the right, and orange passes are gathering to go inside. A hobbit is being filmed … the policewoman near us has a phone to match her jacket. There’s a group of TORN line partiers near me.

4.05pm: the orange-pass people are going in. I’ve discovered I have the World’s #1 Madonna fan next to me, convinced she’s coming – he’s got a jacket autographed by random celebrities. The international TV crews are swarming.

The gas canisters by the Rings are being covered with black bin bags and we’re cheering for the TV. A man with pointed ears is calling, “Read all about it, Frodo Baggins ate my hamster! Who’s an obsessive?” Which seems like a redundant question here. Lots of people around me come to loads of premieres and have been here since noon.

4.25pm: A blue carpet is being unrolled and stuck down with gaffer tape. The line partiers have Burger King meals with Saruman inside. Claims are already being made for the big cardboard posters attached to the barriers. I wish I was taller and wearing another pair of socks.

A guy in a Gandalf costume eating Hula-Hoops (potato crisps shaped like rings) is being filmed – some people think he’s vaguely familiar under the beard. I get chatting to one of the line party people who is the White Lady of Rohan. She gets the Ring-verse tattoo on her arm filmed before chatting up a presenter from ‘This Morning’ in a pink shirt and a frankly hideous suit who’s called Mark. My section of the crowd gets filmed for ‘This Morning’ cheering again … and again … and again … being on TV is tiring!

5.15pm: Nothing is happening at the moment. We’re told Jude Law’s coming and remind each other to breathe. We get filmed for ‘This Morning’ yet again.

5.30pm: The ten Rings are lit and start flaming nicely. The soundtrack I’ve been trying to avoid is playing, but quietly. The White Lady of Rohan and I discuss how to pronounce Eowyn. The two St. John’s Ambulance people are cheered as they go in. The White Lady of Rohan flirts with a cute policeman.

At 6pm, people start arriving, and then at 6.07pm John Rhys-Davies turns up in black tie. He won’t look at us! Christopher Lee appears next, regal and very tall.

Next all hell breaks loose as the hobbits come in quick succession, all looking dapper in nice suits. My camera won’t focus and I panic and then have to change film just as Elijah Wood shows up … all the hobbits sign autographs – I didn’t get one – and then hurry in to have a group photo.

Viggo Mortensen is next (cue scream from yours truly and general confusion from the people behind who’ve not heard of him). He looks gorgeous in a long blue coat with a red flower in his buttonhole. Very smooth and very calm.

Peter Jackson, The Man Himself, disappoints everyone by coming in trousers and shoes and an open-necked purple shirt. He really does look like a hobbit! Ian McKellen, smiling broadly, waves at everyone and signs a few autographs. Bless him. He seems thrilled to be here.

Liv Tyler is welcomed with screams. Oddly, the men around me seem disappointed … she’s wearing a sort of red suit thing and beams for the cameras. To the White Lady of Rohan’s delight, Orlando Bloom is next. We all greet him enthusiastically – I decide he’s even better looking in the flesh. Liv and Elijah re-emerge and everyone hugs everyone else – they all seem delighted to see each other again.

There’s a lull now. A few minor celebrities arrive, including the pop group Hearsay. The World’s #1 Madonna fan decides to move to a different spot because he’s not getting any autographs – I for one am glad to see him go because he’s been yelling at said pop group for five unproductive minutes. Everything hurts – my back, my feet, my hand from holding my camera …

Sean Bean is the last cast member to arrive and talks to the TV for ages, before being dragged in by the minders. Ian Holm came in the middle of all this mayhem, I saw him briefly waving at the news cameras.

By 6.45pm there is a moment of calm, broken by Enya who turns out to be tiny and pretty in black. She does come and sign things – but not my pad! Grr!

Now other celebrities arrive in trickles – more pop groups, Bob Geldof, Dougray Scott – did I mention Cliff Richard earlier, and just for the Estrogen Hour girls, Rufus Sewell?

By 7.15pm silence has fallen. Somewhere over our heads Enya is singing. It all seems a bit unreal. My toes have no circulation and my leg is cramping. Ruby Wax is almost last in, hurrying up and disappearing immediately. People start cutting posters off the barriers – there aren’t nearly enough to go around, I don’t get one. Jude Law never came …

Finally we get ushered away by policemen and head round to where a group of costumed fans are being filmed, in case they happen to be the TORN line party. They’re not, but the one dressed as Legolas says he comes to TORN sometimes. We chat a bit more with Mark from ‘This Morning’ and get to see his (pink) party pass, and he divulges that it’s at somewhere called Tobacco. Apparently.

Heading off around the square our little group of Tolkien fans stop to watch the giant screen play the Enya ‘May It Be’ video, and a trailer for another LOTR video. Next stop is Burger King for refreshments and decisions …

I say farewell to the others at Leicester Square underground station, where they’re trying to decide whether to find the party or to go home. I go to Victoria and catch the coach back to Oxford, tired and slowly coming down to earth. What a day.