Short cuts

The excitement of the opening night gala of The Times 48th London Film Festival proved too much for some attendees.

Oct 27 2004

The excitement of the opening night gala of The Times 48th London Film Festival proved too much for some attendees. Poor old Janet Street-Porter was refused entry to the Odeon’s VIP seating… Turns out she could have taken Health Secretary John Reid’s seat: he missed the screening to watch his beloved Celtic play in the European Cup on TV at a nearby pub. A fruitless trip – Celtic were thrashed 3-0 by Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk. At least Reid had permission from his wife, Brazilian filmmaker Carine Adler, to see the game: ‘Carine knows how much I love my team,’ said Reid. ‘But having watched that performance, I think I missed out.’ At the post-premiere bash in the British Museum, Reid approached the film’s director, Mike Leigh, to make amends: ‘Now that Celtic are effectively out of Europe, I have no excuses left,’ he said. ‘I will be at Carine’s side when we next go to the cinema. Seeing as I’ve told Leigh I’ll be there, I’d better stick to my word.’

Advice to budding filmmakers: you don’t need to shell out to make a decent film these days. Anthony Minghella admitted to being a fan of editing software Final Cut Pro (we found it online for $500, or v2 on eBay for £79.77) and using it to make his most recent movie, ‘Cold Mountain’. ‘When I made my first film, I had to be in the cutting room,’ said Minghella, ‘Now I can work on the plane.’

The Time Out posse incurred a few sore heads at the LFF’s opening night party, thanks to the rivers of wine. Our spirits revived sufficiently, however, for the next day’s Time Out First Night screening of ‘We Don’t Live Here Anymore’ together with a post-movie party at Adam Street Members’ Club. For some time after the screening, many female members of the audience remained quite wobbly, attributing their condition to the performance – or, to be more accurate, the mere physical presence – of Mark Ruffalo. They’d benefited from the fact producer Jonas Goodman had had to wait 20 years to get the film financed; his original choice for Ruffalo’s character, he told Time Out, had been the less dishy Dustin Hoffman.

It hasn’t even opened, but ‘The Incredibles’ has created enough of a buzz to get one of London’s greatest honours. No, not the freedom of the city, but to feature in Regent Street’s Christmas display, switched on and celebrating its 50 year anniversary on November 7. Watch out for a Buzz Lightyear ambush.

Reclining on a four-poster bed in bondage Vivienne Westwood boots, Tracey Emin hosted a party at 33 Portland Place to celebrate the launch of the line of bags she’s created with luxury label Longchamp. Guests David Furnish, Beth Orton, Jay Jopling and illustrator Daisy de Villeneuve scoffed on food from The Ivy and guzzled rose-petal martinis. Emin has already promoted the £500 limited-edition suitcase – which Madonna has apparently ordered – in Paris, and next she’s off to New York. Could it be the former bad gal of Brit Art is selling out?

The London premiere of ‘Garden State’ screened to a packed and appreciative audience on Saturday evening at Leicester Square. Writer and director Zach Braff was on stage with co-star Natalie Portman for a post-screening Q&A session. When fielding one of many questions about the film-making process, he quipped (in a moment reminiscent of how his ‘Scrubs’ character would behave in real life): ‘You got “Cliff Notes” over here…? Oh no, hang on, you guys actually read the book.’ Most of the time, Zach.