Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson, Collin Farrell and others joined a red carpet event at Leicester Square for the world premiere of Saving Mr. Banks being shown at the closing ceremony of the 57th BFI London Film Festival.
Disney could finally be on track for a Best Picture Oscar winner of its own making. Well, who knows,
but judging from the very enthusiastic reaction to the world premiere tonight of Saving Mr. Banks at London’s Odeon Leicester Square theatre on the closing night of BFI London Film Festival, it’s off to a good start. Deadline’s International Editor Nancy Tartaglione reports there was about four minutes of sustained applause as the end credits began and word at the Old Billingsgate after-party was unanimously upbeat with premiere-goers loving it. Initial reviews also seem to be strong. Before the film rolled an organist onstage warmed
up the first-nighters with the score for Mary Poppins, the film that serves as the inspiration for this tale of how Walt Disney led a two-decades-long quest to bring notoriously reticent P.L. Travers’ classic book to the screen. Director
Emma Thompson & Tom Hanks
Colin Farrell
John Lee Hancock, producers Alison Owen and Ian Collie and stars Colin Farrell, Tom Hanks, Ruth Wilson and Emma Thompson were then introduced to the crowd. Thompson remarked, “it’s very moving to have the film premiere in London… so let’s watch the damn thing”. There’s even a reference to the Leicester Square theatre in the movie.
So at least there’s something positive to say about the BFI London Film Festival as its generally regarded as a low budget B list festival sadly. It’s just not a good ‘stand alone’ festival like Cannes, Venice or Toronto. Perhaps its where its held, which has so many businesses and public traffic that they cannot set up the whole thing like it should be; a world class film festival. There’s no dedicated media centre, no passes for the media for the duration of the festival. Unheard of at the main film festivals.
Emma Thompson & Tom Hanks
Emma Thompson & Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Emma Thompson & Tom Hanks
Emma Thompson & Tom Hanks
Emma Thompson, Ruth Wilson
Ruth Wilson, Lilly Allen
