by Sean Narborough
Last night I continued my stalking of Scarlett Johansson. Wait, what? I have to cover the whole premiere? Oh my mistake, let me start over.
Last night I attended the European premiere for one of the most hotly anticipated films of the year, Avengers: Age of Ultron. Held in London’s Westfield in Shepard’s Bush, thousands of Marvel fanboys and girls were in attendance trying to get a glimpse of their favourite stars. After hours of waiting, the show officially kicked off, being presented by idiot film critic Mr. Alex “I gave Prometheus five stars” Zane. After the moron teased us for another 20 minutes we finally had our first big name, writer and director Joss Whedon. Whedon gave out to huge ovation, as it was obvious there was a lot of Buffy and Firefly fans at the premiere. Later in the evening, Joss talked about making the film and the insane pressure he felt during the making of it and how it was “hard to write, difficult to shoot, horrible to edit and longed for death”. Next up was the voice of Jarvis and now the face of The Vision, Paul Bettany. In person, Bettany has a very cool and sophisticated presence, at one point he was walking around with a gin and tonic in hand. I think every man can aspire to be like Bettany when they are older.
Last night I continued my stalking of Scarlett Johansson. Wait, what? I have to cover the whole premiere? Oh my mistake, let me start over.
Last night I attended the European premiere for one of the most hotly anticipated films of the year, Avengers: Age of Ultron. Held in London’s Westfield in Shepard’s Bush, thousands of Marvel fanboys and girls were in attendance trying to get a glimpse of their favourite stars. After hours of waiting, the show officially kicked off, being presented by idiot film critic Mr. Alex “I gave Prometheus five stars” Zane. After the moron teased us for another 20 minutes we finally had our first big name, writer and director Joss Whedon. Whedon gave out to huge ovation, as it was obvious there was a lot of Buffy and Firefly fans at the premiere. Later in the evening, Joss talked about making the film and the insane pressure he felt during the making of it and how it was “hard to write, difficult to shoot, horrible to edit and longed for death”. Next up was the voice of Jarvis and now the face of The Vision, Paul Bettany. In person, Bettany has a very cool and sophisticated presence, at one point he was walking around with a gin and tonic in hand. I think every man can aspire to be like Bettany when they are older.
After Whedon and Bettany, they released a trio of man meat, which was not good news for my eardrums (I got stuck behind four screaming teenage girls, my head still hurts). First up was The Hulk himself, Mark Ruffalo, who truly showed off what a great guy he is. He was one of the very few people at the premiere who made sure that he saw everyone at the premiere. Most people can’t do that because either there isn’t enough time to see everyone or they get stuck in the media pit. But Ruffalo came off as a guy you want to be friends with and showed why The Hulk/Bruce Banner has become one of the most popular characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Then came the man who nearly burst my eardrums, the God of Thunder himself, Thor aka Chris Hemsworth. Chris went on to talk about bulking back up for the film and how fun it was to shoot, but to be honest most of the people around me weren’t really too bothered by what he was saying, and I understand why. Now I am a straight man but even I can tell that Hemsworth is a good-looking guy, he even looks good when I take a picture of him mid-blink with his mouth open where on the other hand if I tried that I would look like a sea turtle recovering from a hangover. The final piece of the trio was the eccentric Jeremy Renner playing the eccentric Hawkeye. It wasn’t really until last night that you could understand why Marvel hired Renner to play Hawkeye. He was very excited by the whole event and you could tell he was really enjoying himself. Hopefully they can put that excitement into his character for Age of Ultron.
Because the premiere was starting to feel a little like a sausage party, out next was one of the newest members of the MCU, Elisabeth Olsen who plays the mind bending Scarlet Witch. Olsen turned up wearing… well I have no clue what she was wearing; it looked like a poncho with holes in them. But like Ruffalo, she made time for all of the fans. When she was ushered past a group of people, she kept saying “I’ll come back round” and true to her word, she did. Olsen is fitting into the mainstream a lot better than her famed sisters, who seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth, and she truly does have a very bright future ahead if she keeps her head above water and continues to make time for her fans. Next up was the fastest man alive, who isn’t The Flash, Quicksilver also known as Aaron Taylor-Johnson. With wife, Sam Taylor-Johnson, by his side, Aaron also made sure he greeted as many people as possible. He is also making the most of the mainstream and that’s evident in his presence and body language. While up on stage, he talked about working with Elisabeth Olsen again after Godzilla, how the two of them have created a great chemistry around each other and talked about his “Kick Ass” look for the role.
Because the premiere was starting to feel a little like a sausage party, out next was one of the newest members of the MCU, Elisabeth Olsen who plays the mind bending Scarlet Witch. Olsen turned up wearing… well I have no clue what she was wearing; it looked like a poncho with holes in them. But like Ruffalo, she made time for all of the fans. When she was ushered past a group of people, she kept saying “I’ll come back round” and true to her word, she did. Olsen is fitting into the mainstream a lot better than her famed sisters, who seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth, and she truly does have a very bright future ahead if she keeps her head above water and continues to make time for her fans. Next up was the fastest man alive, who isn’t The Flash, Quicksilver also known as Aaron Taylor-Johnson. With wife, Sam Taylor-Johnson, by his side, Aaron also made sure he greeted as many people as possible. He is also making the most of the mainstream and that’s evident in his presence and body language. While up on stage, he talked about working with Elisabeth Olsen again after Godzilla, how the two of them have created a great chemistry around each other and talked about his “Kick Ass” look for the role.
With the supporting characters out of the way, they then released the big guns. First up was Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr. A wall of sound greeted him as the place went crazy for him. We all know that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson refers to himself as the most electrifying man in all of entertainment, but he definitely has some competition in Robert. He held the crowd in the palm of his hand and for the small time he spent on the mic he captured everyone’s attention, even people who were just walking by shopping. Coming out next to a thunderous reception was Chris Evans, the guy who plays Captain America, not the ginger one off Radio Two. Rocking an awesome beard, Evans showed why he was so popular in the UK. Despite the fact he was one of the last people to come out, he made sure he saw as people as possible and still had time to do press for the film. Last but not least was the reason I was there, Black Widow herself, Scarlett Johansson. Having Scarlett come out last was a bold move but ended up being a great move. She received the biggest reaction of the entire evening further proving how popular she is with Marvel fans and why Kevin Feige needs to stop dicking around and make a Black Widow movie already.
There were many other celebrities that turned up at the premiere including Drax The Destroyer aka Dave Bautista taking a break from filming Spectre to show up, a few recognisable TV presenters and a few people who I had no clue who they were (probably from Made In Chelsea or some crap like that). But creeping up at the end was Andy Serkis who has a small role in Age of Ultron as Ulysses Klaw. Serkis wasn’t allowed to see any of the fans and didn’t get the big entrance that everyone else got but he did turn up for the big roll call of the cast at the end.
Seeing the majority of the cast together in the same place was a surreal thing to see because it’s not everyday you see that.
Now I was standing on the balcony and at the other end of the balcony is the escalator to the cinema where they were screening the film. So as soon as they finished the roll call, I ran down to the other end of the balcony to get closer to the stars of the film. The result was some really cool photos of Jeremy Renner, Paul Bettany, Andy Serkis and Robert Downey Jr. But my favourite picture of the entire evening had to be the one where Mark Ruffalo waved directly at me… well it looks he did anyway. I may have not have gotten any selfies with the stars but seeing the stars of the film that close was so freaking awesome and is something I will remember for a long time to come.
There were many other celebrities that turned up at the premiere including Drax The Destroyer aka Dave Bautista taking a break from filming Spectre to show up, a few recognisable TV presenters and a few people who I had no clue who they were (probably from Made In Chelsea or some crap like that). But creeping up at the end was Andy Serkis who has a small role in Age of Ultron as Ulysses Klaw. Serkis wasn’t allowed to see any of the fans and didn’t get the big entrance that everyone else got but he did turn up for the big roll call of the cast at the end.
Seeing the majority of the cast together in the same place was a surreal thing to see because it’s not everyday you see that.
Now I was standing on the balcony and at the other end of the balcony is the escalator to the cinema where they were screening the film. So as soon as they finished the roll call, I ran down to the other end of the balcony to get closer to the stars of the film. The result was some really cool photos of Jeremy Renner, Paul Bettany, Andy Serkis and Robert Downey Jr. But my favourite picture of the entire evening had to be the one where Mark Ruffalo waved directly at me… well it looks he did anyway. I may have not have gotten any selfies with the stars but seeing the stars of the film that close was so freaking awesome and is something I will remember for a long time to come.
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