On February 23rd, me (Sy), Val and Jo went out to Leicester Square, London at
about 3 PM. We took one look at the square and our moods went down. The place
was crowded! Already! Guests would start arriving at about 5 as the ceremony
had to begin at 6. Nonetheless, we squeezed in between the crowd, hoping to
find a nice spot with a good view.
Unfortunately neither me, Val or Jo are the tallest of people. With three to
eight rows of people in front of us we could hardly see a thing. As we were
assured of a bad view on this right side of the theatre we decided to take our
chances on the left side. We walked around the park across the theatre and found
out that we would be better of on the left side no matter what. There weren't
that many people on this side yet and we had a nice view on the red carpet.
We fiddled in and started to wait.
After 45 minutes the theatre's pyro-flames were boosting up a beat and people
started arriving. Everyone really started to get a good vibe. The first one
that rang a bell was Floella Benjamin. UK residents might know her from Playschool.
I would've loved to take a picture of her, but the problem is that I was running
low on film. Stoopid me forgot to get an extra film. I now had but 20 pictures
left and so many people to see :S Normally that wouldn't be a problem as Val
and Jo had brought a digital camera as well. Unfortunately Val's camera was
running on a low battery and Jo's was almost full as well. Yes, that was our
first lesson learned. Maybe it would be best if we brought a videocamera next
time :? Or both! We're nits, we know... An proud of it too!
I must admit that I can't remember anyone who arrived before Sean Bean anymore
besides Miss Benjamin. My mind seems to be a purple haze... Sean deleted all
memory ;) Needless to say he was the next to arrive! And how bizarre it was
to see him. Mr. Bean has done so many movies and plays that it was quite surreal
to realise I wasn't looking at a screen - yes I seem to be starstruck quite
easily :P He was very nice, signed things, but not on our side, talked to the
press and posed for pictures.
The wonderful thing is that the press was right in front of us. Every arriving
celebrity actually had to walk past our side to get to the press. Among the
press were two children, a mini Ant and Dec, that every celeb seemed willing
to talk to. Luckily the mini Ant and Dec were about two to three meters away
from us and thus every arriving celeb as well :D Ain't we some lucky bastards
eh? People that passed the revenue (in no specific order) were:
Floella Benjamin
Stephen Fry
Sean Bean
Jim Broadbent
Natascha McElhone
Thandy Newton
Julianne Moore
Angelina Jolie
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Michael Douglas
Sir Michael Caine
John Rhys-Davies
Jennifer Connelly
Andy Serkis
Sir Ian McKellen
Halle Berry
Salma Hayek
Renée Zellweger
Martin Scorscese
Adrien Brody
Nicole Kidman
Edward Norton came and went as well. We didn't recognise him though. He and
Salma Hayek attended the ceremony together and they were very late. Really!
One couldn't even call it fashionably late anymore ;) But we forgive them, don't
we? ;)
At about 6.15 all the drama was done... The guests were inside and peopel were
starting to leave. This whole time two people filming for Channel 4 had been
in front of us. Me, Val and Jo were pondering when to leave for the Grosvenour
House Hotel where the afterparty would be held. The people from Channel 4 actually
told us that if we wanted to have things signed it would be best if we made
sure we were there before the celebs started arriving. They also told us that
some stars would sneak out during the ceremony, not staying till the end.
It was now about 7 already. We all stopped for a bite at Burger King's before
we went on to the afterparty. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to Jo. She
had to catch a train and go back home. Me and Val, on a major adrenaline high,
took a cab to the hotel!
