Our great pal Gary Mancini of Mancini Pictures dropped us this report of the Ender’s Game press conference that was held in London yesterday, featuring Harrison Ford.
Bit of a mess really. We were stood around all day. There were no barriers, no security (until last minute), so no one knew what was really going on until later in the day.
Around 2pm a paparazzi told us that a photoshoot would be taking place inside the cinema at 5.30/6pm. But that’s all that we knew. When they eventually arrived It was clear that security were not bothered with the crowd, and therefore clear to us that the cast would be driven in through the back of the cinema, and we wouldn’t see them arrive.
The team from Expo arrived and informed us that there would be no autographing or photographing possibilities whatsoever. They were not even allowed to get these. We had heard, upon entering the cinema, some of London’s notorious autograph dealers calling Harrison a grumpy old Grandad because he wouldn’t sign for them. They ruin things for everyone. Boycott the autograph dealers!
We saw some flash photography going off inside the cinema, and a few of the crowd tried to peek in through the cracks in the doors, but were then told to get back in line by a stern security woman, or risk losing their tickets. Incidentally those without tickets were turfed out of the line. (A line the crowd created, not security!)
Eventually the doors were opened and we were told to go straight into the auditorium. Security flanked the doors at the entrance, and inside the auditorium. We took our seats and waited…and waited…
Eventually the presenter, Craig Stevens arrived and kept telling us who was coming in, again and again and again. We were shown the Enders Game Trailer and two exclusive clips, that I can’t say were that memorable. He asked for a show of hands of who was excited to see the film – about eight hands went up. Everyone just wanted to see Ford.
We were then told there was a five minute delay. When Craig left the stage, and we were sat around talking amongst ourselves. Five minutes later they were finally ready. The Producers, Roberto Orci and Gigi Pritzker led the walk to the stage, followed by Sir Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford (biggest house cheer!), Hailee Steinfeld and the Director Gavin Hood.
We were told there was going to be a Q&A, unfortunately it wouldn’t involve us, the audience, as all of the questions were preset, so as not to bring up the dreaded Star Wars questions I suppose, and to make sure the questions were focused on Ender’s Game.
A question of a sequel was raised, Harrison arched his eyebrows, and Roberto Orci kind of squirmed “Lets not count our sequels before they’re hatched”, indicating that it wasn’t likely. I guess box office on this film will tell. The questions were pretty standard; The “What was it like working with Harrison Ford?” type. It all seemed to go pretty fast because they were so late getting to the stage.
We asked Harrison to sign upon leaving the stage. He apologised and said he couldn’t. The cinema staff then locked us in until the cast and crew could make their getaways. I did manage to get Asa Butterfield’s autograph, but Ford and Kingsley were long gone.
Let’s hope that if Captain Ford is a part of Episode VII the press conferences are a little more fun.