VARIOUS: George Clooney vows fans and co-star Meryl Streep bows out due to illness at the world-premiere of 'Fantastic Mr Fox'

Record ID: 220069

  • Title: VARIOUS: George Clooney vows fans and co-star Meryl Streep bows out due to illness at the world-premiere of 'Fantastic Mr Fox'
  • Date: 15th October 2009
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 14, 2009) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) GEORGE CLOONEY, SAYING (QUESTION: WAS THE FOX THE APPROPRIATE CHARACTER FOR YOU?) "The fox was the appropriate? But I wanted to play the badger." FELICITY DAHL, WIDOW OF ROALD DAHL TALKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) FELICITY DAHL, SAYING "I knew he'd get the humour and the quirkines
  • Embargoed: 30th October 2009 12:00
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  • Reuters ID: LVAF4N2N512HGDEXNSF7I4G1BN9L
  • Story Text: Wes Anderson's animation movie "Fantastic Mr. Fox", starring George Clooney as the voice of the eponymous hero, had its world premiere on Wednesday (October 14) on the opening night of the London film festival.
    The annual event, which runs for 16 days and is attempting to compete with major international festivals like Toronto, Venice and Cannes, will screen around 200 feature films, although the majority have already been shown elsewhere.
    The movie is an adaptation of Roald Dahl's popular tale of the same name, and tells the story of how Mr. Fox's animal instincts get the better of him and threaten to disrupt his idyllic family life.
    Trapped underground with not enough food to go around, the Fox family and animal friends band together to fight against evil farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean, who are determined to capture the audacious fox at any cost.
    Director Wes Anderson first approached Dahl's widow Felicity about 10 years ago to get the rights to make a movie, and was determined to stay true to the dark side of the original. She told Reuters TV why she thought he was the right man for the job: I knew he'd get the humour and the quirkiness that my husband certainly had in the book and he would get that into a film."
    George Clooney was accompanied by his Italian girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis but unlike usually barely stopped to speak to the media.
    Also on the red carpet were Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman and actor Ben Kingsley who confessed he wasn't a big fan of Roald Dahl's books but he would like to try his hand at voicing animation films.
    "It would be dishonest if I said I was, so I'm looking forward to an entree this evening with this extraordinary film," said Kingsley.
    Bill Murray said, his character, the badger was just right for him.
    "I think so, I don't think I could have handled the others. The badger really suited me, a nice set of clothes and tells people what to do and they don't pay any attention, that's pretty much who I am."
    Fantastic Mr. Fox opens in Britain on Oct. 23 and in the United States on Nov. 13. It is being released by 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp. The festival's closing film, with its world premiere on Oct. 29, is artist Sam Taylor-Wood's debut feature "Nowhere Boy", about John Lennon's formative years.
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