- Title: UNITED KINGDOM: BRITISH FILM PREMIERE OF MOVIE "PEARL HARBOR"
- Date: 31st May 2001
- Summary: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (MAY 30, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) PAN DOWN FROM ODEON CINEMA IN LEICESTER SQUARE WITH PEAR HARBOR POSTER TO CROWDS SLV, ARRIVALS AT PEARL HARBOR PREMIERE SMV, BACK VIEW OF JOSH HARNETTI SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS FOR FANS SMV, KATE BECKINSALE GREETING FANS AND SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS WIDE OF JOSH HARNETT SIGNING PHOTOS SCU/ WIDE OF KATE BECKINGSALE HAV , MOR
- Embargoed: 15th June 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LONDON, UK
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVACAI1UJZWMXKW44OPHG50JT8Y
- Story Text: It was a little different to the world premiere in Hawaii but that could be something to do with the budget for the London opening not quite reaching the $5 million set aside for Hawaii. The sun was still shining in London though, as Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett and producer Jerry Bruckheimer greeted their fans.
The Odeon, Leicester Square doesn't really compare to Hawaii but now the daily grind of premieres has kicked in and the team behind Pearl Harbor have to launch their film for the various audiences around the world.
For leading lady Kate Beckinsale, it was a good excuse to return home, although nerve-wracking. "It's much more scary, you know, in your own country. You're almost more nervous because you want people to like it."
And playing an American gal is no strange thing anymore, as she says, American actresses are making a habit of playing British characters, it's the done thing now to switch your nationality! At just 22 years old Josh Hartnett had a hard time getting into the head of his character, pilot Danny Walker.
Fortunately he could tap into his great uncle's experiences.
"My great-uncle was in World War Two, D-Day all the way through to the Battle of the Bulge and I read his letters that he sent home to my grandmother - his sister - while it was all happening, while I was shooting."
It's been an epic task for the actors, an epic experience in every way. Even by Hollywood standards this latest offering from Disney is a massive project, one attack sequence alone lasts 40 minutes. At $135 million, there's a lot at stake, which is why producer Jerry Bruckheimer decided to spend an unprecedented $5 million on the world premiere, flying journalists from all over the world to Hawaii to experience the movie in its natural setting. And there are no regrets at this excessive spending to lure publicity, "You know any time you can get publicity the way we got publicity, it paid for itself tenfold in the amount of press we got around the world.
You're talking about it here right now so you're aware of it and you're all the way in England, so it worked! And when you make a picture about Pearl Harbor, you've got to open the movie in Pearl Harbor and it just happened that the Navy cooperated and gave us a carrier to work with."
The movie has been panned by critics but it's not yet even opened in Japan, which is where it really will get a grilling.
Bruckheimer has massaged the marketing for the Japanese opening, hoping to woo audiences with the love triangle at the centre of the story, but whether the audiences will swallow this won't be evident for two weeks.
Meanwhile Beckinsale is juggling the publicity circus with being a mum to her two-year old daughter Lily Mo. With partner Michael Sheen away shooting "Four Feathers" it can't be easy.
"It's difficult, I think any woman who has a child and a career will tell you that it is really difficult to juggle the two things. I've never been very good at farming her out to a million nannies and I've always had a rule that nobody's allowed to look after her unless they actually genuinely love her, that kind of thing, so it is hard. "
But all that will stop in a couple of years because when Lily Mo is ready for school, Beckinsale says they will return to England so that her daughter can go to the same school she went to. But there are two years left of their daughter being "transportable" and Beckinsale says she's going to enjoy them! ---ENDS--- - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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