When the chance came for myself and deputy editor Emma to hit the red carpet for the premiere of The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus we jumped at it...
With the tragic death of it's lead actor Heath Ledger - and Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell's subsequent ride to the rescue, rarely has a film been the source of so much hype and expectation as this one.
Clutching the tickets in their shiny gold envelope we made our way to Leicester Square as it began filling up with fans, paps and autograph hunters. And once we'd got over the disappointment of the fact that we wouldn't be able to accost Johnny Depp for a photo opp (took us a minute!) - we busily began scanning the attendees for famous faces to tell you about.
So - we spotted Ginevra Molly aka Harry Potter's Ginny Weasley (see our slightly fuzzy pic above - we'd never make it as a pap!), the lovely George Lamb was in attendance and had taken along his mum, we saw Pete Tong, X Factor's Kandy Rain in fluoro body con frocks and Gavin & Stacey's Joanna Page. And of course, the film's stars...
Model, scholar, actress and all round over-achiever Lily Cole cut a striking figure in full-length Chanel. Seen here with fellow cast and crew members Terry Gilliam, Tom Waits, Vernon Troyer, Andrew Garfield.
Paloma Faith makes a brief appearance in the film too and had come over all glam-meets-pirate for the premiere in her vintage-style lace LBD, long leather gloves and a sequinned parrot perched atop her shoulder.
Director Terry Gilliam introduced the film and the cast and paid tribute to Heath Ledger. Then the lights went down and for the next two hours we sat glued to the big screen as the fantastical world of Dr Parnassus and his Imaginarium began to unfold.
This film is escapism in its purest form, dream-like and often hallucinogenic (Terry Gilliam is the man responsible for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) with shades of going through the looking glass a la Alice In Wonderland.
With it's cast of colourful characters, stunning visuals, and mystical netherworld, this is a heady mix of the wild, the weird and the wonderful that is as compelling as it is surreal.
During the mandatory post-film chat over a Chinese later (how glam, sadly we didn't make the premiere party list!), we both decided that Lily Cole is perfectly cast and does a starring turn as Dr Parnassus' daughter, that Tom Waits' devil is the ideal blend of charisma and creepiness, that big things are going to happen for actor Andrew Garfield, that Johnny Depp's stint is a real scene stealer, and that Heath Ledger really was a star...
Overall verdict? Get yourself to a cinema, sharpish!
