Tuesday 28 June 2016

JET TRASH PREMIERE

Charlie Belleville's tremendous adaptation of JET TRASH was on at the Edinburgh festival so I got to go to a premiere... In truth there is little enough glamour in the film business, so good to grab it when you get the chance.

Seeing your film on the big screen is so much more immersive, and you realise how vital the sound mix is to the whole experience. In the first screening I was very attuned to the audience. Little creaks and shuffles tell you that people are settling in, you hear titters in the funny bits. If something is baffling or dull you can hear the rustle of shifting bums as people come out of the film and back into themselves. And you can feel the collective hold its breath at the tense bits.

My heart sank when I saw someone leave - oh no, a walkout! I braced for more, the nightmare of watching a steady stream of shadowy bodies and bowed heads, each of which I had disappointed and let down. But a minute later, the guy walked back in - he was not, after all, bored or disgusted - he was just going to the loo... My heart soared. To be honest I think I ended up with my eyes closed for most of it. it's just weird and slightly uncomfortable watching your own stuff. Actors feel the same too, in fact it's worse for them cause it's their faces on screen as well.

Anyway judging by this audience the film went down well. The reviews started coming immediately after the screening - there had been a press event followed by an embargo - and they were good too, the best I've ever had for film stuff -

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/jet-trash-edinburgh-review-906389
http://www.theskinny.co.uk/festivals/uk-festivals/film/eiff-2016-jet-trash

and they helped make the after party festive. So did the presence of so many of my co-writer, Dan Brown, and director Charlie's, families - they are both Edinburgh boys. The actors had made a lot of effort to turn up, flying in from India and LA. Overall felt like we were the glitziest glammiest partiest folk at the festival, hehe, and as a bonus we had one of the best films too.