A shot of rum from a busty wench. If only every visit to the Cinema De Lux could start with such an unexpected treat. But last night was no typical Sunday evening screening in Cabot Circus; it was the Bristol premiere of Aardman’s latest animated feature film, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists.
No sooner had I realised that Daddy G from Massive Attack, his wife and three young children were in the queue behind me, that an excited whisper went around the foyer that Hugh Grant was in the building. Hugh Grant, scourge of the free press and in this new film, the Pirate Captain, scourge of the high seas.
I would have grabbed a photograph as he strode purposefully past me as I was tucking into my Pieminister, but before being greeted by the busty wench, all three thousand attendees at the premiere had to hand in their phones and cameras. Aardman and Sony take piracy very seriously, although after a flurry of flash bulbs I didn’t see Grant having to hand in his mobile to security.
Grant wasn’t in fancy dress either, the rascal; instead cutting a dapper dash in jeans and a jacket. The fashion elsewhere was fancier, with tricorn hats aplenty on the heads of both young and old for that become-a-pirate-in-one-easy-step look.
As well as an excuse for dressing up, the red carpet was also populated with some young patients from Bristol Children’s Hospital, as the Wallace & Gromit Grand Appeal was the evening’s chosen charity.
Director Peter Lord, last at the helm for Chicken Run, was hosting the event. Aardman had taken over the entire cinema, with staggered starts meaning that it wasn’t just Lord (the future Lord Lord?) introducing each screening, but Charles, William Thacker and Daniel Cleaver, aka Hugh John Mungo Grant.
“Ahoy and avast,” said Lord, dressed in full pirate regalia. “We are here to celebrate. We are here to celebrate particularly the most fantastic crew who have done such a superb job. This is a last chance to say thank you. I’m so grateful.”
Until the bigwigs at Sony demanded a bigger name, Martin Clunes had voiced the Pirate Captain, and his contribution to the film was noted with a thank you in the end credits.
His late-in-the-day replacement Grant began his brief introduction by thanking “the Aardvarks and the city of Bristol”. Addressing the crew in the audience, he said: “From my point of view, you made me a much better actor than I normally am. Just being in an Aardman film was a thrill, an honour, a privilege. I love this film and I’m thrilled that I’m in it. And I say, long live Aardman!”
