Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince World Premiere in London: Exclusive Footage and Report!

by Ivana

I arrived to London at 11am and went straight to the Warner Brothers’ press office at Odeon West End to collect my pass and wristband. As you can see in the photos here, in the morning and the early afternoon hours of Tuesday 7th July, the weather was rather decent (at least by London standards); there was some occasional drizzle, but nothing too threatening. Me and the representatives of other fansites (and other reporters) were allocated spots on the red carpet, opposite the fans’ areas. Unfortunately I had to miss the 9am special screening of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, because Alicia with WB had only informed me about it a few hours prior to the actual screening, and it was too late for me to swap my train tickets. Luckily I was allocated a place next to Mary from Harry Latino and Nick Myers representing MuggleNet, who had already seen the film, so we all squeezed in like sardins and I asked them to spoil me as much as possible while we wait! (And they did!)

The stars were expected to arrive around 5:30pm. By 4pm, the entire press area was stuffed with reporters from all over the world, and the security locked the gates. That’s when the first serious rain started. And then it got worse. Much worse. We had at least three vicious attacks of thunder, rain, hailstones the size of coffee beans, more rain, even more rain, and some cold wind. So, by the time the actors started arriving we were all completely wet.

The first one of the trio to walk the red carpet was Daniel Radcliffe, who did a few rounds in the pouring rain just to greet the fans. At this point he didn’t stop to do interviews with us, so you can see him walking past us here.

Then, someone announced that Rupert Grint would start doing the interviews. By that time the second downpour with hail had started, and we tried to hide under the umbrellas (but no use). I found it rather unfair that they made Rupert do press in circumstances like those, firstly because he had just recovered from a serious illness, and second, because the red carpet crew told us that we would only be allowed to ask him one question each. I had to make a quick decision whether to ask him a proper question or to ask him to greet you guys, and I was like: “Scr*w the questions, he’ll be asked thousands of questions today anyway, I’ll go with the greeting!” So, with no further ado, watch a completely wet and adorable Rupert say hello to you here (I did manage to squeeze in a little question as well, before they dragged him away).

The next clip, you can see Rupert interviewed by SkyNews and other media. Though they were just a few feet away, it was impossible to come closer to them because of all the umbrellas and cameras. I don’t think you’ll hear much of what Rupert said (unless you have very good loudspeakers), but those interviews will be posted on ICM anyway. Instead, please focus on Rupert’s wet buff body: I managed to film him adjusting his shirt and he revealed a bit of his what I thought were his boxers (but actually it seems to be a waistband) — but anyway it’s bright pink! Priceless! Clicky here.

About an hour later, when the rain slowed down a bit, Rupert returned close to where we were standing, but instead of doing more interviews, he went to sign the autographs. Of course, this is something we all appreciate a lot, I mean the fact that he always spends a lot of time with the fans — however this time I was stuck on the other side of the fence, unable to reach the fans’ area. I quarreled with the red carpet crew and told them it was unfair that he had to do the interviews in the rain, and asked them to bring him back to answer some more questions, but they were adamant that he would be doing no more interviews. So I was like: if the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain! And I made my way through the reporters, jumped across the security fence separating us from the red carpet, and went over to the fans’ area to film Rupert signing autographs from up close. It took less than five seconds for the security guys to notice what I was doing, and they probably thought I was some crazed fan ready to jump on Rupert, so they chased me and asked me to leave immediately. I refused to leave and continued filming, so I almost got beaten up by Rupert’s gorilla and two other security dudes. Finally they noticed my press pass and realised I wasn’t a crazed fan, but they still dragged me away — but at least I got what I wanted! So watch Rupert here.

Oh and for those of you who can’t get enough of hot redheads, take a look at the gorgeous Damien Lewis (who’s married to Helen McCrory aka Narcissa) — he even winked at me! Clicky.

The next clip features the HP producer David Barron, who I asked about Rupert’s recent illness and whether they were all worried for him! Watch David intervied by me and Nick here: while doing it, we noticed that Daniel had returned to do more interviews, and we were like: we’re gonna get him this time! And we did! Daniel was really professional, and although he was thrown a million questions at his face at once, he answered every single one of them in his own energetic, verbose way. I managed to ask him a quick question while he signed Mary’s book. So watch Daniel being interviewed here and here: in the second clip, you’ll actually see him sneezing at one point — it was really windy in London, and the actors were freezing as much as the rest of us.

The final interview in this first batch features Freddie Stroma, aka Cormac McLaggen! In person, he’s an affable and charming lad (although too prettyboy for my taste: too blond, too tanned, too blueeyed, too perfect!) so Mary and I asked him about his scenes with Rupert and Emma Watson. The clip is split in three parts: one, two and three.

TO BE CONTINUED!!!

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