RT-UK Exclusive: BAFTA Video Interviews and Scoops, Plus Guess Which Director Has RT For His Homepage?

by | February 12, 2007 | Comments

The lights, the cameras, the action… The biggest event in the British film calendar, the Orange British Academy Film Awards, is over for another year and we here at Rotten Tomatoes UK have just about recovered from the excitement. And for a reason I can’t fathom I persuaded myself to present our exclusive video coverage from the red carpet, as we chatted to the stars on their way to pick up or present their awards.

So in between the ugly dude with the unkempt hair you can watch said dude (thankfully off camera) speak to Andy Serkis, Jamie Bell, Peter Morgan, Guillermo del Toro, Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu, Alfonso Cuaron and Simon Pegg.


Alfonso Cuaron reveals his RT secrets to the camera

Click here to watch the footage!

And what did we learn from the stars?

  • Guillermo del Toro is in London prepping "Hellboy 2"and getting ready for the 133-day shoot in Budapest.
  • Alfonso Cuaron hasn’t heard the rumour about him coming back to direct the seventh Harry Potter movie, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" (having previously delivered "Prisoner of Azkaban").
  • But he does have Rotten Tomatoes set as his homepage so we can guarantee he’ll be the first to know when the news breaks (hi Alfonso!).
  • And, to boot, he’d leap at the chance to come back to the Potterverse if it presented itself.
  • "The Queen" writer Peter Morgan was completely unaware the film was the recipient of a Golden Tomato award, but when he found out he contemplated blowing off the silly BAFTAs. Fortunately he stuck around long enough to see it pick up Best Film.
  • Andy Serkis was pleased to see us a few weeks back on the set of "Inkheart" — we’ll have our full report on that particular visit very soon — but God forbid you call Helen Mirren a Dame on set.
  • Jamie Bell’s penchant for taking on accent work means his own has become pretty… unique.
  • Simon Pegg has a police contingent following him around since doing the boys in blue proud in "Hot Fuzz." He may have been joking.


Andy Serkis, Forest Whitaker, and Simon Pegg walk the red carpet

Our cameras weren’t quite trained appropriately earlier in the evening when Sumner Redstone, Viacom chairman and the 63rd Richest Person in the World according to Forbes, stopped by for a chat. After getting some advice on what to do with all the money we pulled in for working on a Sunday (all none of it) we did quiz him about a certain couple of projects in development at Paramount Pictures.

"Everyone has read the script for ‘Indy IV,’" he told Rotten Tomatoes, "and we absolutely love it. Of course we’re a while away yet, it’s coming out next summer, but we’re very excited to get going."

But the big exclusive… J.J. Abrams IS still in line to direct "Star Trek XI." "He directed ‘Mission: Impossible III’ for us," Redstone said, "and we adored it. It didn’t get the reception it deserved in America, but ‘Star Trek’ is definitely going ahead and J.J. is going to direct it for us.


J.J. Abrams on the set of "M:I:III"

"Everything Paramount’s doing is very exciting — we have great people working at the studio and things are on the move."

So there you have it. A busy night full of wonderful education on all things movie.

The learning didn’t stop there, though… We later learned from the free bar at the Opera House that considerable amounts of alcohol get you intoxicated. We really are breaking all the exclusives today…

Until next year!