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New York gala premiere of SKYFALL on 5th November 2012
By: Mark Cerulli
Published:
2012-11-08
2012-11-08
With New York City still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Sandy, the SKYFALL benefit for the Tribeca Film Institute had to be postponed for four days. This scheduling snag meant none of the movie’s stars could attend. But since the Bond film series began in New York City - at 729 Seventh Avenue, the legendary home of United Artists – the advance screening was still a must-see. It was a subdued affair – no giant klieg lights as in the Licence to Kill (1989) NY premiere or the flashy GoldenEye (1995) gala at Radio City Music Hall. Guests pulled up in black town cars, SUVs and good ole yellow cabs. Instead of red carpet, there was city pavement and attendees were greeted by a small cluster of photographers and autograph hunters.
The audience seemed to come mainly from Wall Street, heavy on the hedge fund crowd, but a number of celebrities including Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, Sting and wife Trudi Styler and Saturday Night Live’s Seth Myers turned out to welcome Bond back to New York.
Before the movie, Robert De Niro’s partner, producer Jane Rosenthal made a short, heartfelt speech about how they debated if the event should even go on after such a crisis… but in the end New York was all about adapting and moving forward so the show must go on. She also noted that part of the evening’s proceeds would be donated to the mayor’s storm relief fund – a good thing since tens of thousands of area residents still were without power a week after the storm. And then, a surprise, Rosenthal said, “We have a message from James Bond himself…”
Daniel Craig sent a video expressing his sadness at not being able to attend, but how he felt New York was his home (and indeed it is as he picked up a lavish apartment in lower Manhattan earlier this year.) He ended his clip with a 00 directive – “I know it’s a Monday night, but please get drunk.” That got a round of applause and then the MGM lion roared.
To those who have already seen Skyfall (2012), you know how good it is. To those who haven’t yet – go. It’s a deeper, darker more personal Bond than we’ve had before and Craig now owns the role, turning in a seething, layered performance. The film gave Judi Dench a lot more range than her usual steely resolve and she excelled; but Javier Bardem stole the movie (in my humble opinion). There was nothing cartoonish or over the top about his character. His “Silva” was chilling and demented, part Hannibal Lector, part Auric Goldfinger.
And then it was on to the after party at the Museum of Modern Art. For GOLDENEYE back in 1995, they had set up the space as a casino. For SKYFALL, the look was sleek and modern – fortunately with a number of bars – unfortunately none of them could make a martini! Waiters circulated with Hors D’oeuvres. Sony had set up displays for its new smartphone and partygoers could walk a mini-red carpet and get take home photos printed out. The buzz on the film was overwhelmingly positive. “Out of all of them, it’s in my top five…” one Wall Street Bond fan said. I’d have to agree.
Editor's note:
Mark Cerulli is the President of Covert Operations, Inc. He has interviewed more than 100 movie stars, celebrities and filmmakers at various events. His on-air work has won praise from Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and Robert Duvall. He has also received several Awards from the New York Festivals Gold.
In the 1990's he worked extensively on James Bond DVD projects such as The Making of Goldfinger (1964) (wrote and co-produced 23 minute documentary on the filming of the 007 classic) and The Making of Thunderball (1965) (co-produced 26 minute documentary on the historic 1965 Bond film) for MGM, and performed 22 interviews with key Bond talent and filmmakers in London, England.
This article was written exclusively for FSWL by Mark Cerulli. © 2012 From Sweden with Love.
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