UNFORTUNATELY, the people organising the Dublin premiere for Michael Collins on Wednesday night came over all Cannes-ish. The premiere certainly had all the ingredients of a good, old fashioned big night - limousines, fur coats and hordes of star spotting fans waiting to see real live film stars. Those were the good bits.
The bad were that the organisers behaved as if they were under siege treating the paying audience (most of whom had stumped up £100 for the privilege) with a curious disregard.
Unbelievably, the press simply were not allowed into the cinema - an almost unheard of turn of events. The reason? "Security," said one PR person dismissively to the general puzzlement of the foreign and local press huddled outside. "What do you mean security," asked one hack, genuinely confused. The self important PR person with the walkie talkie walked away without saying a word and the long, freezing wait continued.
That was outside. Inside the Savoy, nearly 1,800 people were decked out in their glad rags - men in black tie and women in their most sparkling frocks. And people really did glam up. Liz McManus TD looked amazing in a long black number topped off with a feather boa; Alison Doody was stunning in an itsy bitsy lacey dress, and Kitty Neeson looked so stylish that she caused a stir with the waiting photographers and that was before anyone knew that this woman of a certain age was Liam's mum.
Most were seated by 8 p.m. - but the air of expectation soon started fraying at the edges. The film was screened in all five Savoy cinemas and the stars when they finally arrived were going to be seated in Savoy One. Not a great turn of events if you found yourself all dolled up sitting in Savoy 3.
Time ticked on. In one cinema, a slow hand clap started up. A woman tried to leave the cinema to go to the loo - but her way was barred and she was instructed in no uncertain terms (and this was supposed to be a chin night out!) to return to her seat. One couple couldn't put up with the interminable wait and left muttering about paying good money and being treated so badly. Even the popcorn shop closed early.
At 9.15 pm. the long wait for the stars seemed close to being over. Those few people who had made a leg stretching bid for freedom and were standing in the foyer were treated to an officious sounding announcement that "for security reasons the stars will not enter the cinema until the foyer is cleared". The rather mild looking middle aged group scurried back to their seats, bemused to be thought of as presumably potential star muggers. "Someone should tell them this is O'Connell Street not Sunset Boulevard," remarked one tired and hungry elderly man.
When they did arrive, Liam Neeson, Stephen Rea, Aidan Quinn and Neil Jordan toured the cinemas saying a few words in each before settling down in Savoy One to watch the film. In one of his speeches, a noticeably slimmed down Neeson had the decency to apologise for the delay - though it clearly wasn't his fault. When the film ended the applause was muted - presumably not because the audience didn't like the film but because everyone was a little fed up. More than one person decided it was just too late to bother going to Dublin Castle for the post film party and went home.
At the party there was tight security around the stars - which greatly amused everyone who had grown used to the sight of Liam Neeson cycling around Dublin last year completely unmolested - bar the occasional howya Liam.
Somehow all that star security and walkie talkie nonsense doesn't seem to work in Dublin - isn't that why celebrities are supposed to like it here? Maybe someone should have told the organisers of the premiere.
