Working to a brief from production company Banana Split Productions, PSL crew erected a special structure to support the 4m x 2.5m Lighthouse LED screen, which carried live interviews with all the film's creators and stars. Marking a change from the usual red carpet approach, a bridge was constructed to carry the celebrities from the Square's central garden over the cast-iron fence railings to the terrace in front of the Odeon Cinema. PSL's screen was positioned at the highest point of the bridge, allowing a clear view for all the thousands of fans who packed into Leicester Square.
Unusually for a royal premiere, Casino Royale was screened simultaneously in three cinemas; VIPs attended the premiere in the Odeon, while the film was also being shown in the Empire and Odeon West End venues.
PSL's team is quite the well-oiled film premiere machine, having provided external display screens for some of the biggest events of the last two years. In the next few weeks, project manager Pod Bluman will lead his crew back to Leicester Square for dancing penguins in the UK premiere of Happy Feet, and fire-breathing dragons in the world premiere of fantasy trilogy Eragon.
(Lee Baldock)
