ONE young film fan had her dreams come true when she walked the red carpet and interviewed the stars of one of this year’s biggest blockbusters.
Puddletown schoolgirl Kate Maitland-Gleed, 12, travelled to London last week to attend the premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, as an ambassador for Filmclub.
The film follows the ongoing adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) as he embarks on a quest to find the fountain of youth with old friend and sometime adversary Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush).
Filmclub is a national group dedicated to lifting the veil on the film industry and showing young people that the world of cinema is within their reach.
Kate has worked hard all year including interviewing Lord Julian Fellowes.
She said that the ‘Pirates’ premiere was the highlight of her year-long ambassador role.
She said: “It was absolutely fantastic. The atmosphere was really electric. There were loads of people cheering and then when Johnny Depp turned up the roof blew off.
“I was so tired afterwards, I was running on adrenaline. We had two and a half hours waiting beforehand and we did some interviews with the crowds and people were dressed as pirates.”
She added: “I was really scared but everyone was really kind. The guys from Filmclub and the cameraman John were lovely and really made me feel quite at home.”
Kate was in the press pit on the red carpet – which was actually blue – and got to see all the stars as they went into the premiere including TV presenter Dermot O’Leary and style guru Gok Wan.
Sadly she didn’t get to meet Johnny Depp or Penelope Cruz but Kate said that they were both ‘lovely’ and spent ages talking to fans, signing autographs and taking pictures.
Kate did get to interview Kevin McNally who plays Jack Sparrow’s long-suffering sidekick Gibbs – and he wished her many happy returns for her 13th birthday this week – as well as Ian McShane who plays Captain Blackbeard and mermaid Astrid Berges-Frisbey.
She also got a chance to chat to Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush.
She said: “He was really friendly and put me at ease.
“I asked him who had the worst sea-legs as a lot of it was filmed at sea and he said that Kevin McNally, who plays Gibbs, was the worst.
“I asked him if he found the fountain of youth in real life what time he would go back to and he said he would go back to his 20s with all the girls and his youth.
“But he said he was actually quite happy staying as he is now.” She added: “I would really like to thank my teacher Mr Pallister at St Mary’s School.
“None of this would have happened if he hadn’t have set up a local Filmclub after school. I’d also like to say thank you to Filmclub for a great experience.”
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