LONDON, UK (Top40 Charts) The
Rolling Stones hit Leicester
Square last night for the world premiere of
Brett Morgen's film
Crossfire Hurricane, the highlight of this year's London Film Festival.
The festival opened last week with Tim Burton's animated tale Frankenweenie, and closes on October 21st with Mike Newell's Great Expectations, starring Burton's partner
Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham.
Along the way, film lovers will be treated to a star studded array of films and premieres. Highlights include Ben Affleck's spy thriller Argo, produced with
George Clooney,
Dustin Hoffman's debut, Quartet, starring Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly and Michael Gambon, and the risqué Hyde Park on Hudson, starring Bill Murray as
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Hollywood film producer Rebecca Wang, whose film
Passion PlayBill Murray starred in, attended the
Crossfire Hurricane premiere. She said: "Crossfire Hurricane is a stunning film that has definitely lived up to the hype. It is exciting to be here in London to see so many new films and see the people that made them happen in the flesh. BFI London Film Festival is getting more innovative and is improving every year, 2012 is certainly a landmark year and it is only right that such a cultural city presents such a creative event."
The international flavour will be enriched by the presence of stars such as French actress Marion Cotillard, and directors such as Ang Lee, Jacques Audiard, and Rama Burshtein.
Celebrating 50 years as the world's biggest rock band, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts still draw the crowds, and
Crossfire Hurricane was broadcast simultaneously to cinemas across the UK, along with footage of the stars as they arrived at the premiere.
The film features unseen footage, commentary from the band and interviews from current and former Stones. Live material and news footage sets the scenes of the hedonistic phenomenon that was the rise of history's longest lasting rock band, who were despised and adored in equal measure by authorities and fans.
Director Brett Morgen, whose films include the Robert Evans documentary The Kid Stays in the Picture, said: "Crossfire Hurricane invites the audience to experience first-hand the Stones' nearly mythical journey from outsiders to rock n' roll royalty. It's an aural and visual rollercoaster ride."
