Guardians Of The Galaxy European Premiere! Zoe Saldana! Chris Pratt! Chris Hemsworth! Joss Whedon! And More!

James had an amazing time at the Guardians of the Galaxy European premiere. I wish I had such a time at the Los Angeles premiere… Grrrrr… Still, I’m super excited for James, because not only did he meet most of the Guardians, but Thor and Joss Whedon as well!

Check it out below!!!

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Guardians of the Galaxy European Premiere

Thursday 24 July

So, after two and a half months away, I finally made a return to Leicester Square. Well, I say away, there just weren’t any premieres going on that I was particularly worried about being at! Back to the present and Thursday saw the European premiere of Marvel’s latest film, Guardians of the Galaxy. Directed by James Gunn, the film stars Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace and Chris Pratt. When this premiere was announced about three months ago, there was only one name I was worried about meeting – Chris. I LOVE Parks and Recreation, it’s undoubtedly my favourite American TV programme, and Andy (Chris) is my favourite character from it. I could happily spend a whole day watching episodes of life in Pawnee. I’ve been lucky enough to meet Rashida Jones (Ann) and the show’s creator Greg Daniels, and I was really excited to have a chance to meet a second main cast member. This was the first premiere in a while I’ve had proper excitement for, which is saying something.

Premiere day came, and after leaving work early and with help from a couple of friends for saving me a spot, I arrived at Leicester Square to a pretty cool looking blue carpet. We were right by the where the cars would drop the stars off, and I had a pretty good feeling about how the evening was going to go. But at the same time I knew, deep down, if I didn’t meet Chris I’d be gutted.

After some exceptionally irritating warm up man trying to get fans to rap, the arrivals started. First to arrive was director James Gunn. He happily came over to sign and pose for photos, and I got an index card signed. He didn’t get to sign many before being pulled away to see the press, which was a bit worrying.

Next to arrive was Doctor Who star, Karen Gillan. I love Doctor Who, and of the recent series, she was the only main actor from it I’d not met (I’ve metChristopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Billie Piper, Freema Agyeman, Catherine Tate, Matt Smith, Jenna Louise Coleman and Peter Capaldi in the past). She also started signing as soon as she got out of the car; she signed my Doctor Who book, and is the 18th person to do so. She also kindly posed for a photo with me. Happy James!

Singer Amelia Lily arrived next. She signed an index card for me and posed for a photo too.

Zoe Saldana was next to arrive. The Star Trek, Avatar and Pirates of the Caribbeanactress looked fabulous and she too started signing and posing for photos, although soon stopped posing when she realised just how big a set up there was! She did sign my autograph book though!

… aaaand here’s Chris Pratt!! He gets out and comes straight on over. Yipee! But my joy was cut short when he was pulled away by PAs to pose for the press after signing maybe 3 autographs. What?! He promised to come back, but usually once someone has gone up the carpet they don’t come back down. Don’t think I can put into words how gutted I was at this point. However, to quickly counteract my sadness was the arrival of the legend that is Joss Whedon! The creator of Buffy, Angel and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D got out of the car and looked really frail – he appeared to be finding it difficult to walk and was using a walking stick to move about, which was really worrying to see. This time last year I met Joss at the BBC and he was really fast moving back then. He still came on over to sign for a few people, including an index card for me.

Dave Bautista was next to arrive. He signed a handful of autographs on the other side to where I was before being taken up the carpet to do interviews. That was the last we saw of him during the premiere. A couple of minutes later, out of the blue, Luke Skywalker himself arrived, Mark Hamill! Wow! He only signed maybe five autographs and not where I was, but it was pretty awesome to see a Star Wars legend turn up unannounced! I wonder what the Star Warspremiere will be like….

It all went a bit quiet for a bit, and suddenly Chris Pratt appeared coming back towards us! Wow, he was true to his word and came back to exactly where he had left off before. He was just as friendly as I’d heard he was – I distinctly remember seeing a story on MiketheFanboy about him being uber friendly at the Parks and Recreation set which I thought was awesome. I totally lost my cool when he got to me (which Ivery rarely do) and started blabbing about my love for Parks and Recreation and for Andy and I think I even told him there needs to be some more Mouse Rat (his character’s band on the show). He seemed really appreciative of this, and happily signed and dedicated my autograph book, and posed for a photo too! Cue a very happy James!!

I didn’t mind what happened next, I was going to be going home happy! However, the good evening didn’t stop there. Soon after, the third surprise arrival of the day turned up, Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth! Madness! He started signing, and I think he may have signed more than any of the actual film’s cast did, which was really awesome of him. He even held up the cars with arrivals in to sign for people that were away from the actual red carpet. Really impressed by him! I got an index card signed, and managed to get a quick photo too!

Whilst Chris was going around signing, his wife and Fast & Furious 6 star Elsa Patakywas just standing watching and waiting. I called her and she happily came over to sign an index card and pose for a photo.

There was only one person left to arrive now, Vin Diesel. A car pulled up, and out got Vin.. wearing stilts and an I Am Groot (his character in the film) T Shirt! I thought this was going to be an excuse for him to not sign, but it turned out I was wrong! Despite having to bend right down to reach people, the Fast and Furious star signed a fair few autographs. I got my autograph book signed, and even managed to get an index card signed for a friend.

And that was that. Another very fun evening in Leicester Square with a near 100% success rate. I wish all premieres were like this (although preferably without the stress of thinking the one person I wanted to meet wasn’t going to come back down!). I’ll finish with this awesome photo I found on twitter of the red carpet, taken from above. How cool does it look!

Until next time!

For more from James check out his site here!