Jenny Peters
Los Angeles – What made the huge Hollywood premiere of "Inception" on Tuesday, July 13, different from most? It wasn't that it was staged at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard; that's been the spot where movie premieres have happened since 1927. Nor was it having a huge movie star like Leonardo DiCaprio head across the street to the screaming crowd, signing autographs and posing for photos with adoring fans, for that's been done, too.
No, what set the "Inception" premiere apart was the charity component, for this event wasn't just about getting all the key players like writer-director Christopher Nolan and his actors, including Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe, Lukas Haas, Tom Berenger and Dileep Rao, together in one place. It was about staving off climate change, with ticket sales proceeds going to the Alliance for Climate Protection.
Al Gore, the chairman of that organization, and former vice president of the United States, told the filled-to-capacity audience in the theater: "Raising awareness of the climate crisis is our duty; it deserves everything we can do."
Those lucky enough to attend, including Kellan Lutz, Djimon Hounsou, Kimora Lee Simmons, Carrie-Anne Moss, Lee Pace and Danica McKellar, saw an eye-popping, mind-bending film that melds dreams with reality, then trooped down a closed-off Hollywood Boulevard to the surreal after party.
Entering a giant, luxuriously appointed tent through a mass of mirrors, the crowd was wowed from the start, and it only got better. After being serenaded by a lounge singer and served up tasty tidbits from Wolfgang Puck, partygoers including DiCaprio, Cotillard and Page were treated to a full-blown orchestral performance of the "Inception" soundtrack, led by composer Hans Zimmer and guitarist Johnny Marr, of The Smiths fame.