It was the turn of Shopgirl and **Kiss Kiss Bang Bang **at the Times bfi London Film Festival tonight, with the lively Anand Tucker and the lovely Claire Danes at the Odeon West End, and later the legendary Shane Black
But it's ladies first, and Shopgirl was the story of a young woman who works in a shop (of course), and the two men she dates – one older and richer (Steve Martin); and Danes explains why.
"I'd read the book when it came out five years ago and was an avid admirer of Steve – and Anand as well. I thought Hilary and Jackie was beautiful. It was ideal, and it's not every day that I get to play a character that is this well observed, this tender."
Anand Tucker, meanwhile, was clearly thrilled to be at the LFF. "It's my home town! I've been to every single one since I first came to London 22 years ago. My very, very first film about Antoine de Saint-Exupery was here at the LFF, and then a film I produced was here, called Girl With A Pearl Earring. So they've been very very good to me, the festival, so I'm very lucky."
"I was immediately smitten with the script. It was so beautifully written, which is incredibly rare, and it was incredibly emotion – full of longing and melancholy, and it was witty and funny. I fell in love with it."
Read more from Clare in our Red Carpet interview here.
But then it was the turn of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, represented by director and screenwriter Shane Black. It's only his first film as director, but the Robert Downey Jr / Val Kilmer starring thriller is proof that he's not afraid to step behind the camera.
"I love London, and to experience a film festival like this from the inside out is bizarre – I've always been on the outside looking in. I'm very honoured and flattered, of course, that they would take this film on. It's a unique chance for us to get the word out. It's a small movie. The actors are amazing together."
We'll bring you more from Black closer to the film's release on November 11. In the meantime, we let him go off to introduce his debut, as the LFF's second weekend kicked off with a bang bang double bill.