Stars gather for London Film Festival opening

A gala screening of Fantatsic Mr Fox opened the 53rd London Film festival, with stars like George Clooney, Bill Murray, Cindy Crawford, David Morrissey and director Gurinder Chawla attending the screening.

George Clooney, who lends his voice to the main character in the movie based on Roald Dahl’s book joined the media in some pre-screening banter along with Lost in Translation star David Murray. Meryl Streep, who lends her voice to the Mrs Fox character in the film, was unable to attend because of flu. She has stayed back in the US.

Murray, who has only one line in the whole film, said he hoped people would be able to see the preparation and pain that went into his performance.

Clooney, who was accompanied by his Italian girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis, later signed autographs for fans in Leicester Square.

The London Film Festival will be hosting a screen talk with actor Clive Owen, among many other events and shows. This year will also mark the 20 anniversary of Wallace and Gromit, and celebrations have been planned. A total of 113 short films and 191 features will be featured, covering 17 venues. The UK Flim Council has provided almost £2m of lottery funding for the film festival.

The fund was set up two years ago to help promote and raise the profile for the film festival.