Serenity premiere in Amsterdam. (Pics and Dutch commentary) Nathan and Summer attended the low key premiere of Serenity on Tuesday (9/6), welcomed by 50 (mainly) Dutch Browncoats and a straggle of Dutch press, 'celebs' and UIP associates.

The film won't go into general release in this country until November. Interest seems low and the release has been moved around quite a bit to satisfy theatre owners. Sci-fi & pop culture aren't popular here and tv series in general aren't considered art or taken seriously at all. (I was thinking, instead of saying 'by the maker of Buffy and Angel, that new poster should have had 'by the writer of Speed and Toy Story' on it. That would attract an audience here.) Celeb and press turn out was pretty low.

You'll find my pictures in the Whedonesque pool at Flickr. (slideshow)

Summer signed quite a few things for the fans on the red carpet, while Nathan seemed to be more in a hurry. They were fashionably late as it was.

The two of them were introduced to the crowd by a man who didn't introduce himself. He then did a brief interview with Summer and Nathan in which he rather exaggerated Dutch interest in the phenomenon, as well as the size of the fanbase. So he must have been a UIP employee.

Summer admitted to being very shy as she stumbled over UIP-guy's first question (explain the success, yadda yadda yadda) and Nathan clowned around quite a bit, which lightened things up nicely. Nathan said Joss was a bit like a father figure, but also a goofy younger brother that you can make fun of. Near the end of the interview, Nathan pretended to spoil part of the film. You'll see in the pictures where he's got his hand clasped over his mouth.

An intro by Joss was played before the film in which Joss praised the fans for being inclusive and understanding that his work belonged to everybody, and just not the happy few. It's not a cult, it's a movement. Which was funny because I had been talking to a young man waiting in line at the red carpet who would have preferred the new poster to appeal to 'people like us' rather than 'the masses'.

Then we watched Serenity. It was my second time and I thoroughly enjoyed it again. Was moved and excited in all the right places once more.

Summer and Nathan had sat down to watch the film with us, but they left about two third into the film.

Audience response was a little muted at the start - a lot of the Browncoats had already seen the film. I noticed the quick jokes, the language quirks didn't seem to evoke a reaction (the translation was good but lacked a lot of the funny) unless they were given space (a few beats, so it sank in). It could be people didn't understand, or it could be everybody was wrapped up in the film. At the end of the film, quite a few people applauded. Wash drew the most laughs, I think, and Jayne a good second.

I didn't linger long, went straight back to process my photos, so I may well have missed a meet 'n' greet in the lobby, I don't know. Which I'm fine with - it's not really my thing.

Caroline | Firefly&Serenity | 03:09 CET | 22 comments total | tags: summer glau, nathan fillion, serenity, premiere, amsterdam