Hundreds of Brad Pitt fans had to make do with director Quentin Tarantino at the premiere of his new film after the leading man failed to attend.
Quentin Tarantino gets swamped by fans at UK premiere
Pitt was presumably too busy looking after his six children as Angelina Jolie made a visit to Iraq.
But those gathered in London's Leicester Square seemed happy with seeing the cult director and when Tarantino is in town anything goes - even saying "bastards" on Sky News.
He was met by a huge crowd as he strolled down the red carpet for the UK premiere of the long awaited World War II epic, the brilliant - and purposefully misspelt - Inglourious Basterds.
As tame as the name is, it's been causing a few backroom discussions at certain broadcasters over quite how offensive that title sounds, especially when Quentin gleefully shouted it at us after we told him Sky News would happily run with it.
"OK, maybe you could say Inglourious Bastados," he laughs. "That sounds Spanish.
"Its so strange like on TV, the Jonathan Ross show, they can use the F-word, you have nudity on television. I mean what the heck?"
The cast: Laurence Bender, Christoph Waltz, Quentin Tarantino and Diane Kruger
The title of course springs from Enzo Castellari's' 1978 film, which Quentin says only served as a small inspiration.
"I actually didn't take anything from the movie itself," he explains. "But I bought it so I could use the name, even though I did like the movie."
The spelling mistakes, though, are Quentin's own invention, possibly a humorous stunt, possibly because that's the way the characters in the film spell it, or probably just because Quentin wanted it to be that way.
It hardly matters. People will want to see this film, and not just because it stars Brad Pitt.
Besides, Christoph Waltz is really the guy to look out for. His Nazi officer steals the show, and the role won him a Best Actor Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
"People are interested in films and not just gossip," Christoph explained as he made his way along the red carpet. "There is hope. That's culture. People want art!"
So have they got art? Tarantino's latest split the critics in Cannes.
UK fans will finally get to see the Basterds in action next monthSource