Helen Hunt - Hunt's Premiere Nightmare

HELEN HUNT had to tackle the projectionist at the premiere of her new movie AND THEN SHE FOUND ME, because the picture was completely out of focus.

The actress screened her directorial debut for the first time at the Toronto Film Festival in Canada last September (07), and she confesses she was terrified as soon as she realised it would be watched by as many as 3,000 film fans.

She says, "We were on our way to the premiere, and I was really nervous. I didn't know what to expect because I hadn't brought my own film somewhere before.

"My boyfriend (Matthew Carnahan) had, so he said, 'It's probably 200-300 seats.' And the driver from Canada said, 'Sorry, it's 2,000-3,000 seats.' So I started to sweat."

And the evening went from bad to worse.

She adds, "I sat down in this big, beautiful theatre and the movie was out of focus. But I don't mean a little out of focus. I don't mean filmmaker, picky, out of focus. I mean when we ran upstairs and asked them to put it in focus the audience cheered."

Fortunately for Hunt, the night improved: "Then something happened and people started laughing and crying and standing and clapping and now it's in theatres so it was a very lucky night for me".