This is a post all about a press release. Unfortunately, it's not about Lily Allen, on account of its being about Daniel Craig.
On Tuesday an email arrived with the subject heading "Photo Opportunity". Fuel, the zealous PR company for the Wyndham Grand hotel in Chelsea (who are always sending out notes about which celebrity has been spotted there, much to the celebs' displeasure, I'd imagine, having chosen to patronise the place for its upmarket appeal) had pasted a big picture of Daniel Craig in a suit along with some text about a £250 Martini. Yes: that's £250 for a martini.
So I called Craig's agent to congratulate him on having signed such a lucrative advertising deal. It's a bit odd, I thought, that someone of Danny's fame would need to do something like this. Particularly in the UK, as fans of Lost in Translation might appreciate. But hey, maybe he wanted an extra pair of shoes and this paid the bill. Or he wanted to buy a martini at the Wyndham Grand.
The agent said he hadn't signed any such deal. So I filed this away as a story not to use, thought the Wyndham Grand PRs had been pushing their luck, perhaps, even more than usual and got on with my day, which I mostly spent reading the three hundred and fifty comments on the bottom of Marina's blog about Lily Allen, and calling the BBC to complain about Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand.
Then, ping! An email arrives from the Wyndham Grand. "CORRECTION," it says, in capitals.
Good afternoon,
Further to yesterday's email promoting the Giant Martini at the Wyndham Grand London we just want to clarify that The Wyndham Grand or Fuel PR do not have the rights for use or reproduction of the image of Daniel Craig that was attached to the body of the email.
And the moral of this story is: don't mess with Daniel Craig. He's clearly a fellow who guards his image very closely.
