Mike Newell’s Great Expectations. The phrase itself doesn’t conjure up images of bold departures from tradition or magical surprises. As Newell puts it, Great Expectations is “a very ploughed field”. But while version of Charles Dickens’ seminal text is perfectly sound (if nothing more), there were more surprises to be found at the press conference for the film.

With Jeremy Irvine, Holliday Grainger, Robbie Coltrane, Mike Newell and David Nicholls in attendance, interesting factoids and anecdotes spilled out every few minutes.

Here are the six things I learned from the Great Expectations press conference...

Sometimes, covering a red carpet can be an insightful experience, with funny, interesting conversations with filmmakers and members of the press alike. Sometimes, if the stars are famous, they can be crowded and you spend several hours in the cold to only get one question with your interviewee of choice. Or, even sillier, hear a queue of journalists ask them the same question over and over again.

But sometimes, as with Rust and Bone’s gritty, raw love story, you get to see something truly unexpected. In this case, Jacques Audiard hitting on a French journalist…

Here’s what I learned at the Rust and Bone premiere:

Quartet, a film about a home full of retired musicians putting on a show, is a landmark film. Not just because it continues the elderly-themed trend in modern cinema, or sees Billy Connolly swear like a sex-obsessed young person again, but because it’s the first time Dustin Hoffman has directed a film.

Hoffman sat down with Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Sheridan Smith, Pauline Collins and Billy Connolly to talk about keeping his OAP ensemble in tune.

Here are five things I learned at the Quartet press conference…

What do you do after making In Bruges? Write a movie about yourself trying to write a movie, if Seven Psychopaths is anything to go by. A mental mesh of dog kidnapping, guns, more dog kidnapping and struggling screenwriters, Martin McDonagh’s bizarre comedy crime caper is crazy, confused and very, very funny.

I accosted him before the film’s London Film Festival premiere and, undeterred by the fact that he looks like a henchman from a Bond film, asked him about getting Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken and the rest of his gang together.

Here’s what Martin McDonagh had to say: