Once upon a premiere in Los Angeles
By William Keck, USA TODAY
LOS ANGELES — Jennifer Garner and Michelle Williams treated their soon-to-be-born babies to grim bedtime stories Monday night at the Los Angeles premiere of The Brothers Grimm, a dark comedy rated PG-13 for violence, frightening sequences and brief suggestive material.

Garner, husband Ben Affleck and brother-in-law Casey Affleck attended to support family friend Matt Damon, who stars with Williams' boyfriend, Heath Ledger, as fairy-tale publishers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm.

Wolfgang Puck catered the Directors Guild Theatre after-party, where Garner, wearing a loose-fitting printed top over a pair of jeans, chatted up Damon's girlfriend, Luciana Barroso. Ben became quite the protective papa bear whenever reporters approached his pregnant bride.

Williams, wearing a burgundy with black lace gown by Alessandro Dell'Acqua, remained at a table, occasionally chatting up ex-Dawson's Creek co-star Joshua Jackson.

But with such dark elements as child abduction and witchcraft, is The Brothers Grimm (in theaters Aug. 26) suitable for the prenatal crowd? Papa Ledger believes so, and he has every intention of exposing his baby to such Grimm tales as Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel & Gretel.

"Absolutely," he said. "I think they're very important in today's society. They inspire the imagination in children."

Plus, Ledger still warmly recalls "the familiarity of hearing my own mother's voice sending me off to sleep."

But Damon's future children will hear highly sanitized versions of the Grimm classics. He said he's still recovering from when his mother read him the fairy tales as a young boy growing up in Massachusetts.

"While we were making the movie, my mother actually showed up on set with my little hardcover (Grimm's Fairy Tales) book," said Damon. "Looking back, the stories are a lot more macabre than I remember. And there's some pretty racy stuff, too."

Ledger dodged questions about a possible proposal to Williams. The Brothers Grimm, he said, taught him a most valuable lesson that helps him survive Hollywood: "Stay the (blank) away from wolves."

Source: USA Today