February 6, 2013 13:43

Beyoncé Super Bowl director speaks of 'blind panic' during performance

Plus: see the pictures Beyoncé's publicist tried to get removed from the internet

Photo Gallery: Beyonce
Photo: Pa Photos

Hamish Hamilton, the British director of Beyoncé's Super Bowl performance, has spoken of the "blind panic" involved in pulling off her performance on such a huge global scale.

Hamilton, who was in charge of Madonna's 2012 Super Bowl performance and also assisted Danny Boyle with the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London, spoke to The Guardian about working with Beyoncé and the range of emotions he felt on Sunday night (February 3). "There is an incredible sense of fear. Then determination, and then blind panic," he said. "It is a ludicrous proposition: there are teams of staging units stretching down the tunnel and into the parking lot and thousands of people praying they make it to the right place in time."

"We had technical issues. We had a camera on air that just decided to fall off its mount – I've never had that happen before – but it is the Super Bowl, and we covered it up beautifully. I'm in a truck watching it happen, and hoping and praying that the stage gets out, [that] the connections are all made, and that everything is in location. Thousands of things can go wrong."

Describing Beyoncé as an "incredibly smart, serene woman", Hamilton added: "It would be naïve to say 'Let's book Beyoncé' and then say to her: 'This is what you have to do'. You do not book Beyoncé and then tell her what to do. At the end of the day, it is her show."

"Everybody said Madonna would be a tough one to top. But the reviews and response we have got suggests that we certainly matched that. I want to make each show a televisual spectacular, and I think we did that."

Meanwhile, US website Buzzfeed has exposed requests from one of Beyonce's publicists to remove "unflattering" pictures of the star they had posted in a photo round-up of the half-time show. The publicist asked for seven images in particular to be taken down. Buzzfeed have so far refused to remove the images and requested reasons as to why the images are deemed unflattering. So far no response has been received.

Scroll down to see a selection of images similar to those hosted by Buzzfeed that have upset Beyoncé's PR team so much.

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