Sarah Nicole Prickett | torontolife.com

On the festival’s penultimate night, Shinan Govani and Barry Avrich held a fête for Boldface Names

Book bash: Boldface Names, the new novel by Shinan Govani, was celebrated yet again

“Another book launch party?” we asked.
“This is number three—officially,” said the paperback writer in Prada.

Third time’s for the charmed circle, apparently. Gathered in Harbour Sixty’s glittering cellar were publishing magnates and paparazzi magnets, fashion editors and filmmakers, social queen bees and an MTV princess. Somehow, we were there, too, allured and bewildered, suddenly privy to the extraordinary problems of the ruling class.

“I walked in, and the first thing Shinan said to me was, ‘There won’t be enough red!’” said Mary Symons, effervescent patroness to social boozers—she’d donated caseloads from her winery, Thomas George Estates. “And I said, ‘Well, how many people are coming? You told me 40, and what now, 50?’” Her gemmy earrings shook helplessly. We vowed to drink only white. She laughed a generous laugh.

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 21, 2009 | 9:32 am

Entourage star buys Canadian art during TIFF

Vancouver art, meet L.A. stardom: Entourage star Adrian Grenier strolled into the Toronto art gallery 107 Shaw for The Video Word Made Flesh, a group show inspired by and paying tribute to the celluloid exploits of David Cronenberg. The curly-maned actor chose, of all the original pieces by emerging artists on display at 107, a cool coupling of Jeremy R. Jansen prints, “Crash 1 and 2.” Good picks—the Vancouver photographer creates lingering, ink-blurry images we love. Maybe the pair will be hanging out in Vince’s apartment in an upcoming episode of Entourage?

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 19, 2009 | 5:35 pm

The Tastemakers’ Lounge: generous to the famous

Swagger: Kat Denning at the Tastemakers' Lounge (Photo courtesy of Rok-It PR)

Where’s a TIFF-goer to head for a semblance of home when they are miles before sleep? To the Tastemakers Lounge, of course. In its tenth year at the InterContinental, the gifting suite to the stars has gotten comfortable, feeling more like a super-yuppie condo than swag showroom.

Upon entrance to the airy, livable room, things soothed and wafted: neutral decor by Croma Design and PC Home, faintly spiced almonds mingling with inoffensive fragrances from D&G (most popular? L’Imperatrice; it translates to “The Star”). Box sets of AMC shows Mad Men and Breaking Bad went over big with the cast of Defendor—Woody Harrelson and Kat Dennings—while bamboo tees by Guats went out on the backs of Colin Firth and Agora’s Oscar Isaac. Ally Sheedy got good hair from a Chiggy’s Touch stylist with Rowenta tools. Amanda Schull (danced most famously in Centre Stage, now more credibly in Mao’s Last Dancer) primped with Joe Fresh Beauty. And Ben Barnes, the wasted anti-hero of Dorian Gray, can now recover with the aid of his new PC Home personal water-filter bottle.

As for us, we just wanted to steal a silky pillow for our hollowed-out heads.

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 19, 2009 | 2:32 pm

Precious wins People’s Choice Award, screens free tonight

Oprah Winfrey at the premiere of Precious (Photo by Karon Liu)

You get a free screening of my movie! You get a free screening of my movie! And YOU get a free screening of my movie!

Yep, the Oprah-produced, clunkily titled Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire won the Cadillac People’s Choice Award this afternoon during a ceremony at the InterContinental Hotel Ballroom. That means that anyone can turn up for a free screening of the film tonight at 9 p.m. at the Visa Screening Room, right after the closing gala, The Young Victoria.

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 18, 2009 | 5:16 pm

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Why Jack White has no film career in his future

Jack White (Photo by Christopher Harte)

Jack White only looks like a man just waiting to be immortalized by Johnny Depp. In the press conference for Emmett Malloy’s tour documentary, The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights, the vampire-hued rock god emerged as his own image maker. Doing 90 per cent of the talking, White spoke about his directorial ambitions (he just did a video for the band The Dead Weather and would like to do films if they weren’t so darn time consuming) and control-freakish impulses (the color red on the film poster had to be “his” red; the editing seems to have been done by a royal “we”).

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 18, 2009 | 1:54 pm

The buzz around TIFF awards is running rampant

We are thinking that the Cadillac People’s Choice Award should be renamed Teenager’s Choice this TIFF. High school horrors like Jennifer’s Body and Leslie, My Name is Evil are getting big buzz. There’s also some chat about Whip It, the (say it with us) directorial debut of Drew Barrymore. The Trotsky (starring Jay Baruchel and set in Montreal) is apparently winning over Canadian hearts, making it a front runner for the Best Canadian Feature Award.

The Dish Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 17, 2009 | 3:31 pm

Cooking with Tyler at Mildred’s Temple Kitchen

Lisa Ray: rickshaw rider (Photo by Karon Liu)

Serving Indian food to the Indian stars of a film about cooking—Dilip Mehta’s Cooking With Stella, to be precise—sounds like a challenge of Padma Lakshmi’s devising. Luckily for dinner-skipping attendees, Mildred Temple Kitchen’s chef Tyler Cunningham was up for it. The Liberty Village resto became a “Temple of Taste” for last night’s Mongrel Media soiree, the warmest and most savoury we’ve attended this week. Rose petals clothed every table, an elaborate rickshaw dazzled on the red carpet, and Lisa Ray held court in a violet sari, and yet the food—curry potato dumplings, succulent shrimp on naan—was the most beautiful thing there.

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 17, 2009 | 12:01 pm

The TIFFing point: last night at 9 p.m., the film fest ended in spirit, if not in fact

We regret to inform you that TIFF‘s party circuit is dead. The knell sounded just before 9 p.m. last night, on a quiet Yorkville Avenue, and it sounded a lot like cougars shrieking. Sure enough, up stumbled a terribly lush twosome. One was big and tall, with badly dyed blond hair and a suspiciously crumpled Holts bag (all the better to stow her flip-flops, we guessed). The other squeezed more easily into her Costa Blanca duds, but by the same token, seemed less able to handle her Jager shots. “Hey you guys! Are you gunna party all niiiight?” shrieked the lightweight into the street. She then added, redundantly, “We’re so wasted.”

With a helpless shudder, we realized: she’s going to talk to us.

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 17, 2009 | 11:23 am

A brush with (almost) fame at the Film Italia party

Italians take over MaRS (Photo by Luca Viorel)

The Italian Film Commission scouts the best locations for their annual TIFF gala—two years ago, they were the first to take over the cool underground at the Lower Bay subway station, and in 2008, they partied on a tall ship at Harbourfront. And last night, they turned the MaRs building into a blue-lit banquet hall, awaft with the molto delicioso smell of duck-and-mushroom ravioli. And while no big stars attended (Tilda Swinton was on the list, but sadly, not on the floor), there were enough unidentifiable foreigners and Planet Hollywood types to keep us people watching.

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 16, 2009 | 2:15 pm

A film festival photographer tells us about the best and worst celebrity subjects

Oprah Winfrey and Edward Norton (Photos by Karon Liu)

If not all-seeing, the most-seeing eyes of TIFF are the big photographers: George Pimentel, the Getty peeps, and so on. Last night, we asked a top WireImage lenswoman for her candid ops on the best and worst stars to shoot.

Best subject: “Oprah!” (Really, Oprah likes cameras?)

“She’s patient and enthusiastic,” said the snapper. “And very conscious. She knows what you need to get from her, and she’s really good at working with the rest of the cast on the red carpet, too.”

Worst (after a quick mental scroll): “Probably Ed Norton.”

To give a great actor the benefit of the doubt, we surmised he’s shy.

“No, he just hates it,” was the candid reply. “He gets uncomfortable. It’s really difficult”

Difficult for whom, we wonder? A private celebrity—that popular oxymoron—or a public-eyed photog? “For us, I meant. But now that I think about it…Yeah, maybe both.”

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 16, 2009 | 1:38 pm

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Keanu Reeves is not going to be this year’s Sean Penn, sorry

Keanu Reeves has the bad-boy beard, not not the bad-boy attitude (Photo by James Helmer)

“He talked to me, you know,” breathed a girl at Joe Fresh’s dinner for The Private Lives of Pippa Lee and its players: director Rebecca Miller, star Robin Wright Penn, and the “he” in question, Canada’s long sighed-after Keanu Reeves. Along with the usual suits and various elegant members of Joe Mimran’s consort, they all gathered in the amber glow of Victor (at Hotel Germain) for a little celebration. Three sumptuous courses came and went while outside, clubby passersby did triple takes.

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 14, 2009 | 10:41 am

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A limo driver dishes on chauffeuring George Clooney

A smile to swoon for (Photo by Karon Liu)

Like most of TIFF’s A-list, George Clooney and company drive to and fro in Richmond Limousines. We asked one of the Men in Black Mercedes what it’s like to chauffeur TIFF’s most-chased entourage. His response? Far more sigh than gush.

“I’m driving until 3 a.m. again tonight,” the driver told us. “It’s so busy. Every night I’m driving someone I recognize from a magazine, but I’m bad with names.”

What’s been the craziest trip so far?

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 14, 2009 | 10:27 am

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Why it’s easy (and a bad idea) to hate Megan Fox

Media darling: Megan Fox gives good presser

Don't hate her ’cause she’s beautiful: Megan Fox gives good presser

We didn’t want to like her: she dresses tackily, probably can’t act and brazenly embraces ubiquity. Her hotness seems engineered by Germans. She has not a single humanizing physical flaw. Worse, she’s unapologetic. But in press conferences, red carpet moments and reports from trusty sources—i.e., non-gossip writers—Megan Fox is bloody brilliant. Her interviews are brash, funny and on-point. When she says the wrong thing, it’s on purpose. She’s generous that way, making it easy to hate her.

Rumours had it that she stayed out all night on King Street after the Midnight Madness premiere of Jennifer’s Body—but if that’s true, all the more kudos are due. The Fox showed at her morning-after press conference like it was brunch with the in-laws: dressed in demure ruffles, smiling warmly, sipping Lipton’s. Pure contrivance? Probably. But we’ll never say she’s dumb.

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 13, 2009 | 5:21 pm

Arctic Monkeys singer Alex Turner is denied VIP access at the Holts party

The VIP rooftop of the Burroughes was the coolest spot at the Holt Renfrew party last night, literally. The night air was fresh, while inside, a sauna roiled. Lucky lurkers watched interviews with Coco Rocha or London-made, Manhattan-dwelling MTV starlet Alexa Chung, there to DJ the bash and look drop-dead sexy doing it. (Or, like us, to roll a smoke with the adorably wacky, peace sign-loving photojournalist Rosie Levine.)

The Goods Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 13, 2009 | 2:00 pm

We hit up Coco Rocha at the Holt Renfrew fash bash

Holt Renfrew took their annual gala, always the festival’s most fashionable bash, to new heights last night—the very top of The Burroughes Building, much to the dismay of spike-heeled attendees. No sooner had we reached the top of our social climb, joining Westons and Queen Westers alike, when we heard a dismayed gasp coming from a woman staring at Coco Rocha.