Year in Review: TIFF 2011, where we saw celebrities everywhere (and even shared a bathroom with one)

Year in Review: TIFF 2011, where we saw celebrities everywhere (and even shared a bathroom with one)

TIFF this year was a a non-stop gauntlet of activity, from press conferences to movie screenings (actually), swag lounges and some of the splashiest parties this city has ever seen. We saw Jon Hamm, Madonna, Keira Knightley, the Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Johnny Rotten, Rachel Weisz and hundreds more (seriously, there wasn’t a corner of Yorkville or King West that didn’t have a star sighting—we even shared a bathroom break with Gerard Butler; no big deal). Here, a top 10 list of our favourite TIFF moments

A Party With a View: Interview magazine’s rooftop to-do
Joe Fresh and Interview magazine feted Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin on the Spoke Club rooftop for their movie Like Crazy (not to be confused with Drive Me Crazy), and it was packed to the walls with well-wishers, like Jessica Chastain and Jason Reitman (celebrities are usually friends with other celebrities). Find out who said Chastain had a Kirk Douglas chin.

Sarah Gadon: a star is born
Local girl Sarah Gadon (who you may remember from Being Erica) has had a pretty big year. She was named one of TIFF’s rising stars and had a role in David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method. She even proved that starlets can bring their fashion A-game to Toronto (even though so few people do).

Coolest party of TIFF (hands down): Bad Day’s party for James Franco and Gus Van Sant
James Franco. Johnny Rotten smoking indoors. Gus Van Sant. It goes without saying that it was a howling good time.

Classiest party of TIFF: the Vanity Fair party (’cause, well, it’s the Vanity Fair party)
Vanity Fair is friends with all of the celebrities (all of them), so it makes sense that this party is TIFF’s swishiest. And, true to form, it was. Find out what you missed and who you missed in our breathtaking gallery (also, see Allison Janney hump a young man’s leg).

A True Hollywood Rager: the Dangerous Method party at Soho House
Every celebrity in the city was here. Every celebrity. People didn’t leave until 4 a.m. Everyone was drunk, everyone was dancing and everyone was no doubt hurting in the morning. We were.

The Biggest Dude Party of TIFF: the Ides of March party at Soho House
Ryan Gosling and Dave Matthews partied together. Bros forever.

The Biggest Girl Party of TIFF: Kate Spade and Bryce Dallas Howard celebrate women in film
Bryce Dallas Howard toasted women in film with Kate Spade at a very elegant dinner at the Harbord Room. Pink drinks and pink napkins were offset by kelly-green bags, and we couldn’t help but be slightly annoyed by Jessica Chastain’s cackling.

TIFF’s Best-Dressed Men
The men of TIFF were either total slobs or dapper as can be, and we made a short list of our favourite looks from the boys at TIFF 2011.

TIFF’s Best-Dressed Women
Sometimes we feel as if the ladies don’t really try too hard for the Toronto International Film Festival—it feels like they’re saying, “Well, it’s just Toronto. I guess I’ll just throw on this dress someone sent me for free. It isn’t wrinkled.” We found some ladies who, by most standards, looked incredible. Who was your favourite leading lady?

The TIFF Class of 2011: a yearbook of the who’s who of TIFF
Taking in everything we learned, saw, smelled, touched and tasted at TIFF, we brought to you Torontolife.com’s first ever yearbook of our favourite people at TIFF, like Whit Stillman, Sarah Silverman, Keira Knightley, Johnny Rotten and more. These celebrities never looked so amazing.

The 2011 TIFF Beard Poll (because, believe us, there were enough to warrant a whole poll)
Beards were everywhere this TIFF, but we definitely had our favourites. In what became our most popular poll of TIFF 2011, we present to you our favourite beards: Michael Fassbender, Hugh Dancy and Dave Matthews.

TIFF’s funniest “QUOTED” is a glorified fart joke (from Seth Rogen, natch)
Seth Rogen and fart jokes live together in perfect harmony.

Madonna drama at TIFF 2011 had everyone buzzing (and turning away)
Madonna allegedly asked TIFF volunteers to turn away and not look at her as she walked down the red carpet. We’ve got all the details on what really went down.

TIFF 2011: wherein Dave Matthews was everywhere. Seriously.
We eventually realized that Dave Matthews was here for his production company, ATO Pictures, but before that day, we thought there might be a college-rock revival in our midst. The man was everywhere during TIFF 2011 and, despite how we feel about his music, he knew how to party.