You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Roger Ebert got the smack put to him by NY Post reviewer Lou Lumenick last week—quite literally. The incident occurred at a TIFF screening of Slumdog Millionaire. Lumenick, it is reported, walloped a cancer-suffering Ebert with a binder for tapping him on the shoulder during the film (Ebert couldn’t see the subtitles). Lumenick responded in his Thursday column to tell everyone, quite simply, to get a life. No comment on the movie, though.—Katy P
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The Buzz: Film fest deals and Oscar hopefuls
• There’s already Academy Award talk about The Wrestler and for Mickey Rourke’s haunting comeback performance as a world-class athlete gone to seed. [Los Angeles Times]
• Though it has just been picked up for U.S. distribution by Summit Entertainment, Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker will still have to avoid the box-office death suffered by Iraq films in previous years. Did anyone see In the Valley of Elah? [Economist]
• We’re hearing good things from inside the theatre world about the documentary Every Little Step, which chronicles the casting process for the 2006 stage revival of A Chorus Line. [Broadway World]
• Four actresses from the TIFF crop are standing out in the awards-show race: Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married, Keira Knightley in The Duchess, Kristin Scott Thomas in Il y a longtemps que je t’aime (I’ve Loved You So Long) and Sally Hawkins in Happy-Go-Lucky. [The Envelope]
Since most of the celebs have left town, Torontonians can now enjoy the films for their own sake, without the constant ticky-tack of someone thumbing the details of last night’s close encounter into their BlackBerry.—Katy P
Jamie Kennedy declares TIFF “too serious”; TIFF unfazed
At first, we were a little confused about why low-brow comedy star Jamie Kennedy is at TIFF; his film, Heckler, premiered more than a year ago at the Tribeca film festival, and he’s not in any of the movies playing in Toronto. Why is he here? Why do we care? Why the red carpet treatment? Oh, right, he’s here to promote the DVD release of Heckler, which came out yesterday (September 9) and a copy of which he shamelessly held in his hand on the red carpet at The Other Man party at Casa Loma on Sunday. Apparently he’s witnessed no funny business in town so far. “It’s too serious,” he said of TIFF. “It needs more humour. Show some comedies.”
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Distribution rights for The Wrestler sell for $4 million in TIFF’s first major deal
The first big deal of the festival has been made: Variety reports that U.S. distribution rights for Darron Aronofsky’s The Wrestler—starring Mickey Rourke, sporting what looks like a serious facelift—were sold for a cool $4 million. The rights went to Fox Searchlight after an all-night bidding war at the Four Seasons.—Katy P“
Having hot actors in your film does not guarantee success, but we’ll swoon anyway
When we asked Gael Garcia Bernal about how he thinks audiences will react to Blindness, he responded with, “I dunno. Let’s see.”
We just assumed he was a man of few words (churned out in a sexy Spanish accent), and naturally, we swooned anyway.
Bill Maher slams Religulous protesters
A group of suspiciously clean-cut protesters marched next to the red carpet at the premiere of Bill Maher’s semi-controversial doc Religulous on Saturday. Sporting backpacks and placards, they didn’t chant or chat, and our hardball question—“Who do you represent?”—was met with the stink eye and silence.
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Inside the InterContinental Hotel: deep in the trenches of TIFF, where publicists, celebrities and journalists collide
The celebs may rest their weary heads at the Four Seasons, but in the daytime they are marched through Yorkville by irate L.A. agents and no-bull Toronto publicists to endless media interviews at the InterContinental Hotel. Once hidden behind closed hotel room doors, the famous begin an onslaught of demands and exasperated complaints: • “I’m parched like an overworked mule, and I am experiencing tingling on my entire left side!” • “Don’t you have a vegan menu? I’m lactose intolerant.” • “Is there no way we can make this room feel less like a prostitute’s lair?”
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