Luck o’ the Irish: Colin Farrell and Bono find no media types at the Atelier cocktail hour
Sadly, no paparazzi were invited to Colin Farrell and Bono’s cocktail hour at Atelier last night. In fact, no one even knew that they were there, save one tabloid reporter from Star magazine. He relayed that they were having a grand ol’ time, and that Bono circulated the crowd with ease, most likely because the rest of us story sniffers weren’t there to jam a Dictaphone in his face.
The Visa Screening Room got a dose of Ireland’s finest last night as Colin Farrell, Bono and The Edge showed up for the premiere of Ondine. See the red carpet photos below.
Charlize Theron is on the board of Artists for Peace and Justice (Photo by Attit Patel)
The opportunity to walk on the set of an undisclosed major picture starring Russell Crowe was sold for $6,000, tea time with Diane Lane went for $3,000 but no invited guest was willing to gamble $5,000 for Casino Royale poker chips, worthy cause or not. Co-hosted by director and writer Paul Haggis and stunning actor Olivia Wilde of House, the charity event for Artists for Peace and Justice (Josh Brolin, James Franco, Oliver Stone and Charlize Theron are on the board) was well attended. Beyond supporting the cause, (helping children in Haiti), we suspect Hollywood also came out to shmooze Haggis, whose credits include Casino Royale, Million Dollar Baby and Oscar winner Crash. In attendance was Sex and The City’sKim Catrall, the OC’s Peter Gallagher, bad-boy Colin Farrell and Twilight vamp Rachelle Lefevre.
The foreign press descends on to Toronto today, specifically the TIFF press office on the second floor of Sutton Place, creating a United Nations of sorts with the common goal of snapping a photo of George Clooney. The real frenzy starts this evening at the opening gala so for now we’re knocking back free sandwiches at the press lounge and noticing that reporters, showing off their photo IDs hanging from green lanyards and toting a TIFF gift bag (which contains a Metropass!), all fall within six categories:
The Broadcaster Attire: They are impeccably dressed at 9 a.m. For women, it’s flower-printed sundresses and blister-inducing espadrilles. For men, it’s the slightly more comfortable blazer and jeans combo. Attachés: BlackBerry, small shoulder bag or purse. Behaviour: Constant texting and phone calls to segment producer. Posse: Middle-aged camera crew carrying all the heavy stuff. Celebrity goal: An encounter with camera-friendly George Clooney so that five-second, self-congratulating clip can be replayed over and over again in promo clips until TIFF 2010.
Even though it’s just a press conference, the announcement of TIFF’s Canadian lineup is considered to be the unofficial pre-gala kickoff for locals. Homegrown filmmakers, actors and distributors packed into the Royal York’s Imperial Room yesterday to pose for the camera and decimate the open bar and buffet table in a manner befitting this country’s underfunded film industry. Since a British film—Creation—was chosen for opening night, a Canadian project was widely expected to close the festival. Organizers didn’t disappoint. The honour went to The Young Victoria, a look at titular queen’s early years on the throne directed by C.R.A.Z.Y. filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée. Other notable announcements included:
• Atom Egoyan’sChloe, about a wife (Julianne Moore) who hires a PYT (Amanda Seyfried) to catch her husband (Liam Neeson) in the act of cheating;
• Reginald Harkema’s follow-up to Monkey Warfare—Leslie, My Name Is Evil—will have its world premiere;
• Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, the tale of a travelling theatre show staring Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Heath Ledger in his last role. A Canada-U.K. co-production, this one just squeaked into the CanCon category.
Drew Barrymore, seen here with Corey Feldman at the 1989 Academy Awards, screens her directorial debut, Whip It, at TIFF 2009 (Photo by Alan Light)
The titles of some of TIFF‘s films (and stars speculated to show up to promote them) have been announced over the past few days. They range from Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut—with a surprisingly star-studded, funny-lady cast—to Michael Moore’s latest documentary. The sequel to Todd Solondz’sHappiness (which we thought was unsequalable), the latest comedy by the Coen brothers and Werner Herzog’s new crime-fest will also be screened. A full run down of the latest flicks to be added to the Toronto International Film Festival schedule, after the jump.
TIFF bound? Tina Fey stars in The Invention of Lying (Photo by George Arriola)
No celebrity’s attendance at TIFF has been officially confirmed, but yesterday’s announcement of opening galas and special presentations gives us a good idea of who’s expected to venture to Toronto in September. Here’s a quick breakdown of which movies are being screened and which stars we expect to see milling about Yorkville 50 days hence.
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