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(Images: Christopher Drost)
Well, it’s a wrap. Some might suggest that there are no winners and losers at TIFF, and that the festival is a harmonious celebration of filmmaking and the artistic spirit. For our part, we say these people are wrong. Life is a competition, and we’ve got the goods on the stars, the parties, the neighbourhoods, the red carpet galas and the films that came out on top—and on the bottom—this year, after the jump.
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Jon Hamm at the George Stroumboulopoulos Hazel Hotel Takevoer party (Image: JJ Thompson)
One of the many A-list celebrities to grace Toronto’s streets last week for TIFF 2011 was none other than Jon Hamm himself—or as he’s perhaps better known, Don Draper, the enigmatic ad executive he plays on the television show Mad Men. Hamm was a class act throughout TIFF: he took in Toronto sights, went to all the right parties and, of course, looked devastatingly handsome while doing it. Based on Hamm’s short but sweet stay in the Big Smoke, we’ve distilled four rules on how to be a gentlemen—Mad Men style—whilst in Toronto, after the jump.
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(Images: Soho House)
As usual, the opening weekend of TIFF meant an overdose of red carpets and parties, but we’ve still got our eyes and ears glued to every other TIFF event going on. After the jump, the best party fashion, festival news, gossip and star spottings from the weekend:
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Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt (Image: Alexandra Wyman)
For the third night in a row, Grey Goose Soho House proved to be a celebrity pit stop during TIFF 2011. Last night at the fete for Your Sister’s Sister, Emily Blunt wore a casual fuchsia dress as she hobnobbed with cast and crew. At the end of the party (she stayed for the whole thing, which we understand is not the norm), she was overheard saying, “But I don’t know how I’ll get home,” which is something we can relate to. It can be so hard finding your chauffeur after the party. Castmate Mark Duplass and director Lynn Shelton hung around longer into the evening as the party switched gears. Find out which celebrities came out to the party last night in our photo gallery after the jump.
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Apparently, David Cronenberg knows how to throw a party: pretty much every celebrity currently in town for TIFF attended the Canadian director’s party at Grey Goose Soho House last night in honour of his new film, A Dangerous Method (click here to see our photo gallery). The list of bold-faced names included: Cronenberg, George Clooney, Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, Bono, Stacy Keibler, Keira Knightley, James Righton, Evan Rachel Wood, Emily Blunt, Kate Mara, Max Minghella, Adam Scott, Richard Kelly, Jonah Hill, Chris Pratt, Anna Faris, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Westfeldt, Justin Long, Scott Porter, Jimmy Kimmel, Guillermo Diaz, Ewan McGregor, Kirsten Dunst, Emile Hirsch, Michelle Monaghan, Gina Gershon, Dave Matthews, Morgan Spurlock and Paz de la Huerta. Also, the Twitter machine provided a running commentary for the evening. Check out the highlights, after the jump.
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Hold on, did we see Ewan McGregor in MC Hammer pants and combat boots last night? Uh, yes, we did. Really, thank goodness for that, too— we’ve seen enough tailored suits to last us until next year’s TIFF. McGregor showed up at the premier of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen rocking a baggy-at-the-crotch military look, and took time to sign the barrage of Obi-Wan Kenobi eight-by-tens that were immediately shoved in his face (a face that featured a picture-perfect five o’clock shadow). Director Lasse Hallström was also in attendance and happily posed for photographs, despite the whispers of “Um, who is that?” Emily Blunt was less amicable—she appeared disconcerted by the crush of fans and cameras on the unusually disorganized carpet at the Princess of Wales Theatre and was inside within minutes. Still, we like that she skipped the gown routine in favour of a classy jumpsuit. Of course, we also wish we could have seen more of it. See the gallery after the jump.
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Ryan Gosling is with this guy (Dave Matthews) (Image: Soho House)
The sheer abundance of A-listers at A Dangerous Method’s party at Soho House put celeb gossip mongers on overload, and by 2:30 a.m., the party was still going strong, making those working the event wish George Clooney would just go back to his hotel already so the rest of us could call it a night. Who we spotted, who they hung out with and what we overheard after the jump (plus pictures, lots of pictures).
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We just got wind from a source that Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor lunched together today at the Ben Sherman lounge at the InterContinental Toronto Centre. The Devil Wears Prada star and crooning poet from Moulin Rouge were taking a—probably much needed—break from promoting their Lasse Hallström–directed film Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, which is based on the novel by Paul Torday. Celebs have got to eat, and what better way to do it than in a mid-century modern appointed hotel, overlooking an actual restaurant with commoners dining?
Find this story on our Star Spotting Map, where we plot the locations of celebrities spotted around Toronto.
As with any film festival, TIFF 2010 had its share of disappointments (Miral, Hereafter) and outright disasters (Passion Play, What’s Wrong With Virginia), but the general consensus is that this was a pretty good year. Critics and audiences found more than a few gems, and an astounding 18 films that arrived here without North American distribution have already found buyers. By our reckoning, however, eight films stood out as the biggest winners of the festival.
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Christopher Plummer is playing Prospero at Stratford, and although he’s 80 years old, he wants you to know this isn’t his swan song
Act your age: Plummer at the opening night of Stratford’s As You Like It in June. “Learning great roles really helps your memory when you’re old,” he says (Image: Christopher Wahl)
At the Oscars last March, Christopher Plummer waited for Penélope Cruz, up on the glittery stage, to open the big white envelope. He was nominated in the best supporting actor category—his first nomination after appearing in nearly 120 movies over a six-decade-long career. He’d played an elderly, crazily bearded Tolstoy opposite his long-time friend Helen Mirren in The Last Station. He is 80, and although his face is drawn, he still projects the look he did at 35, when he portrayed Baron von Trapp in The Sound of Music, a face that seemed to be saying of the feel-good family show unfolding around him, “Can you believe this shit?”
Cruz announced the award would go to Christoph Waltz, the Austrian actor who played the ruthless SS colonel in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. Though Plummer smiled the requisite smile when the camera flashed on him, that face still retained its imperious mien. So Oscar voters preferred Nazi scum to a literary lion. Plummer was philosophical about the loss—a nomination at 80 was something. Most of his old acting comrades were dead. At least he was here, a survivor from another age—a coup, given how hard he’d lived his first 40 years.
See a slideshow of Christopher Plummer’s life and times »
Lately he’s worked with the fever of a man facing an immutable deadline. In addition to The Last Station, he was the voice of the villainous Charles Muntz in last year’s animated hit Up; he lent heft to the director Terry Gilliam’s latest, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus; and he’s just wrapped an indie family drama, Mike Mills’s Beginners, in which he plays Ewan McGregor’s father. Read the rest of this entry »
Robin Wright, shown here at TIFF last year, stars in Robert Redford's The Conspirator (Image: James Helmer)
Today’s edition of TIFF celebrity stalking is a little meatier, as co-directors Piers Handling and Cameron Bailey announced 50 films (15 galas, 35 special presentations, including 25 world premieres) and the whackitude of celebrities associated with them. We’ve got two Friends (Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer), the Gilmore Girls (Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel), the Mad Men man himself (Jon Hamm), Office favourite Rainn Wilson, the ever-intriguing Winona Ryder, plus Robert Redford, Woody Allen, Helen Mirren, Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem and more. This year might just top 2009’s Oprah-Clooney juggernaut appearances. Too lazy to go through the list? The lowdown, after the jump.
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Mob scene: the crowds go wild as Jeff Bridges stops to sign an autograph at Roy Thomson Hall (Photo by Karon Liu)
All eyes were on gorgeous George at yesterday’s premiere for The Men Who Stare at Goats at Roy Thomson Hall, where six rows of fans lined the entire length of the barricades to catch a glimpse. Security guards threatened that there would be no George if the fans kept pushing.
Coming straight from the press conference, stars George Clooney, Ewan McGregor and Jeff Bridges caused near riots when they came out of their cars, and the fans were even crazier when Clooney spent a good while signing autographs (fans came prepared with printed photos of him) along the gates, making sure everyone got a good look.
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He's a-coming (Photo by Attit Patel)
The much-anticipated official list of celebrities scheduled to attend TIFF arrived in our in-boxes this morning. We’re happy to report that two of the biggest names rumoured to be heading our way, George Clooney and Oprah, are definitely coming.
A lot of our other favourites have also confirmed: Big Love’s Amanda Seyfried, a reformed David Duchovny, Demi Moore, Drew Barrymore (perhaps we’ll spot her making eyes at locals at Sweaty Betty’s again), two of our three favourite Jennifers (Garner and Connelly; Aniston is a no-show), many Michaels (Caine, Cera, Douglas, Moore), the always lovely Natalie Portman, Nicolas Cage, Penélope Cruz, Ricky Gervais, Sarah Polley, Tilda Swinton, Tom Ford, Viggo Mortensen and so many more.
See the full list of guests after the jump.
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Vampire sighting: Kristen Stewart was spotted at a Vancouver sushi restaurant this week, dining with co-star Robert Pattinson (Photo by Laura Ramos)
• Rapper and Degrassi alum Drake says he wants to open a restaurant in Toronto, but he’s also planning another album and a few films, so the culinary dream might be a few years off. The “Best I Ever Had” singer is known to be a fan of Vivoli, so we wouldn’t be surprised if his potential menu included pizza and cocktails. [Rap Up]
• Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart were seen celebrating at Miko Sushi in Vancouver last weekend. The pair is in town to film the third Twilight movie, Eclipse. We assume he left a generous tip this time; the servers at Il Cantinori in New York weren’t pleased when he left them a paltry 14 per cent. [New York Daily News]
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