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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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We learned something last night at the gala presentation for Ten Year at the Ryerson Theatre: ensemble cast movies about high school reunions deliver very crowded red carpets. Shining young face after shining young face glided by, stopping only briefly to do some intense posing. Seriously, these guys were posers. Cast member Beth Whitson came first. She’s modelled for Vogue, and in an elegant floor-length gown she looked like, well, a Vogue model. She was followed by Kelly Noonan (note: saucy neckline) and director Jamie Linden. Scott Porter dressed like he was coming straight from class, and Aaron Yoo spiced things up with a plaid shirt and vest combo. And oh, look at Oscar Isaac: that hair, those eyes, that…velour blazer? Ari Graynor went a tad overboard with the whole pouting for the camera thing. Then, finally, the (sort of) big guns: Jenna Dewan-Tatum, wife to Channing, strolled by in fuchsia, followed by Max Minghella in his second carpet appearance of the festival (he’s also in The Ides of March). We barely noticed Kate Mara, but only because Channing Tatum was hot on her heels, eliciting shrill shrieks from the audience. Last but not least came Justin Long, whom you may recognize as a Mac (not a PC). See our photo gallery, after the jump.
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Our daily roundup of opening galas, parties and screenings.
• 11:30 a.m. Swarovski Lounge at the Four Seasons Hotel
• 3 p.m. Murale and Sally Hershberger TIFF Suite at the Richmond
• 3 p.m. Teenage Paparazzo red carpet and screening with Adrian Grenier at the Hoxton
• 5:30–7:30 p.m. Astral’s 50th Anniversary at Roy Thomson Hall
• 6 p.m. Moët and Chandon Ice Imperial Launch at La Société
• 6:30 p.m.–8:01 p.m. From the Sky Down gala of the U2 documentary at the Elgin Theatre
• 8 p.m.–9:30 p.m. From the Sky Down gala of the U2 documentary at Roy Thomson Hall
Paul Giamatti at the TIFF premiere for Barney's Version (Image: Stefania Yarhi)
While all of Hollywood fires up its engines for the self-love fest that is awards season, the Toronto International Film Festival took a moment to honour some of our own talent. Yesterday, TIFF released their list of the 10 best Canadian feature films and 10 best short films of 2010.
One notable inclusion that has yet to see its general release is Barney’s Version, the film adaptation of Canadian author Mordecai Richler’s classic Montreal-set novel. The film yesterday won actor Paul Giamatti a Golden Globe nomination and was a gala film at TIFF this year. Barney’s Version will hit Canadian theatres on Christmas Eve.
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What happens when you put several hundred of Canada’s funniest people together in the same room for an evening? A lot of congratulatory mutual back-patting for being generally hilarious, it would seem. That was the scene at last night’s Canadian Comedy Awards, which took place in Toronto for the first time in seven years.
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Fans get close to Eva Mendes and Sam Worthington at Sunday's premiere of Last Night. (Image: Karon Liu)
Behind the barricades of the TIFF red carpets are hundreds of fans, autograph collectors and amateur photographers waiting—sometimes for hours—to see celebrities. A star’s arrival sets off a cacophony of screams and flashes. We’ve always wondered who these people are, so we chatted up a few of them to find out what gets them so riled up at the film festival. Meet eight TIFF celebrity hunters in our slide show below.
Jennifer Connelly at the Toronto premiere of What's Wrong With Virginia (Image: Karon Liu)
Photographers, reporters and publicists all agree that TIFF madness peaked with Monday’s Kidman-Portman double-header. Despite the well-known cast and director (Dustin Lance Black, who won an Oscar for 2008’s Milk), the crowds were depleted at Thursday’s premiere of What’s Wrong With Virginia, a drama about a mentally ill woman (Jennifer Connelly) and her codependent relationship with her 16-year-old son (Harrison Gilbertson). Ed Harris plays the deeply religious local sheriff with whom Connelly’s character has an affair, which becomes a problem when he decides to run for political office. Yeardley Smith, best known as the voice of Lisa Simpson, serves as an executive producer. See our red carpet photos from the premiere below.
Our daily roundup of opening galas, parties and screenings.
• 6:30 p.m. Casino Jack world premiere gala at Roy Thomson Hall
• 10 p.m. Music mixed by Louis and Anane Vega at Ame
• 10:30 p.m. Uncle Bonmee Who Can Recall His Lives Past North American premiere at Isabel Bader Theatre
• Master Kev with Nitin, Dirty Dale and Morgan Shim at Cobra
Our daily roundup of opening galas, parties and screenings.
• 4 p.m. What’s Wrong With Virginia Party at Swarovski Gallery Store
• 6 p.m. What’s Wrong With Virginia international premiere at Visa Screening Room (Elgin)
• 6:30 p.m. Peep World international premiere gala at Roy Thomson Hall
• 7 p.m. Jaloux North American premiere at Jackman Hall (AGO)
• 9 p.m. Route Irish North American premiere at Visa Screening Room (Elgin)
• 9:15 p.m. Kaboom North American premiere at Ryerson Theatre
• 9:30 p.m. The Bang Bang Club international premiere gala at Roy Thomson Hall
• 10 p.m. DJ set by AL P. (MSTRKRFT) at Ultra
• 10 p.m. LMFAO at Tattoo Rock Parlour
• 11 p.m. The Bang Bang Club After-Party at 78 The Bridle Path
• Peep World After-Party at Brant House
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The first onslaught of critical feedback is out after the world premiere of Score: A Hockey Musical—Mike McGowan’s filmic ode to pucks, NHL prodigies and has-been pop stars—kicked off the festival last night. Did it flounder in hokey, parochial splendour? Or did it revel in its playful take on our stereotypical national treasures? The reaction was what we’d expect from a musical based on corny local jokes. See the roundup after the jump.
Olivia Newton-John and her husband, John Easterling, depart from Brassaii's pre-screening cocktail party for Score: A Hockey Musical on September 8, 2010 (Image: Proya Productions)
Words cannot express how relieved we were to see nary a hint of hockey hair at Brassaii’s party for Score: A Hockey Musical last night. Olivia Newton-John, accompanied by her business mogul husband, John Easterling, mingled with her co-stars Noah Reid and Allie MacDonald for a few hours at the King West restaurant. TIFF co-director Cameron Bailey—already becoming the most ubiquitous presence at TIFF—attended in a show of support for the unlikely opening night gala, which screens tonight.
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(Image: Karon Liu)
We heard the rumours, but the prospect of having Edward Norton interview Bruce Springsteen as part of the gala presentation of The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town, while exciting, seemed rather far-fetched, considering Norton was nine when Darkness was released. But TIFF has confirmed that the Fight Club star will join the Boss onstage on September 14 to discuss the documentary and Springsteen’s long-standing musical relationship with movies as part of the Mavericks series, in which filmmakers and artists discuss their work. Norton will also be in town for the prison drama Stone, in which he stars with Milla Jovovich and Robert De Niro (both are scheduled to appear).
Sam Worthington and Keira Knightley in Last Night (Image: TIFF.net)
TIFF announced today that it has chosen Massy Tadjedin’s Last Night for its closing night gala, possibly for its convenient title. The love triangle drama is Tadjedin’s directorial debut and stars Keira Knightley, Eva Mendes and Avatar’s Sam Worthington, who probably appreciated the simple task of wooing Knightley’s and Mendes’s characters, as opposed to having sensors attached to his entire body while pretending to be in a forest with floating jellyfish. Knightley plays Worthington’s wife, who grows suspicious after a fleeting but steamy incident at an office party.
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Colin Firth and A Single Man director Tom Ford (Image: Karon Liu)
We have a preliminary leak of some stars expected to attend TIFF this September. Martin Knelman of the Star dishes that The King’s Speech (starring Mr. Darcy himself, Colin Firth, and Geoffrey Rush) and Miral (Julian Schnabel’s new film starring Slumdog Millionaire beauty Freida Pinto, Vanessa Redgrave and Willem Dafoe) will have their world premieres at the festival.
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