Michael Cera | torontolife.com

The new Scott Pilgrim vs. the World trailer is out

Sure, Michael Cera is still cashing in on his dopey doofus shtick in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, but judging from the trailer (and cast list on IMDB), there’s going to be a lot more to the flick than Toronto landmark spotting. Namely, some fine young talent: Anna Kendrick, Alison Pill, Jason Schwartzman, Kieran Culkin and Abigail Chu. (OK, Chu is kind of a nobody, but she did play the young version of the creepy hybrid thingy in Splice.) See the new trailer below.

• Scott Pilgrim vs. The World trailer [YouTube]

The Hype

Cinemania

March 25, 2010 | 4:34 pm

Find the Toronto icons in the Scott Pilgrim trailer

Although it admittedly seems a bit odd to write a post directing one’s attention to what is essentially a commercial, we think it’s worth noting that the trailer for the Toronto-rific feature Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was released today. The movie, based on Brian Lee O’Malley’s series of Toronto-centred comic books, was filmed here last year and stars Michael Cera, Brampton’s golden boy. Cera plays Scott, who’s on a mission to defeat his dream girl’s seven evil ex-boyfriends. But, as the trailer shows, the film also stars some other Toronto icons: the TTC, Sneaky Dee’s, Honest Ed’s and Lee’s Palace.

First Chloe and now this. If we aren’t careful, Toronto is going to refuse to play any parts other than itself—which is a shame, because it makes a beautiful Detroit.

• Scott Pilgrim vs. The World teaser trailer [YouTube]

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 22, 2009 | 2:03 pm

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The best and worst of TIFF 2009

The after party for The Men Who Stare at Goats. Not many people can say they were at a house party on the Bridle Path with George Clooney and Jeff Bridges.

TIFF is toast for 2009, so we asked our team of writers and photographers report back on the best and worst, the scary and the sublime, the hot and the lame of this year’s festival. Here are their harrowing responses.

: Without a doubt, George Clooney, for having a bottomless pit of facial expressions, headline-worthy quotes and spending 20 minutes signing autographs for the entire line of fans.

: Eating smoked meat and kosher pickles with the dudes from Schwartz’s Deli. For The Trotsky after party at Pravda, Alliance Films flew in the Montreal meatheads, put them up at the Royal York, and paid them to feed a CanCon crowd with real-size sammies. Through full stomachs, our hearts were won.

: A glass castle on the Bridle Path, enormous and cubist, like something out of a Bret Easton Ellis novel. (People in glass houses probably shouldn’t throw parties, but we’re glad they do.)

: Getting chastised by a security guard for walking on the Duchess of York’s dress train at the InStyle party (although this moment would have been amazing had we not noticed and she kept walking).

: Hearing a group of middle-aged male photographers sing Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” while waiting outside the press conference room.

: “So, you’re an actress?”, generally followed by a shocked, “No? Really?” when we shook our heads. Look, we can tell by your loafers that you’re from out of town, but come on—we’re holding a press pass, eating majorly caloric pastries, and carrying our own not-it bag. Nothing about this screams “movie starlet.” Kristin Booth is probably here somewhere, so please move on.

: The Grey Goose martini we sipped alongside Clive Owen while sitting on a TTC subway car in the secret Bay station.

: We had a hunch that Drew Barrymore would turn up at Sweaty Betty’s, as she has in the past, and we were right. We got there in time to see her behind the bar of our local watering hole, swigging beer in an Alexander McQueen gown.

: How to tell a celebrity’s non-famous date to get out of a shot without being rude. This is what happened during Colin Farrell’s now-infamous red carpet debacle. A bunch of photographers wanted a solo shot of the brooding Irishman, so they all yelled at his date to get out of the shot during the frenzy. Farrell took offence because his date was his sister. Pictured is a clear shot of Paula Patton, snapped after Alan Thicke’s son stepped out of the way.

: Colin Farrell for saying “cheers” to every reporter at the Ondine press conference after a photo of him grabbing a photographer made the front page of The Sun.

: Tyler Perry, who made a beeline for the red carpet at the Precious premiere and didn’t even look at the fans.

: Nikki Beach. It was supposed to be a huge deal, attracting all kinds of celebs, but turned out to be packed with rather horny, smashed girls from Thornhill.

: Being one of the few photographers who snapped a photo, albeit a slightly blurry one, of Robert DeNiro at the Precious premiere.

: Michael Cera’s shyness pays his bills, but his one-word answers do nothing for reporters.

: The barrage of camera shutters at press conferences. They peak whenever a celebrity smiles or talks with their hands.

: “Oprah, we are all so grateful to you for helping the children in Africa. I was born in Kiev, Ukraine [pictured], and not many people know that there are 200 orphanages there and over 100,000 orphans. I just want to know if anybody reached out to you or approached you to help out the country.”

: A tie between Edward Norton’s and Oprah Winfrey’s. In both cases, the barricades we were standing behind started to lean forward as the celebs walked past. It took two security guards to push everyone back.

: Waiting two and a half hours for Megan Fox outside Cheval. She didn’t show up.

: A woman on the 501 streetcar gushing about how one time, she waved to Carla Collins outside the Hazelton and Carla Collins waved back! Because “stars are just normal people, you know?”

: Falling asleep on the sidewalk while waiting for Natalie Portman. For 10 minutes, we slept on the street.

: The fans sang “Smelly Cat” in hopes of luring Lisa Kudrow back to the barricades at the premiere of Love and Other Impossible Pursuits. It didn’t work.

: The men’s bathroom on the second floor of the Sutton Place Hotel; we saw director Atom Egoyan exiting, adjusting his belt.

: It’s a tie, and both involve Drew Barrymore (although neither was her fault). The first was at the Whip It press conference, when a reporter asked how her family felt about roller derby (Barrymore famously filed for emancipation at the age of 15). The second was a question about Patrick Swayze’s passing; the actor didn’t know about Swayze’s death until that moment.

: A journalist from a certain national news network asking Eva Avila to take a photo with him on the red carpet.

: The Axe body spray haze at Tryst during the PETA fashion party.

: Natalie Portman saying TIFF is more about the films than celebrities as a wall of photographers snapped away at her.

: Surprisingly, not the hangover. The biggest ache was in our feet after 10 days of standing and partying.

: “Do you have anything to say about the death of Patrick Swayze?”

: Notorious paparazzi hater and fame eschewer Edward Norton at the premiere of Leaves of Grass at Ryerson, where he proceeded down the entire line of fans with a big, unforced smile and posed for a lot of photos.

: The after party for The Men Who Stare at Goats. Not many people can say they were at a house party on the Bridle Path with George Clooney and Jeff Bridges.

: Oprah Winfrey for giving perfectly packaged quotes and knowing how to pose for cameras. Also, people clapped every time she said something at the press conference.

: Grovelling to kitchen staff by the back door vents of the Windsor Arms and basically begging them to sneak us into the InStyle party through the garbage room.

: Jessica Paré. Lips of velvet.

: Remington’s, the infamous gay male strip club on Yonge Street, holds the same party every year at the same time. Sure, it takes place during TIFF and is full of TIFF-goers, but they are in no way connected.

(Images from Flickr.com are greatly appreciated and used under the Creative Commons license found here.)

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 17, 2009 | 11:45 am

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Michael Cera dishes on the status of the Arrested Development movie to a press conference with a paltry attendance of 10

Future Dillinger: Michael Cera declares range wider than awkward teens (Photo by Karon Liu)

“This is brutal,” said a film critic as we sit in the largely empty media room at Sutton Place. There were only five minutes left before the arrival of the cast and crew of the new Michael Cera awkward-teen rom-com (is there any other kind?), Youth In Revolt. Aside from us, there were four photographers and five reporters. The low turnout must have been due to TIFF burnout and the fact that most of the cast members—Justin Long, Ray Liotta, Steve Buscemi—didn’t show up.

The emptiness got so bad that organizers had to pull in the guys working at the BlackBerry booth outside to be seat fillers. And since all TIFF press conferences last 40 minutes, we all (including the BlackBerry guys) got together to brainstorm as many questions as we could to fill up the time.

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 16, 2009 | 12:55 pm

PHOTO GALLERY: Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday and Miguel Arteta at the Youth in Revolt premiere

Michael Cera on the red carpet for the premiere of Youth in Revolt at the Visa Screening Room during the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. Canada’s sweetheart, Michael Cera, donned a woolly sweater and took to the red carpet at the Visa Screening Room for the premiere of Youth in Revolt. See photos of Cera, co-star Portia Doubleday and director Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl) below.

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 15, 2009 | 4:01 pm

50 Cent was performing on a roof but all we got was a leer from Harvey Weinstein

We would have expected the Vanity Fair party, at the Hazelton Hotel’s One, to be ripe with top-tier talent but instead there was only a white-haired Graydon Carter, the Canadian editor-in-chief of the magazine, and bushy eyebrowed Michael Budman, founder of Roots. Tweets tell us that Amy Poehler was there earlier. The DJ had an impressive set list but everyone was too blasé or depleted to dance. Most impressive part of the event? A 15-litre bottle of Moet and Chandon chilling on ice.

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 15, 2009 | 8:00 am

Today at TIFF: September 15, 2009

Our daily roundup of the most buzz-worthy opening galas, parties and screenings.

• Monterey Pop free public screening, Yonge–Dundas Square, noon
• Robin Hood free public screening, Yonge–Dundas Square, 3 p.m.
• Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans premiere, Ryerson Theatre, 6 p.m.
• The Private Lives of Pippa Lee premiere, Roy Thomson Hall, 6:30 p.m.
• Shinan Govani’s book release party, Holt Renfrew
• Free swing-dance lessons and a live concert from Aelita with the Galaxy All-Star Orchestra in support of the Russian musical Hipsters, Yonge–Dundas Square, 7 p.m.
• Youth in Revolt premiere, Winter Garden theatre, 8:30 p.m.
• J’ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother) premiere, Isabel Bader Theatre, 9:30 p.m.
• Micmacs (Micmacs à tire-larigot) premiere, Roy Thomson Hall, 9:30 p.m.
• InStyle party (possible guests include Naomi Watts, Keanu Reeves and Michael Cera), Windsor Arms
• Cinema Against AIDS Toronto benefit for Amfar (performance by Sarah McLachlin), The Carlu
• Bad Lieutenant after party (guests include Nicolas Cage), Ultra

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

August 31, 2009 | 3:57 pm

Oscar buzz, vodka and stalking advice doled out at the Hazelton Hotel

To be Blunt: early rumblings suggest Young Victoria could be Emily Blunt's big break (Photo by chloe004)

With two weeks left until the opening gala of the Toronto International Film Festival, reporters gathered at the Hazelton Hotel to get a rundown on the buzziest films (Precious), parties (One X One), possible Oscar contenders (Mo’Nique, the woman from Soul Plane) and TIFF-inspired cocktails (Skyy vodka for all).

CTV film critic Richard Crouse said the Oprah-backed film Precious could mean a possible Oscar nomination for Mo’Nique, while co-star Mariah Carey can finally shake off the tarnished glitter from, well, Glitter. Closing film Young Victoria also got a thumbs-up and was predicted to be Emily Blunt’s big break. But the most intriguing film tidbit (and a brilliant marketing move to boot) was that everyone who went to the pre-screening of Heath Ledger’s last film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, had to sign a waiver that forbid them from talking about it.

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

August 20, 2009 | 12:47 pm

Celeb spotting warm-up 5: The full list of celeb guests is out, and Oprah and Clooney are on it

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.

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

August 13, 2009 | 5:02 pm

Celeb spotting warm-up 4: Ewan, Demi, Weisz, Viggo and, yes, even more Clooney

Where Demi goes, can Ashton be far behind? (Photo by TechCrunch50-2008)

In today’s lineup of galas and special presentations we have Ewan McGregor and Clooney chasing government conspiracies, Natalie Portman playing a stepmom (in non-Julia Roberts fashion) and Demi Moore and David Duchovny at war with their neighbours. Learn about all of these, plus the directorial debut of designer Tom Ford and many other screenings, after the jump.