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One last after party: hanging out with Harvey Keitel, Jason Jones and Tricia Helfer

Harvey Keitel and Siam Yu; Paulo Costanzo and Tricia Helfer (Images: Fraser Abe)

The TIFF party scene was winding down by Friday night, but that didn’t keep the makers of A Beginner’s Guide to Endings from having a blast at their post-screening fête. Held at Urban Amish, a furniture store at the completely torn-up corner of King and Parliament (making it the first east-end movie party we’ve seen this season), the shindig attracted all the stars of the flick. Tricia Helfer, Jason Jones, Paulo Costanzo and Harvey Keitel all showed and, uncharacteristically, stayed. When Keitel declined to walk the red carpet or hold interviews, we worried he would be standoffish, but inside, he held court on the lower level (away from the roped-off VIP area), chatting with fans and posing for pictures with fellow actor Siam Yu. When we spoke with Helfer, we learned she had recently auditioned for a part in the upcoming film A Game of Thrones, a fantasy flick sure to get fan boys from her Battlestar Galactica days excited, but lost the role to Elizabeth Banks. Asked if she’d tried her eponymous TIFF cocktail, the Sweet Tart Tricia, she complained to us, “I just landed and I’m flying back to L.A. tomorrow. I didn’t even get a chance to try my own drink!” Jason Jones was jovial; when he handed his drink and appetizer toothpick to PR gal Gail McInnes, she said, “I don’t know where this has been,” to which he jokingly responded, “Up my ass.”

The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 20, 2010 | 1:42 pm

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The best and worst moments of TIFF 2010

That’s all, folks—TIFF is toast for 2010, but we still have the memories. We asked our team to dish on the best and worst, the scary and the sublime, the hot and the lame of this year’s festival. Find out what they told us in the slide show below.

: The Bell “lounge” at Roy Thomson Hall. It’s basically a shipping crate that blasts Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” before a gala starts. Dancers then emerge from the crate (complete with smoke effects) and do a half-assed number to get people’s attention, though neither the media nor fans seemed to care. (Image: Karon Liu)

: A Snooki impersonator tried to walk the red carpet at Roy Thomson Hall for Black Swan. It’s a sad day in pop culture history when Snooki is considered red carpet royalty. (Image: Jeff Lewis)

: Hotel workers striking in front of the Regency Park Hyatt, where everything TIFF-related took place. (Image: Karon Liu)

: When their publicist walks behind them holding a card announcing their name and title. (Image: Karon Liu)

: Score: A Hockey Musical, which will probably be remembered as the worst movie to open TIFF.

: The press and industry screening of Dustin Lance Black’s What’s Wrong With Virginia, which cleared out halfway through, foreshadowing such reviews as “Everything Is ‘Wrong With Virginia.’”

: The Elgin Theatre, where fans had to line up on the other side of Yonge Street hoping that the zoom on their iPhones would be good enough. (Image: Karon Liu)

: During the introduction of A Beginner’s Guide to Endings, a producer made a very long speech while the cast stood onstage, wondering when he would shut up. Suddenly Harvey Keitel threw his hands in the air and walked off; the cast followed him. (Image: Karon Liu)

: Two-time Oscar winner Paul Haggis being turned away from Soho House, while Josh Brolin helped his pal out by breaking into hysterics. They later made up. (Image: Stefania Yarhi)

: Quebec filmmaker Xavier Dolan, who managed to answer “How did your success at TIFF last year affect your new film?” with a passionate rant against his critics. (Image: Jag Gundu/Getty Images)

: Little Miss Sunshine star Abigail Breslin, now 14, taking the famous stage at the Horseshoe to sing an acoustic ballad. (Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images)

: Our hard-fought battle against tears at the end of Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling’s drama Blue Valentine.

: Taking a 20-minute nap in the Elgin Theatre’s media pit while waiting four hours for Nicole Kidman’s arrival. Then, during some attempted downtime with Battlestar Galactica, we fell asleep in our armchair holding a glass of water, only to be awakened when we spilled it all over ourselves.

: Natalie Portman, the leading lady in the Oscar race for her role in Black Swan. (Image: Karon Liu)

: When Ben Mulroney and Shinan Govani walk the carpet. (Image: Karon Liu)

: Uma Thurman’s strict Mexican-only menu, which she requested at an after-party dinner at Brassaii. (Image: George Pimentel)

: The ET Canada party for where a generator that burst into flames was replaced in just 20 minutes. (Image: Staci L.)

: Peter Fonda, whose left-wing politics mixed uneasily with guests at the Best Buddies gala. (Image: Ryan Porter)

: It’s not like we were expecting to sidle up to Don Draper at the bar and have him offer us a Lucky Strike and a Canadian Club, but missing Jon Hamm at all the glitzy film after parties was our biggest celeb letdown. (Image: Karon Liu)

: Belinda Stronach, who was spotted at Maison in the wee hours, hanging with a group of 20-somethings, one of whom was not wearing a shirt.

: Blake Lively, for wiping out all traces of Gossip Girl’s pristine Serena van der Woodsen to wear the trashtacular tube tops of Boston broad Krista in Ben Affleck’s The Town.

: At the Absolut party, we rode up to the garage in chauffeured golf carts at breakneck speed. (Image: Carldunn)

: A Mexican tabloid reporter asked Hilary Swank if she would appear in a vampire movie. For the record, she said no. (Image: Karon Liu)

: Meeting Ryan Kwanten, who, like us, turns out to be a bit of a mama’s boy. The True Blood hunk (have you ever seen better abs?) took his mom to the Amfar gala and on an Alaskan cruise. (Image: Karon Liu)

: We hit the swag lounges hard this year and came away with some great stuff, albeit mostly for women. Hear that, Mom? Christmas comes early this year!

: A fan had Kevin Spacey sign her cheque book for the premiere of Casino Jack. Unbeknownst to her, the media’s zoom lenses got shots of all her cheque book details, including name and account number. The photographers we talked to blurred out that info before uploading them. (Image: Karon Liu)

: If even for two weeks, we were able to forget about Justin Bieber. (Image: Jake Auzzie)

: James Franco’s movie 127 Hours. One particularly graphic scene caused three audience members to faint at the screening. Others walked out.

: Rachel McAdams and Michael Sheen were reportedly canoodling at Sheen’s party for Beautiful Boy at Cheval. (Images: Sheen by Toby Canham/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images, McAdams by James Helmer)

: The hype for Casey Affleck’s Joaquin Phoenix doc I’m Still Here was strong, but by the end of the week, the reviews were harsh, and we learned it was all a hoax. The film might be in theatres, but we’re not.

: Martin Sheen picketed for 20 minutes with striking Royal York staffers one day and showed off his undies to photographers at a party another day. (Image: Stefania Yarhi)

: (Images by Karon Liu and Stefania Yarhi)

The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 16, 2010 | 1:16 pm

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Bang Bang on the Bridle Path: inside the after party with Ryan Phillippe and Malin Akerman

Toronto's own Malin Akerman arrives at a private residence on the Bridle Path last night for the Bang Bang Club after party (Image: Sonia Recchia/Getty Images )

Toronto’s rich and not-so-famous mingled through the house that hair built Wednesday night at the after party for Ryan Phillippe’s South African photojournalist drama The Bang Bang Club. Ray Civello, owner of the Civello salons and the man behind many of Aveda’s Canadian institutions, threw the soirée at his Bridle Path residence. A dashingly suited-up Phillippe sank into the white leather sofas of the VIP quarters, overlooking the home’s wide-open courtyard, joined by his Canadian co-star Malin Akerman. One guest remembered when the 32-year-old actress was slinging drinks back at Bar 606. “I remember when she used to clean the bathrooms,” she says. “She was King Street before it was King Street.”

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 15, 2010 | 8:00 am

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Today at TIFF: What’s Wrong With Virginia, the Bang Bang Club, DJ set by AL P. and more

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

The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 13, 2010 | 9:44 am

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Last night’s Barney’s Version party was on fire, literally

Giamatti at the TIFF premiere of Barney's Version (Image: Stefania Yarhi)

The hottest party in town on Sunday was Entertainment Tonight Canada’s salute to the adaptation of Mordecai Richler’s Barney’s Version, and only partially because Paul Giamatti, Minnie Driver, Rachelle Lefevre, and Scott Speedman were on hand (Dustin Hoffman sent his regrets). A generator caught fire on the street below, shooting six-foot flames, summoning fire trucks and leaving the Yorkville rooftop-parking-lot party unplugged for 20 minutes. But guests, choking through the smoke, continued mingling until a replacement generator was miraculously tracked down before the Stella Artois could even get warm.

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 12, 2010 | 4:35 pm

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Hayden Christensen causes K-Os!!!…to spin at Ultra

Tove and Hayden Christensen with Thandie Newton (Image: Philip Chin/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images)

Hayden Christensen used the force (of his celebrity) to give Ultra’s DJ a break at his party on Saturday night. At the 29-year-old Thornhill-raised actor’s request, Toronto hip-hop artist K-Os commandeered the turntables until around 1 a.m.

With a cardboard cut-out of Darth Vader looming in the window of the Adidas store across the street, the real(-ish) Anakin Skywalker and his 37-year-old brother Tove hoisted Belvedere vodka bottles at a party for their production company, Forest Park Pictures. While the stars were on their best behaviour, the crowd was a little rowdy, with one man dancing with a bottle of Belvedere shoved down his pants.

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 12, 2010 | 3:38 pm

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Hello! says goodbye to editor Ciara Hunt at glam TIFF party

After leaving the Hello! soirée, Ciara Hunt headed south to the YSL after party at Victor Restaurant (Image: by George Pimentel/Getty Images)

It was a night of Hello! and goodbye at the Royal Conservatory of Music last night, when Hello! magazine’s annual TIFF to-do doubled as a send-off for editor-in-chief Ciara Hunt, who is moving to Boston on Monday. Greeting guests in a black leather-esque dress by Halston and green drop earrings (a nod to her Irish background), the Toronto scene staple explained that she and her husband just decided they needed a change. “We’ve decided we’re going to keep on moving until we realize that we love a city and we’re going to stay there,” she said. “We’ve loved Toronto. It’s changed so much in the four and a half years I’ve been here.”

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 12, 2010 | 2:44 pm

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Martin Sheen shows off his undies for $1,000 at the Artists for Peace and Justice party

James Franco and Josh Brolin party hopping on Saturday (Image: George Pimentel/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images)

Party hopping was the name of the game last night. The celebs’ collective dance card was a busy one, with such major events as Hello!’s party at the Royal Conservatory, the Vanity Fair/Fox Searchlight bash at the Thompson and the charity event Artists for Peace and Justice at Pears on the Avenue. Uptown, director Paul Haggis and actors Anna-Lynne McCord and James Franco hosted the APJ event and tried to rouse the crowd into digging deep for a live auction. Haggis, the auctioneer, bellowed into the mic, either shushing the crowd, demanding attention (“I’m a director. You have to do what I say”) or thanking his Hollywood compadres (“not the typical Hollywood wankers”) for raising $26,000 for public works in Haiti (“I conned Ben Stiller into paying half the costs”).

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 12, 2010 | 8:00 am

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Today at TIFF: Lightbox block party, Barney’s Version, Hereafter, 127 Hours and more

Our daily roundup of opening galas, parties and screenings.

• 11 a.m. Bell Lightbox Block Party at King and John Streets
• 1:00 p.m. Jack Goes Boating at Isabel Bader Theatre
• 1:30 p.m. West is West world premiere gala at Roy Thomson Hall
• 3:30 p.m. Into the Wind world premiere at Isabel Bader Theatre
• 5:30 p.m. Trigger world premiere at Bell Lightbox 1
• 5:30 p.m. Best Buddies Charity Ball at Regency Ballroom (Four Seasons Hotel)
• 6 p.m. You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger North American premiere at Visa Screening Room (Elgin)
• 6 p.m. 127 Hours at Ryerson Theatre
• 6:30 p.m. Tabloid at Bell Lightbox 2
• 6:30 p.m. Barney’s Version North American premiere gala at Roy Thomson Hall
• 6:45 p.m. Cool It world premiere at AMC 9
• 8 p.m. Ubisoft Studio Launch Party at Ubisoft Toronto
• 9 p.m. Hereafter world premiere at Visa Screening Room (Elgin)
• Cinema Against AIDS Toronto 2010 at The Carlu
• Barney’s Version cast party at Festival Central (148 Cumberland St.)
• Casino Jack cast party at Brant House
• 11:59 p.m. Vanishing on 7th Street world premiere at Ryerson Theatre

The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 11, 2010 | 11:58 am

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Slash parties at Tattoo Rock Parlour with a troupe of bodyguards

Doesn't he get sick of the hat? (Image: Fraser Abe)

When we heard that Slash, the epic rock icon from Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver was “hosting” (read: sitting in a private booth and drinking) a night at Tattoo Rock Parlour, we jumped on the chance to get a glimpse of the man who gave the world “November Rain.” Rumoured to arrive at midnight, he didn’t show until around 1 a.m. (natch, he’s a rock star) and we were a bit unnerved by the hour of waiting with throngs of kids too young to even remember GN’R, dancing madly to each successive song and delivering louder and louder group “wooos.”

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 10, 2010 | 1:28 pm

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Absolut’s parking lot shindig was totally the party of the night

Callum Keith Rennie parties on the roof (Image: Fraser Abe)

When someone says “party in the parking lot,” it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. That’s why we were so pleasantly surprised to pull up to the thumping garage at York and Adelaide for the Absolut party last night. The minute we saw the stretch golf carts that ferried guests to the ninth-floor rooftop, we knew it was going to be a pretty good night. Live music by Scratch Scratch Scratch, Shaun Boothe and Shad, mostly of the hip-hop variety, got partiers in the right mood (especially one older gentleman who could do the running man like nobody’s business), though we also overheard complaints: “I feel like nothing kills the mood of a party faster than live music.”

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 10, 2010 | 12:36 pm

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At the Caitlin Cronenberg party, guests diss TIFF opening gala fashion

Caitlin Cronenberg at the Red party (Image: Fraser Abe)

Condo space Pears on the Avenue at Av and Dav has been taken over by Toro magazine to host a series of events for TIFF, the first of which was last night’s Caitlin Cronenberg–curated exhibit. Red: Canada Through the Lens of the New York Times. The party was full of the homegrown celebs we’ve come to expect at these events: Spencer Rice of Kenny vs. Spenny, proud papa David Cronenberg, Little Mosque on the Prairie star Debra McGrath and her husband Colin Mochrie, with whom Caitlin shares a love of Ann-Margret.

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 9, 2010 | 3:55 pm

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Canadian filmmakers, Lisa Ray and an OC mom party at the Spoke

Last night, the Spoke Club launched the film festival season with its annual Canadian Filmmakers party, hosted by actress Lisa Ray, who looked fresh-faced and fabulous, as usual, and Ben Mulroney, who looks more like dad Brian every year. The frigid temperature and grey sky spitting rain didn’t mar the festivities; guests huddled around propane heaters on the rooftop patio and warmed up by dancing to Motown jams downstairs. Industry insiders and Spoke members lapped up the free Skyy TIFF-themed cocktails, but actual celebs (other than the OC‘s Melinda Clarke) were few and far between.

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