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All stories relating to Piers Handling

The Hype

TIFF Talk
July 27, 2010 | 1:00 pm

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TIFF announces 50 films starring awesome famous people who might come to Toronto

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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The Hype

Creative Types
April 8, 2010 | 3:23 pm

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How Matthew Teitelbaum made 13 times more in bonuses than William Thorsell

Gallerias like this don't come cheap (Image: Ian Muttoo)

The CEOs of Canada’s top cultural institutions were likely choking on their morning croissants last week when they read reports that AGO director Matthew Teitelbaum became a millionaire in 2009, raking in a total of $1,070,262 in salary, taxable benefits and a $665,000 bonus for completing the Transformation AGO project. (The average salary of Canadian gallery directors of national institutions is rarely more than $300,000 a year.) Today the disclosure was made more shocking by the news that no other Canadian arts leader received such a whopping amount for completing a project during the same time period. The ROM’s William Thorsell, for example, earned a meagre $50,000 for completing Renaissance ROM, and he gave half the amount back to the project. When the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts was completed in 2006, Richard Bradshaw, who spearheaded the renovation, saw no completion dough. There were no bonuses for leaders in charge of the Royal Conservatory of Music, the National Ballet School or the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, and Piers Handling won’t be getting one for TIFF’s new digs, either. We know who’ll be picking up the cheque the next time these bigwigs get together.

This post is now complete—where’s our bonus?

• Big bonuses at AGO raise questions [Toronto Star]
• Million reasons why AGO Director had a great year [Globe and Mail]

Toronto International Film Festival 2009
September 11, 2009 | 8:09 am

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Geoff Pevere talks to us about Toronto’s role in cinema history

pevere“It’s kind of like living in the world’s biggest stand-in,” writes Toronto Star veteran film critic Geoff Pevere in his essay for the book Toronto on Film. He and other contributors such as TIFF director and CEO Piers Handling chronicle the role of Toronto in cinema history. At last night’s book launch at the Gladstone Hotel, we sat down with the now Star books editor to discuss whether a movie set in Toronto could capture an international audience, why local filmmakers try to hide the CN Tower and the irony of having a British film open the festival on the city’s 175th birthday.

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Toronto International Film Festival 2009
August 5, 2009 | 4:20 pm

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CanCon at TIFF: Atom Egoyan’s latest and Heath Ledger’s final film among newly announced titles

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’s Chloe, 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.

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Toronto International Film Festival 2009
July 15, 2009 | 2:17 pm

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TIFF Countdown ’09: British film picked to open festival

There’s no better way to kick off Toronto’s biggest party than with a room of shocked reporters. For the third time in the 34-year history of the Toronto International Film Festival, a non-Canadian film has been selected as the opening gala. Creation, a British biopic on Charles Darwin, will kick off TIFF on September 10 and will set the tone for the rest of the nine days. The film stars real-life couple Paul Bettany as Darwin and Jennifer Connelly as his religious wife.

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