Toronto International Film Festival 2009

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September 19, 2009 | 2:32 pm

Precious wins People’s Choice Award, screens free tonight

Oprah Winfrey at the premiere of Precious (Photo by Karon Liu)

You get a free screening of my movie! You get a free screening of my movie! And YOU get a free screening of my movie!

Yep, the Oprah-produced, clunkily titled Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire won the Cadillac People’s Choice Award this afternoon during a ceremony at the InterContinental Hotel Ballroom. That means that anyone can turn up for a free screening of the film tonight at 9 p.m. at the Visa Screening Room, right after the closing gala, The Young Victoria.

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

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September 19, 2009 | 1:22 pm

Johnny Depp a no-show at Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus premiere; crowd boos Christopher Plummer

Don't sweat the small stuff: fans expecting to see Johnny Depp had to be satisfied with Verne Troyer (Photo by Karon Liu)

Even though it probably had the most star-packed cast of any movie at TIFF (Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell, etc.), was directed by Terry Gilliam and had a lot of hype (it was Heath Ledger‘s last movie), we didn’t expect any of the truly big names to show up. TIFF is almost over, after all, and there was no press conference for the film. Plus, we saw the red carpet call sheet and the most recognizable names confirmed were Verne “Mini Me” Troyer and Tom Waits.

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Toronto International Film Festival 2009

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September 19, 2009 | 12:48 pm

PHOTO GALLERY: Jack and Meg White at the premiere of The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights

Jack and Meg White

Jack and Meg White were in town to support the documentary made about their unusual tour through Canada, The White Stripes Under White Great Northern Lights. We were there to catch pictures of them and their celebrity fans on the red carpet. Check out the photos below.

: Meg White and Jack White on the red carpet for the premiere of The White Stripes Under the Great White Northern Lights at the Visa Screening Room, during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday September 18, 2009 (Photo by James Helmer)

: Jack White on the red carpet for the premiere of The White Stripes Under the Great White Northern Lights at the Visa Screening Room, during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday September 18, 2009 (Photo by James Helmer)

: Jack White on the red carpet for the premiere of The White Stripes Under the Great White Northern Lights at the Visa Screening Room, during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday September 18, 2009 (Photo by James Helmer)

: Jack White on the red carpet for the premiere of The White Stripes Under the Great White Northern Lights at the Visa Screening Room, during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday September 18, 2009 (Photo by James Helmer)

: Jack White on the red carpet for the premiere of The White Stripes Under the Great White Northern Lights at the Visa Screening Room, during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday September 18, 2009 (Photo by James Helmer)

: Meg White and Jack White on the red carpet for the premiere of The White Stripes Under the Great White Northern Lights at the Visa Screening Room, during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday September 18, 2009 (Photo by James Helmer)

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

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September 19, 2009 | 12:13 pm

Juliane Moore, lover of labradoodles

JulianneMooreBLOGTHUMB We hear that Julianne Moore was in attendance at the One X One party in Forest Hill. Our source was walking a labradoodle when she saw the party letting out. Moore apparently approached, saying she loved the dog and that she has one of her own at home. (Photo by Karon Liu)

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

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September 19, 2009 | 11:54 am

PHOTO GALLERY: 22 pictures from the premiere of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Verne Troyer on the red carpet for the premiere of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus at the Visa Screening Room, during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday September 18, 2009 (Photo by James Helmer)

The red carpet was wild at the premiere of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, with director Terry Gilliam and actors Tom Waits, Christopher Plummer, Quinn Lord, Andrew Garfield and, last but not least, Verne Troyer (a.k.a. Mini Me). Check out the slide show below.

Read the full story about the premiere of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus>>

: Verne Troyer on the red carpet for the premiere of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus at the Visa Screening Room, during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday September 18, 2009 (Photo by James Helmer)

: Tom Waits on the red carpet for the premiere of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus at the Visa Screening Room, during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday September 18, 2009 (Photo by James Helmer)

: Tom Waits on the red carpet for the premiere of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus at the Visa Screening Room, during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday September 18, 2009 (Photo by James Helmer)

: Christopher Plummer on the red carpet for the premiere of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus at the Visa Screening Room, during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday September 18, 2009 (Photo by James Helmer)

: Christopher Plummer on the red carpet for the premiere of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus at the Visa Screening Room, during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday September 18, 2009 (Photo by James Helmer)

: Verne Troyer on the red carpet for the premiere of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus at the Visa Screening Room, during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday September 18, 2009 (Photo by James Helmer)

: Quinn Lord on the red carpet for the premiere of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus at the Visa Screening Room, during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday September 18, 2009 (Photo by James Helmer)

: Cassandra Sawtell on the red carpet for the premiere of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus at the Visa Screening Room, during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday September 18, 2009 (Photo by James Helmer)

: Quinn Lord and Cassandra Sawtell on the red carpet for the premiere of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus at the Visa Screening Room, during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday September 18, 2009

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

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September 19, 2009 | 8:00 am

Today at TIFF: September 19, 2009

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

• Madonna: Truth or Dare free public screening, Yonge–Dundas Square, noon
• What’s Your Raashee? premiere, Roy Thomson Hall, 1:30 p.m.
• The Young Victoria premiere, Visa Screening Room, 6 p.m. and Roy Thomson Hall, 8 p.m.
• Copyright Criminals: This is a Sampling Sport world premiere and free public screening, Yonge–Dundas Square, 7 p.m.
• Festival wrap party, Yonge–Dundas Square, 9 p.m.

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

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September 18, 2009 | 5:40 pm

Demi Moore requests non-alcoholic beer and Ashton Kutcher plays a paparazzi prank at Ame

Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore on the red carpet for the premiere of The Joneses at the Visa Screening Room, during the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday September 13, 2009 (Photos by James Helmer)

Ame bound: Demi and Ashton at The Joneses premiere (Photo by James Helmer)

When the Rubino brothers—owners of new sushi it-spot Ame (formerly Rain)—hosted a dinner party for the film premiere of The Joneses, they did not expect Demi Moore to request non-alcoholic beer, but ran to find some pronto. Young hubby Ashton Kutcher was A-OK with the ice wine martinis, but became vexed with the blur of flashing cameras. In his typical mischievous manner, Kutcher turned to the paparazzi and said, “I want to be the photographer!” After a quick tutorial, guests were greeted by an aggressive Kutcher behind the lens.

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Toronto International Film Festival 2009

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September 18, 2009 | 5:19 pm

Lessons learned while photographing celebrities

One of our favourite shots from the festival (Photo by Karon Liu)

We consider ourselves to be experts in taking red carpet photos, having attended quite a few of the galas and special presentations since TIFF began. With every premiere, we learned something new in mastering the art of getting the perfect shot.

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Toronto International Film Festival 2009

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September 18, 2009 | 5:16 pm

Why Jack White has no film career in his future

Jack White (Photo by Christopher Harte)

Jack White only looks like a man just waiting to be immortalized by Johnny Depp. In the press conference for Emmett Malloy’s tour documentary, The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights, the vampire-hued rock god emerged as his own image maker. Doing 90 per cent of the talking, White spoke about his directorial ambitions (he just did a video for the band The Dead Weather and would like to do films if they weren’t so darn time consuming) and control-freakish impulses (the color red on the film poster had to be “his” red; the editing seems to have been done by a royal “we”).

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Toronto International Film Festival 2009

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September 18, 2009 | 3:21 pm

Suck’s Rob Stefaniuk is off to Halifax for much-needed post-TIFF rest

We ran into Rob Stefaniuk (of TIFF vampire rock flick Suck) and his actor/singer girlfriend Barbara Mamabolo out for some dinner with friends at the Spoke Club. When we asked how their TIFF was going, Mamabolo replied, “Exhausting, in a word.” Stefaniuk nodded and we wholeheartedly agreed. We think TIFF is hard on us but it’s probably even harder on those that have to go to screenings and make nice with the press. Luckily, they’ve already sold the distribution rights to the film. Stefaniuk had just finished his last screening and is looking forward to resting. The pair are off to Halifax. The couple saw The Trotsky and Rabia, but didn’t have much time to see other movies. We know the feeling.

The Goods Toronto International Film Festival 2009

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September 18, 2009 | 2:12 pm

Four things every man needs to survive TIFF

Comfortable Dress Shoes
After 10 days of partying, standing all night and walking everywhere, our dogs are barking, and we have an entirely new appreciation for how difficult heels must be for women. Sneakers aren’t usually appropriate for TIFF parties, so a man must find shoes that don’t pinch and he can walk in comfortably. One pair we wore was brand new with leather soles. When we slipped and fell on the tiles in St. Clair station before starting our night, we knew we needed some help. Or insoles. We were definitely not gelin’.

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Toronto International Film Festival 2009

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September 18, 2009 | 1:54 pm

The buzz around TIFF awards is running rampant

We are thinking that the Cadillac People’s Choice Award should be renamed Teenager’s Choice this TIFF. High school horrors like Jennifer’s Body and Leslie, My Name is Evil are getting big buzz. There’s also some chat about Whip It, the (say it with us) directorial debut of Drew Barrymore. The Trotsky (starring Jay Baruchel and set in Montreal) is apparently winning over Canadian hearts, making it a front runner for the Best Canadian Feature Award.

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Toronto International Film Festival 2009

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September 18, 2009 | 12:58 pm

Shinanigans ensue at Holts Café book bash

Shinan Govani at the launch party for his new book, Boldface Names (Photo by Jen McNeely)

Amid TIFF hoopla, the National Post’s society and celebrity ink slinger, Shinan Govani, held a launch for his book Boldface Names at the Holts Café—an event that seemed to procure more boldface names than Vanity Fair’s tiresome TIFF party the night prior. The event condensed every big schmoozer-boozer in the city, culminating in champagne-induced strategic chit-chat, name-dropping and back-handed gossip.

Few parties in Toronto could hope to pull in so many prominent figures. Here’s a run-down of the crowd: Jeff Stober owner of the Drake Hotel, Amber’s Toufik Tarwa, ever-so-tanned club king Michael King, Zoomer’s Suzanne Boyd, Society dolls Ashleigh Dempster and Amanda Blakley, Ben Mulroney of eTalk, Roots founder Michael Budman, Fashion Television’s Glen Baxter, Hello! Canada’s Ciara Hunt, brash book agent Sam Hiyate, Bustle’s design man Shawn Hewson, PR powerwomen Debra Goldblatt and Natasha Koiffman, actor Kristin Booth, singer Jill Barber, the Globe’s Leah McLaren (who rode her bike into Holt Renfrew) and a sprinkle of hot-to-trot 20-somethings that brought just the right amount of sexiness to mill about the lingerie section.

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Toronto International Film Festival 2009

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September 18, 2009 | 10:43 am

Rickshaws and Lisa Ray at Cooking with Stella premiere

Don McKellar and Lisa Ray arrive at the gala for Cooking with Stella (Photos by Karon Liu)

Yesterday’s Cooking with Stella red carpet was much like the Chloe premiere: most of the fans lining up were actually waiting for the next premiere (in this case, Love and Other Impossible Pursuits starring Natalie Portman and Lisa Kudrow). Still, people’s celeb hunger was insatiable, and most lingerers wanted a glimpse of those on the red carpet, even though they had no idea who they were—or, as a heavily accented older woman cruelly put it, even though they were “not populars.”

Director Dilip Metha arrived first, not in the black Cadillacs to which we’ve grown accustomed, but in a rickshaw decorated with streamers. Next up was star Lisa Ray, in a sexy purple number, who arrived on rickshaw with co-star Don McKellar.

: Don McKellar and Lisa ray arrive at the gala for Cooking with Stella

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

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September 18, 2009 | 10:03 am

PHOTO GALLERY: The Waiting City premiere with Claire McCarthy, Radha Mitchell and Samrat Chakrabarti

Radha Mitchell on the red carpet for the premiere of The Waiting City at the Visa Screening Room during the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. Director Claire McCarthy and actors Samrat Chakrabarti and Radha Mitchell hit the red carpet of the Visa Screening Room last night for the premiere of The Waiting City. View the red carpet photos below.

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