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TIFF RED CARPET: Venus and Serena Williams are conspicuously absent at the premiere of Venus and Serena

Yesterday evening’s premiere of Venus and Serena had fanfare for all the wrong reasons. Red carpet appearances by co-directors Maiken Baird and Michelle Major, siblings Wyclef and Sedeck Jean and (for some reason) current Miss California London Becs were all overshadowed by the conspicuous absence of the documentary’s stars, Venus and Serena Williams. Notoriously media-wary, the sisters apparently disagreed with Baird and Major about the portrayal of their father and coach, Richard, and pulled their support for the film in protest just hours before its first screening. Reactions to the withdrawal were mixed. Baird said it was “disappointing,” but hopes “they’ll come around in the end.” The Star quotes one filmgoer taking a different tack, suggesting that it lent the film credibility. “If it was just going to be a marketing piece for the Williams family, what’s the point?”

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September 12, 2012 | 2:45 pm

TIFF RED CARPET: James Earl Jones joins Canuck stars for Show Stopper: The Theatrical Life of Garth Drabinsky

Though he spent the bulk of his career behind the scenes in movies, theatres and extravagant, Broadway-style productions, the life of Garth Drabinsky is just as dramatic. Debuting at the festival, Show Stopper: The Theatrical Life of Garth Drabinsky, follows the rise and fall of one of Canada’s tallest poppies. The Cineplex and Livent founder pretty much changed the Canadian entertainment industry, helping to create the multiplex, producing scads of Cancon and even making forays into the New York theatre world before some creative bookkeeping landed him in jail.

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September 12, 2012 | 2:15 pm

TIFF FASHION POLL: Which actor is sporting the sexiest scruff?

TIFF POLL: Which actor is sporting the sexiest scruff?

Last year we noticed that many leading men went into lumberjack mode for TIFF, sporting full beards on the red carpet. This year, they dialled back the facial fuzz somewhat, with many, many iterations of the stubble-y look. Our faves: Jude Law’s near-beard at the Anna Karenina premiere, which was the most aggressive of the bunch; Chris Evans’s evenly trimmed whiskers; Ryan Gosling’s light scruff at the opening of The Place Beyond the Pines (where he went chin-to-chin with Bradley Cooper); and Alexander Skarsgård’s moderate hirsuteness at What Maisie Knew events. But who made the I-forgot-to-shave excuse look the most attractive?

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September 12, 2012 | 1:58 pm

TIFF RED CARPET: Ralph Fiennes looks much friendlier than Voldemort at Great Expectations

By Monika Warzecha | Photography by Erin Seaman

The stampede of literary inspirations at TIFF this year (Anna Karenina, Midnight’s Children, On the Road and Cloud Atlas, to name a few) has us wondering if all the film industry bigwigs had joined a book-of-the-month club. Last night, director Mike Newell added to the list with the TIFF premiere of Great Expectations, an adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 600-pager that Newell has somehow squeezed into a two-hour film (then again, he did bring Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to the big screen, so we guess he’s earned our trust). Newell was joined on the red carpet by Potter’s Lord Voldemort, Ralph Fiennes, who plays the criminal Magwitch in the film. Jeremy Irvine (of War Horse fame) and Holliday Grainger (who took a cue from her Anna Karenina co-star Keira Knightley and wore black lace) also made appearances, though co-star Helena Bonham Carter was nowhere to be found—which was too bad, because we always like seeing what offbeat outfit she comes up with.

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September 12, 2012 | 1:50 pm

Venice vs. TIFF fashion showdown, Olga Kurylenko edition

Olga Kurylenko may have hit the scene as a Bond girl, but she’s now looking quite at home on the festival circuit. The Ukrainian-born actress was in Venice earlier this month to promote her starring role in Terrence Malick’s latest puzzler film, To the Wonder, where she wore a sleeveless Valentino gown with a leather and lace bodice and tulle skirt (plus a Salvatore Ferragamo clutch for good measure). On the TIFF red carpet for the same film—one of two she was promoting at the festival—Kurylenko took a totally different approach: she went short, with a green Elie Saab dress in a ladylike silhouette, and pulled her hair down. (The pose, however, remained eerily the same).

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September 12, 2012 | 1:40 pm

VIDEO: Watch Toronto Life’s online editor talk star-spotting and celebrity gossip at TIFF 2012

Our online editor Andrew Wallace appeared on Global’s The Morning Show bright and early yesterday morning to talk all things TIFF, offering intel on the latest celebrity sightings and dishing on all the news from the ultra-exclusive, star-studded social club Soho House. Check out the clip for more!

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September 12, 2012 | 1:25 pm

QUOTED: Brandon Cronenberg on what’s really behind all that TIFF red carpet gawking

I think celebrity obsession in our culture is a manifestation of a broader human impulse. If you look at, say, the saints, they were essentially elevated almost to the status of gods….I think that deification process and that fetishism is something that exists beyond our culture, this is just one manifestation of it.

–Filmmaker Brandon Cronenberg, director of Antiviral and son of David Cronenberg, talks celebrity obsession. [Grolsch Film Works]

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September 12, 2012 | 12:10 pm

TIFF RED CARPET: Sarah Gadon heads a parade of Canadian talent at the premiere of Antiviral

By Monika Warzecha | Photography by Christopher Drost

We’ll try to forgive director Brandon Cronenberg (David’s son) for debuting his first film at Cannes rather than at his hometown fest—but only because we’re intrigued by the creepy premise of the film, in which ordinary folks pay to be infected with celebrities’ diseases in order to feel closer to them. In any event, with compatriots like Sarah Gadon, Wendy Crewson and Nicholas Campbell present, the premiere of Antiviral felt like a Canadian reunion. Gadon—a local beauty and TIFF 2011’s rising star—went for the gold in a full-sleeved gown, while Crewson walked the carpet in a fun and flouncy animal-print dress. In contrast, fellow cast member Caleb Landry Jones looked brooding in a mustard-coloured blazer and two-tone shoes (we hope he’s not coming down with something).

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September 12, 2012 | 12:03 pm

QUOTED: Jennifer Lawrence, discovering a new feature of her Dior gown

Oh my god this dress has pockets! Sorry.

—Jennifer Lawrence, interviewed on the red carpet for Silver Linings Playbook. When asked what she does to get ready for the red carpet, the 22-year-old actress replied, “I hire professionals. And I sit there and talk. And all of a sudden I look like this!” [h/t We’re Smiling But We’re Close to Tears]

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September 12, 2012 | 10:36 am

TIFF PARTY: Ray Liotta and Stephen Dorff eventually turn up for The Iceman after-party

Gerard Butler (Image: Lu Chau/Photagonist)

Although a number of The Iceman’s A-list stars, including Winona Ryder, David Schwimmer and James Franco, were no-shows at the after-party at the Virgin Mobile Arts and Cinema Centre at Charles Khabouth’s Storys, fans still worked themselves into a tizzy over the members of the star-studded cast that did show—including Stephen Dorff, Chris Evans and Ray Liotta (plus Gerard Butler, who isn’t in the film but attended to wish them his best).

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September 12, 2012 | 8:00 am

Today at TIFF (Wednesday, Sept. 12): Love, Marilyn gala, A Royal Affair, and more

Our daily roundup of opening galas, parties, screenings and more.

• 12 p.m. Disconnect special presentation at Ryerson Theatre

• 12:45 p.m. Still special presentation at the TIFF Bell Lightbox

• 2 p.m. Dreams for Sale special presentation at the Cineplex Odeon Yonge and Dundas Cinemas

• 2:30 p.m. Venus and Serena special presentation at the Visa Screening Room (Elgin Theatre)

• 2:45 p.m. Antiviral special presentation at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

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September 11, 2012 | 5:05 pm

TIFF RED CARPET: Bill Murray wears candy for Hyde Park on Hudson

It’s pretty much a given that anything involving Bill Murray—onscreen but especially off—is going to be awesome. But we were floored by the former Ghostbuster’s accessorizing abilities on the red carpet. In lieu of a pocket square, the actor filled his suit pocket with red licorice (which is both convenient and colourful) for the premiere of Hyde Park on Hudson. Murray plays Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a film that traces the president’s fling with his distant cousin and eventual mistress Margaret Suckley over a weekend in 1939. Laura Linney, who plays Suckley, rocked a black and navy ensemble with a modest peplum. Also on hand were producer Kevin Loader, director Roger Michell and screenwriter Richard Nelson. The other adventurous accessory on the carpet belonged to Olivia Williams, who plays Eleanor Roosevelt in the historical film: her fiery red dress was topped with a big, black boa (sadly, no candy was involved).

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September 11, 2012 | 4:29 pm

QUOTED: noted FDR expert Conrad Black delivers his opinion on Hyde Park on Hudson

It is difficult for me to judge how absorbing Hyde Park on Hudson will be to those who are not aficionados of the era or personalities involved, but I enjoyed it.

–Former media mogul and rookie movie critic Conrad Black on Hyde Park on Hudson, in which Bill Murray plays FDR and which premiered at TIFF yesterday. [National Post]

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September 11, 2012 | 4:07 pm

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TIFF RED CARPET: Colin Firth celebrates his 52nd birthday with Emily Blunt at the Arthur Newman premiere

By Gregory Furgala | Photography by Erin Seaman

Since TIFF began, the seemingly tireless Emily Blunt has walked the Argo red carpet, snuggled up to husband John Krasinski at Soho House, hit the CAA party and, last night, worked the premiere of the dark comedy Arthur Newman with her co-star Colin Firth. In the film, Firth plays a man who fakes his own death, and draws a pill-popper named Mike (Blunt) into his scheme. The latter looked lovely in a recycled silk tulle Tory Burch dress, a show of support for Firth’s wife, Livia, who spearheaded the Green Carpet Challenge to encourage stars to wear eco-friendly duds. However, the night belonged to a blue-suited Mr. Firth, who was celebrating his birthday—begrudgingly. Apparently, Blunt and the film’s crew were forcing him out on the town after the premiere to mark the occasion (even though, according to Blunt, “He’s one of those people who doesn’t want to celebrate his birthday”).