Preparations for Soho House Toronto’s first party go down to the wire

Soho House is, without question, the most anticipated new venue at TIFF this year. After all, the Grey Goose Soho House pop-up at last year’s festival was the site of so many of the year’s biggest parties. The various society onlookers and film fest gawkers were very, very ready. Soho House, in classic last-minute TIFF style, was not. At 9:15 last night, the building was still half-empty, save for a frantic group of painters and carpenters putting on finishing touches. Heaps of furniture—sofas, chairs, tables, decorative tableware—were still bubble-wrapped and waiting on the sidewalk. And the party, for the festival-opening time-travel film Looper, was due to start in less than two hours. Did they make it? Did Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis have to sit on the floor? Well, no, of course they didn’t—the party went off without a hitch. But the fevered preparations were a reminder of all the work that goes into making a TIFF party look effortless.