The closing night party on the Queen's Quay harbourfront in Toronto.
[photo by Eugene Hernandez © indieWIRE]
The fall festival circuit used to engender more anxiety among acquisitions execs than marketers. But as studios concentrate more on their own productions and pre-buys rather than finished film fare, the acquisitions market at these events is losing its luster.]]>
Actors and special guests of the Festival, including documentary subjects, expected are: John Abraham, Kristen Adams, Danny Aiello, Ayad Akhtar, Michael Angarano, Kevin Bacon, Liane Balaban, Alec Baldwin, Eric Balfour, Juan José Ballesta, Jay Baruchel, Sean Bean, Camilla Belle, Maria Bello, Annette Bening, Andre Benjamin, Juliette Binoche, Seema Biswas, Jolene Blalock, Rachel Blanchard, Cate Blanchett, Brenda Blethyn, Orlando Bloom, Helena Bonham Carter, Lindy Booth, David Boreanaz, JR Bourne, Jeff Bridges, Krista Bridges, Cameron Bright, Adam Brody, Pierce Brosnan, Rob Brydon, Genevičve Bujold, Jackie Burroughs, Arabella Bushnell, Gerard Butler, Gabriel Byrne, Marcello Cabezas, Michel Côté‚ Antonio Canales, Jesús Carroza, Isabelle Carr‚ Nick Cave, Caroline Cave, Jackie Chan, Joan Chen, Sammi Cheng, Jonas Chernick, Margaret Cho, Tenzin Chokyi Gyatso, Tommy Chong, Babz Chula, Presley Chweneyagae, Leonard Cohen, Toni Collette, Clifton Collins Jr., Steve Coogan, LL Cool J, Douglas Coupland Billy Crudup, Jane Curtin, Elisha Cuthbert, Vincent D'Onofrio, Bryce Dallas Howard, Claire Danes, Bruce Daniels, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, Zooey Deschanel, Caroline Dhavernas, Cameron Diaz, Martin Donovan, Robert Downey Jr., David Duchovny, Kirsten Dunst, Aaron Eckhart, Sam Elliot, Jonan Everett, Patricia Fagan, Edie Falco, Dakota Fanning, Jodelle Ferland, Will Ferrell, Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth, Brendan Fletcher, Morgan Freeman, Kelli Garner, Ben Gazzara, Frank Gehry, Richard Gere, Marie Gillian, Cuba Gooding Jr., Macha Grenon, Rachel Griffiths, Luis Guzmán, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jake Gyllenhaal, William H. Macy, Sun Haiying, Woody Harrelson, Ed Harris, Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Hazel, Kim Hee Seon, Martin Henderson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kris Holden-Ried, Ashton Holmes, Anthony Hopkins, Bob Hoskins, Felicity Huffman, William Hurt, Eugene Hutz, Joris Jarsky, Tommy Lee Jones, Hu Jun, Peter Kastner, Abdellatif Kechiche, Catherine Keener, Bruce Kidd, Val Kilmer, Greg Kinnear, Keira Knightly, Kris Kristofferson, Jessica Lange, Hanna Laslo, Isild Le Besco, Heath Ledger, Lauren Lee Smith, Kris Lemche, Sarah Lind, Laura Linney, Ray Liotta, Alison Lohman, Eva Longoria, Sunny Mabrey, Matthew Macfadyen, Daniel MacIvor, Shirley MacLaine, Andy Maize, Steve Martin, Trevor Matthews, Dylan McDermott, Frances McDormand, Bruce McGill, Debra McGrath, Sir Ian McKellen, Mads Mikkelsen, Max Minghella, Liza Minnelli, Colin Mochrie, Gretchen Mol, Michelle Monaghan, Fernanda Montenegro, Julianne Moore, Louis-David Morasse, Viggo Mortensen, Fatemeh Motamed Arya, Matt Murphy, Cillian Murphy, Brittany Murphy, Liam Neeson, Cynthia Nixon, Michelle Nolden, Nick Nolte, Eduardo Noriega, Gwyneth Paltrow, Vincent Pastore, Josh Peace, Guy Pearce, Barry Pepper, Piper Perabo, Joaquin Phoenix, Rosamund Pike, Joe Pingue, Benoît Poelvoorde, Sarah Polley, Louise Portal, Natalie Portman, Lou Pucci, Charlotte Rampling, Lisa Ray, Keanu Reeves, Jeremy Renner, Bjarne Riis, John Robinson, Freddy Rodrěguez, Isabella Rossellini, Tygh Runyan, Kurt Russell, Sarala, Jason Schwartzman, Emmanuelle Seigner, Mallika Sherawat, Elisabeth Shue, Ingvar Sigurdsson, Sarah Silverman, Michael Snow, Jason Statham, Paprika Steen, Julia Stiles, Kiefer Sutherland, Tilda Swinton, Lilian Taublib, Charlize Theron, Ulrich Thomsen, Justin Timberlake, Fernanda Torres, Luke Treadaway, Harry Treadaway, Vince Vaughn, Karin Viard, Julie Walters, Lesley Ann Warren, Emily Watson, Hugo Weaving, Aaron Webber, Courtenay Webber, Samantha Weinstein, Forest Whitaker, Michelle Williams, Reese Witherspoon, Elijah Wood, Robin Wright Penn, Vivian Wu, Karen Young, and Kevin Zegers.
]]>Links to previous stories are available in indieWIRE's special Toronto '05 section and the complete Toronto lineup has been published on indieWIRE.com.
]]>Among the films singled out as star-studded new fest titles include Scott McGehee & David Siegel's "Bee Season", baed on the best-selling novel, Neil Jordan's "Breakfast On Pluto" starring Cillian Murphy, Mary Harron's "The Notorious Bettie Page" with Gretchen Mol as the famous pin-up model, Udayan Prasad's "Opa!", Michael Winterbottom's "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story", Roger Donaldson's "The World's Fastest Indian", Steven Soderbergh's "Bubble", Mike Johnson & Tim Burton's stop-motion animated "Corpse Bride", Liev Schreiber's "Everything Is Illuminated", Shane Black's "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang", Abel Ferrara's new film "Mary", and John Turturro's "Romance & Cigarettes".
]]>Set to screen in Toronto this year will be Curtis Hanson's "In Her Shoes" starring Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette in a film described by fest planners as the "alternately hilarious and heart-rending story of the trials and tribulations of two sisters with nothing in common but size 8 ˝ feet." Also on tap is John Madden's "Proof", the big screen adaptation of the popular play about "an enigmatic young woman haunted by her father's past and the shadow of her own future." It stars Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hope Davis, and Gwyneth Paltrow. Finally, also set is Joe Wright's film version of Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice" starring Keira Knightley.
]]>This is an exciting time to be in Toronto. The theatres are full and there is a buzz in the air. As an accredited member of the press, I had access to all the press conferences and all of the other events designed to get the word out about the individual films being screened at the Festival. There are also parties galore. Every night a different studio seems to be hosting an event of some kind.
I tend to ignore most of these peripheral events. I’m mainly interested in the films and I see no reason to attend most media events. The stars that show up may be glamorous, but their appearances are mainly intended to sell their films and there are really few opportunities for any one on one in-depth interviews.
To me, the films are the main story and as it is, I don’t have enough time to see as many films as I would like. So that’s the area upon which I try to focus my energy.
]]>The complete list of winners follows, information provided by the festival.
]]> AGF PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
The closing night party on the Queen's Quay harbourfront in Toronto.
[photo by Eugene Hernandez © indieWIRE]
The name of Martin Short's new film is Jiminy Glick In Lalawood. It stars Short as the title character, an interviewer of celebrities who is as clueless as he is corpulent. But here's the thing about the title: it's a misnomer. That's because the film doesn't take place in Tinseltown; it takes place in Toronto during the Toronto International Film Festival.
That's right: the closing-night gala at this year's Toronto International Film Festival is a comedy about the Toronto International Film Festival. Sounds like a big in-joke, doesn't it? It gets even better – the two groups of people Short makes fun of are entertainment reporters and movie stars. The film festival is, of course, a mecca for both of those same groups.
"I love the shallowness of it all!" Glick gushes while on the red carpet trying to harvest sound bites from the famous. Although it may seem on the surface that lines like this mean we're supposed to laugh at Short's portly alter ego, the former SCTV star is really having a big chuckle at the expense of his fellow stars, as well as the journalists who make a living producing news about them.
]]>Shit, where to start. Well I am back in LA and had an amazing amount of trouble getting out of bed this morning, its friday 12 midday. It really should have been easier to get up seeing as Toronto time it is actually 3pm but apparently my body needed the sleep and it was gonna get it. So where did i leave off? Drag queens, covered that, Diesel party, cover that, my dads best friend and family, covered that, um so wednesday day....
]]> I woke up at around 10am. Thought about going to the gym for about an hour. I really didnt want to go and I ended up thrashing around on the bed bouncing around on my back in frustration for about 3 minutes. When I stopped I realised I was puffing and had started up a sweat. Excellent. I continued doing this for about 25 mins. I was knackered (exhausted) at the end of it. Some sit ups and some push ups later and I was ready to met my friend Heather from NZ for a quick lunch of fish and chips and beer before heading to our final screening. Heather is a old friend of mine that I grew up with but who now lives in Toronto. I had'nt seen her in 6 years. It was fucken great to see her and talk about old times.The second screening was great. I loved having friends and 'mayaswellbe' family there. Heather, Fiona (Dads best friend) and family. Wicked. Loved it.
We received another standing ovation. Really incredible. It's hard to know how to respond to that sort of thing but so touching.
After the screening we were rounded up and taken to the Four Seasons to have our make up done by Chanel, yay more goody bags.
I walked out and I swore people were staring at me. They weren't of course and apparently it looked amazing but being someone who doesn't wear that kinda make up often, not to mention it was definitely evening makeup and it was still only 4pm, I felt a little self conscious. Not to worry back to the pub with Heather, Fiona, Joanna and Michael. Three beers later, I was starting to like the make up.
9.30pm we headed over to The Therapy Lounge. The infamous Double Dare party!!
What an amazing night. Heaps of people turned up. Lots of really lovely cool people. I realise at this point I should go about name dropping and all that shit but truth be told I don't really care for that, also I have serious trouble with last names and apparently name dropping without last names is not worth it. We did how ever have a Xena and a Wonder Woman. They were fantastic. Loads of audience members, photographers from the New York Times, directors of other movies, stars of other ones, producers, somehow it seemed we only got the cool ones, you know the one that you actually want to spend time with.
At some time, I have know idea what time, we packed up camp and moved to another venue. Again I am sorry but I do not remember the name of this place but the bar looked like the inside of a lobster pot and it was brilliant. Mayhem ensued, people being tackled, men wearing Wonder Woman's out fit, mini parties in the girls toilets (not those kind of parties!!)lots'a'drinks, lots'a'laughs!Seriously fantastic night.
A group of us decided we were hungry and should eat before going back to the hotel - to avoid the $50 breakfast situation. We found a Chinese place. We ate with chop sticks and drank tea. It did the trick. We stumbled back to the hotel and my head hit the pillow, i think around the 6 or 7 mark.
The next morning.....
Again the whole getting out of bed thing, not so easy. We arose at 10.30. Check out was meant to be 11am.
Us "Hi, I'm sorry. We were wondering if we could possibly get a late check out please?"
Them "12 midday."
Us " Could we make it 1pm"
Them "No."
Us "What would it cost to get an extra hour?"
Them "A extra day rate."
Us "Thank you that is incredibly helpful."
Manic packing, showering and sorting tried to happen. everything was moving in slow mo.
I ate pizza for lunch, met a friend in Greek town for a beer. Got back to the hotel in time to meet my ride. We picked up Jeannie and Karen and headed for the airport. Bye bye Toronto!
I was fucken exhausted dragging my arse thru US immigration. I love US immigration. We all love US immigration. God bless America.
My sweet relief was that i had Jeannie with me. We made it bearable by cracking each other up about how wonderful it is to be famous. She is an amazing travel buddy. Aside from the fact that she feels it necessary to bring her entire wardrobe and I feel its necessary to carry it for her! But for real, we will have each other in stitches for hours. People thiunk i am a bad influence on her......dont be fooled.
Anyway that's that.
Thank you Toronto for being such a great city, such a great personality. Thank you Toronto Film Festival for treating us so wonderfully, and being such a great opportunity for so many. Mission well accomplished.
E noho ra. Kia kaha.
Zoë
To Do List
#Shower
#Unpack
#Laundry
#Read
#Hold my boyfriend
#Not drink beer for at least a day.