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TIFF 2011 Wrap-Up: A Festival Of Rumours, Risks And Paul Williams

By Jason Anderson (Subscribe to Jason Anderson's posts), Posted Sep 19th 2011 6:00PM
Filed under: Toronto Film Festival, Moviefone Canada


Given that the Toronto International Film Festival has become synonymous not just with marathon movie-viewing but with obsessive star-spotting, it's fitting that this year's juiciest behind-the-scenes story had to do with where you did or didn't look.

Halfway through the festival, which wrapped up Sunday after a 10-day run, reports surfaced about an incident involving Madonna as she headed into a press conference for her new film 'W.E.' Representatives of the pop-superstar-turned-terrible-
actress-turned-iffy-movie-director allegedly insisted TIFF volunteers face the wall as Madonna walked past, so the non-famous volunteers wouldn't disturb her by ogling.
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Toronto Film Festival Preview: Our Recommendations

By Jason Anderson (Subscribe to Jason Anderson's posts), Posted Aug 25th 2011 10:00AM
Filed under: Toronto Film Festival, Movie News, Festivals, Moviefone Canada
Seeing as the world's biggest movie stars have descended on the Toronto International Film Festival every September for 36 years now, you can hardly blame locals for getting a little blasé.

Sure, you can still expect the sidewalks in front of the city's most luxurious hotels and most exclusive nightspots -- along with the festival's innumerable red-carpet film premieres -- to be packed solid with autograph hounds, shutterbugs and other varieties of celebrity hunter, but when it comes to star-spotting during TIFF, the true connoisseur places the highest value on celeb sightings in the places you'd least expect.

It could be a Chinatown dumpling joint at 2AM. It could be at the back of a grubby pub that has no use for a velvet rope. One longtime Toronto resident I know still brags about seeing Brian Dennehy in line at his local variety store. Another was thrilled to host Bond baddie Mads Mikkelsen at a post-fest house party. I for one will not rest until I see George Clooney make a stop at my favourite burrito place in Kensington Market.
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Even Better Than the Reel Thing? U2 Leads Rocker Brigade at Toronto Film Festival

By Jason Anderson (Subscribe to Jason Anderson's posts), Posted Jul 28th 2011 11:05AM
Filed under: Features, Toronto Film Festival, Movie News, Moviefone Canada


Given the iffy screen careers of David Bowie, Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan, we should all be thankful that Bono chose activism as his side career rather than acting. Just think of all the roles we were probably spared –- surely it was only a matter of time before he'd have tried his luck as a hot-headed Irish mob boss in a Martin Scorsese movie or opposite Kate Hudson in a rom-com about battling employees at a Sunglass Hut.

Chances are none of these hypothetical star vehicles would have been rewarded with an honor as prestigious as the first-night slot at the Toronto International Film Festival. Instead, Bono earned that by just being himself, as have the rest of his bandmates in U2. The Irish rock superstars are the subject of 'From the Sky Down' -- a new film by 'It Might Get Loud' and 'Waiting for Superman' director Davis Guggenheim -- that makes its world premiere as TIFF's opening gala film. A portrait of the years leading up to the band's reinvention with 1991's Achtung Baby, it is the first-ever documentary to open the 36-year-old festival, which dominates the city of Toronto and most of the movie world from September 8-18.
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2010 Toronto International Film Festival Preview: The Big Score

By Jason Anderson (Subscribe to Jason Anderson's posts), Posted Aug 17th 2010 5:00PM
Filed under: Toronto Film Festival, Movie News, Made in Canada
Yes, there will be singing hockey players, but don't let them scare you away from the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.

While plenty of stars are getting ready to strut down carpets of various shades during TIFF this September, the conflagration of luminaries on opening night promises to be the most -- er, unique.

OK, it's kind of terrifying to think that all of these people will be in one place at one time, especially if you're a sheepish Canadian who cringes at corny displays of patriotism. In case you didn't suffer enough trauma at the sight of Michael Buble dressed as a Mountie at the Winter Olympics, you may want to consider the potential guest list for the world premiere of 'Score: A Hockey Musical' on September 9. The cast for this Toronto-shot tribute to sticks and pucks includes Nelly Furtado, Don Cherry, Theo Fleury and George Stroumboulopoulos. Author Margaret Atwood was in it, too, until her cameo ended up on the cutting room floor. Even so, we wouldn't be surprised if she still came out to add to the almost unquantifiable Canadian-ness of TIFF's first big night.
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Opening a Can of Worms at TIFF

By Jason Anderson (Subscribe to Jason Anderson's posts), Posted Sep 8th 2009 2:00PM
Filed under: Toronto Film Festival, Made in Canada


There's one star who definitely stands to make his or her presence felt when the Toronto International Film Festival begins on Sept. 10, but it's not who you might expect, i.e. George Clooney (though he does return as the star of two new movies: 'Up in the Air' and 'The Men Who Stare at Goats'.)

Nor is it Clooney's good friend Matt Damon, who's here with Steven Soderbergh's new satire 'The Informant!' It's not even Oprah Winfrey, who'll be promoting 'Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire,' the Sundance prizewinner she exec-produced.
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