Day 6 was wrought with huge disappointments for me and others. Cancellations dominated the day as the likes of Jane Fonda, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Jennifer Lawrence were all absent desite being on the original guest lists.
My day started off confirming Lawrences absence and speculating heaving that JDM was also a no-show. However, I was still hopeful he was maybe in Toronto for the premiere and just somehow wasnt at the press conference.
I showed up to the premiere for Peace, Love and Misunderstandings hoping for the man who played John Winchester to be in attendance, and worst case scenario...at least I would get Jane Fonda. As it turns out, NEITHER of those situations happened, as both of them were no-shows. Instead, we were mistreated to the incredibly unfriendly Chase Crawford and shockingly unfriendly Kyle MacLachlan, who between of them signed maybe 10 autographs and spent less than a minute interacting with the fans. I dont know what company is dishing the $ out for P,L&M but I can assure you, the cancellation of the movies 2 biggest names and absolute neglect from itsw 2 second tier names likely unsold many tickets that night. The public relations team for this film must have had heart attacks when they checked the next day for fan on the street reactions and saw plenty of negatively worded responses. One of the reactions I saw in person was a gil, maybe 15ish who word for word said "fuck Chase. He NEEDS our ticket sales, we dont NEED his acting, theres lots of other guys to follow". Thisw blunt, factual and quite attentive response to being slighted by the tv actor is the type of thing that will over time hurt his star power. Hes replaceable, theres dozens of prettyboy faces out there, and some casting director is going to 1 day pick a nicer, more personable, more fan friendly 1 over him. The casting director of PL&M probably wishes they had that prior insight.
I attempted the Jennfer Garner red carpet. Had Alicia Silverstone signing near me, but was unable to get close enough to the fading star to get 1 of the limited autographs she tossed out. Jennifer Garner was just as bad, even statign 9according to a source who actually has admited to having bad hearing...but her body language did convey the same message) "I dont like you" as she skipped over my item, which seemed odd for someone that had prior to that moment only seen me for a total of 20 seonds in her entire life, back in 2007. and no words or actions were exchanged in that meeting.
After the shitty start to this day, I decided I better go for what SHOULD be a slam dunk. A premiere at the small Isabelle Bader Theatre. It was the only premiere the theatre had this festival that I worked, and it was...ok. I managed a couple autographs from Sarah Bolger and Scott Speedman as well as 1 from Lily Cole. Sarah Gadon was also there and signed willingly, I just had nothing for the budding star. It broke my shutout slump..even though I had hoped for at least 2 more autographs from that carpet, it was a start.
I contemplated quitting the night there & cutting my losses, but instead took the short walk over to the Windsor Arms for the InStyle party.
A plethora of C & D list names populated the Canadian version of this party. I was disappointed to miss Covert Affairs stars Chris Gorham and Piper Perabo, both of whom walked right by me. I managed an autograph from Anton Yelchin and 1 from Jessica Chastain, before |I opted to call it a night.
A few other names went to the party. Ashley Greene of Twilight fame went there, snubbed the crowd, and got loudly booed for her disrespect. This girl will be doing TV Movies of the week within 2 yrs. She has little to no talent, and a sour attitude and the Twi-fame is about to be done...and she seems oblivious to it. The Trailer Park Boys also showed up, and greeted, signed and took pics with anyone who asked. They have always been terrific at fan interactions, this time was no different. Kim Cattrall was seen leaving the party and snubbed most requests, although she did sign 1 autograph, most of the requests for the aging star were ignored.
All toll, considering how abysmal the day started, getting what I did in the end seemed like a small victory.
GRADES
A+ Trailer Park Boys A- Sarah Bolger A- Sarah Gadon A- Christopher Gorham B Scott Speedman B- Jessica Chastain B- Lyndsy Fonseca C+ Anton Yelchin C Lily Cole C- Alicia Silverstone C- Piper Perabo C- Kim Cattrall D+ Jennifer Garner D Ashley Greene D Chase Crawford D Kyle MacLachlan
TOTAL autographs 7
Last weekend WB had several TV shows do a photo shoot & press junket here in Vancouver. While most of the shows were already in Vancouver since its where they film..one show actually made the trek in for the event.
The cast of The CW show "Nikita" travelled across the country to do the event. While Maggie Q, the star of the show was left back in Toronto, the shows young & hottest stars were paraded out west.
The first of the cast we saw was Lyndsy Fonseca (Alex) upon arriving in town. She was quite pleasant & great with signing and taking photos with the fans & hounds that were out there for her. Later we would see her again at the hotel the next day & she again didnt hesitate to sign.
Shane West (Michael) arrived about an hour later. West did autograph requests and photo ops as well. While others did run into him again later in the trip, I didnt.
Xander Berkley (Percy) was first spotted at the press junket showing up. Going in he told us he was in a hurry because he was late. We have heard that excuse 100s of times & were not sure if we were being fed a line again. However later that night, upon his return to the hotel, he immediately came out of this towncar straight over to us without us even asking & clearly recalled what he said earlier as he said to us "ok, I'm not in a rush now" & signed 1 each for the 3 or 4 of us waiting still.
Melinda Clarke (Amanda) was also there, but going in we didnt notice who it was yet & on the way out she outright ignored us.
All in all, a decent enough weekend with the cast of Nikita.
John Carpenter had a film at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, unfortunately, he wasnt able to come to promote it.
Instead, a gaggle of hotties were there to promote the film.
Amber Heard (Zombieland), Lyndsy Fonseca (Kick-Ass), Mika Boorem (Dawson's Creek), Danielle Panabaker (Shark) and Laura Leigh were there to promote the film & they did a splendid job.
Especially the likes of Heard & Fonseca who drew the vast majority of the attention. Below are a few pics of Heard, Fonseca & Leigh at the premiere.
Every event has people who were simply better & who were worse at interacting & respecting the fans, pros & random passerbys. This year was no different.
With so many things going on at the same time during TIFF, as many as 5 premieres were sometimes going on at the same time, it was impossible to cover them all & experience each & every celebrity there. So its very likely someone else would have a fairly different list than mine. But, with around 100 hours of hounding in the books for me, I feel this is a fairly well rounded list.
So, I give you MY list of the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival Best & worst list.
BEST WINNER- Sam Worthington - All toll I got 17 autographs from the Avatar star. I got a photo with. He joked with the few of us standing at his hotel on the final day of my fest. His choice for Top spot of the fest was in my opinion, undebateable. 2- Michael C Hall - The Dexter star was terrific on the red carpet, signing practically everything asked...despite knowing he had signed for people prior. At the airport, the reports had him signing 3 items per person. At his after party he signed again, he took photos with & even took a few seconds to respond to my breif questions about how he thought the film was. 3- Megan Fox - The Transformers star was a red carpet signing machine. The 11 autographs I got from her was my all time single person high at TIFF till Worthington blew her out of the water. 4- James Caan - The Godfather star was an exceptional signer going in to and coming out of his press conference. 5- Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler star may have had a pretty ugly autograph, but he was more than willing to scrawl it on everything asked...and thats better than not signing at all. 6- Aaron Eckhart - Saw The Dark Knight star on multiple occasions & he was always willing to sign. 7- Amber Heard - Was a very willing signer at her Midnight Madness premiere for The Ward. 8- Danielle Harris - Was very willing to sign, take photos with & pose for photos for the fans who came out to her Midnight Madness premiere for Stake Land 9- Sally Hawkins - She came all the way back out of her vehicle to come & sign my photo after she realized I was the only person there with a specific item for her. 10- Sarah Silverman - Although her co-star Michael C Hall was the star of the show with the fans, the sexy comedienne worked the crowd well also, signing whatever was asked. 11- Nicole Kidman - Saw the 3X Golden Globe & 1 time Academy Award winner sign a plethora on 2 different occasions. Probably the best signing legend of the festival. 12- Lyndsy Fonseca - The sexy Kick Ass/HIMYM star signed & took photos with anyone who asked at her premiere. 13- Emma Stone - The Easy A hottie was a great signer on her red carpet. The autographs may have been less than spectacular, but she made sure everyone got 1. 14- Hallie Switzer - When Modra director Ingrid Veninger came out & handed out postcards to the awaiting fans at the press conference hotel for her star to sign, Switzer was put in a position of having to suddenly sign a plethora of autographs, despite few knowing of her before then. She handled it quite well. 15- Helen Mirren - The screen legend was a decent signer at both of her premieres.
Honourable mention- Yeardley Smith, Judy Greer, Penn Badgley, Rachel Blanchard WORST LOSER- Eva Mendes - When you cant do a roll down for ONE person, then RUN past 5 people a few minutes later at a different venue, then snub a dozen or so upon departing that venue. Dont do photos with anyone, and to top it off, have an autograph session the day prior where you wont sign anything but the specified item your giving out and wont allow photos with or even to have fans interact with you...your a grade A bitch. 2- Clive Owen - Upon arriving in Toronto he put on a stone faced look that as 1 hound stated "he looked like his mother just died" while he walked the 50-75 yards to his vehicle. Ignoring all requests for autographs, photos with, or questions. 3- Frances Conroy - Someone thinks 1 Golden Globe 6 years ago actually means something. The haggard old bitch didnt sign going into her press conference, despite being the first one to show up by quite awhile...then refused to sign leaving either. All while less than 5 people either time even cared to ask her. 4- Bill Murray - Shocker. The Ghostbusters star refused all requests for autographs going into his premiere. He is a notoriously terrible signer. 5- Jeremy Renner - Imagine Frances Conroy, but younger & male, and without the Golden Globe. Few people cared about him, and he put in no effort accomodating the minimal requests. 6- Winona Ryder - Perhaps she was in a hurry to get away after stealing something every single time? I dont know, but she sure made every effort to get away from sharpies wherever possible. Despite not having a single role that even her agent could name since 1999, Ms. Robber...err, Ryder insisted she would only sign for children....because we all know KIDS are huge fans of all those epic recent movies shes done like...umm? 7- Natalie Portman - Natalie didnt sign, nor really even acknowledge the fans at her press conference. I however heard she signed some on her red carpet arrival at least. 8- Vera Farmiga - The very unknown actress who had less than 10 people asking her refused to sign going in to her premiere & snuck out while larger names were busy signing. 9- Clint Eastwood - As a director, you think you would want to leave your premiere with good PR. But Clint didnt...instead, stiffing dozens of fans & collectors who had waited up to as much as 9 hrs in a cramped pen, all so he could attend a party. 10- Josh Brolin - snuck out of his premiere to avoid the dozens of fans who waited hours to see the stars leave. 11- Anthony Hopkins - see Josh Brolin. 12- Woody Allen - Only difference between him & Clint is, he had a legitimate excuse for ditching the fans. He had a plane to catch 13- Matt Damon - ONE autograph total, which he looked truly annoyed to be doing & a shrug of the shoulders is all the 70-100 fans waiting out back on his departure got from him. 14- Freida Pinto - She signed less than 10 autographs on her red carpet arrival. Sad that her boyfriend, who wasnt even in the film, was able to sign far more than her. 15- Jon Hamm - Signed a small handful going into his press conference, then ignored everyone leaving...despite telling the crowd on the way in he would get everyone leaving. dishonorable mention - Vincent Cassel, Patrick Wilson, Malin Akerman, Ryan Phillippe Top 5 moments 1 - Meeting Michael C Hall at his after party & getting a photo with. 2 - Meeting Sam Worthington at 9:30 AM on my final day of film fest & getting him to sign everything I had & do a photo with. 3 - Getting an autograph from Jill Hennessy only a block from where I was standing thanks to reading twitter. 4 - Sally Hawkins coming back out of her car to sign for me after he premiere. 5 - The director of Modra, Ingrid Veninger giving out promo postcards to the crowd for her movies star, Hallie Switzer to sign. Bottom 5 moments 1 - Wasting my time chasing the likes of Clint Eastwood, Woody Allen, Matt Damon, Anthony Hopkins & Josh Brolin, when I could have gone to a few other events & got a handful of other people I could have used as well. 2 - Attempting to get Malin Akerman after her movie & only having her drive by & wave...despite less than 10 people being there. 3 - Seeing Rosamund Pike come out of the hotel & realizing I had taken my photo out of my binder prior to then. 4 - Having Eva Mendes drive by me & not sign, or roll down the window for a photo or anything, despite me being the only one there for her. 5 - Missing the likes ot Robert De Niro, Keanu Reeves, Nicole Kidman, Harvey Keitel and a few others by mere inches because of random dumb luck.
Day 5 turned out to be better than the prior day for sure.
On the surface I didnt see a boatload of potential, but I thought it wouldbe "ok".
My day started pretty bad though, as I got into Toronto a few hrs later than planned & missed early day hounding chances.
It got worse when the first premiere I would try would be for Rachel Weisz. She showed up to the Elgin (the venue of horror from less than 24 hrs earlier) & we (5 of us) rushed the front door for autographs. She came over & signed 3...denying my photo saying she didnt sign "nudes" even though no nudity is shown behind a conventiently placed reptile. On her way out of the premiere I did manage 2 autographs...but I felt I was going to have a bad day at that time as I was now a couple hours more behind where I wanted to be.
From there I went to a premiere for Freida Pinto, she of the sneaky sneak action the night before. I really needed her boyfriend more than her, and luckily he was there. After not getting him at the airport a couple days earlier, I was happy to get Dev Patel to sign the photo I had...however, I never got Freida, as she only signed a few before heading into her premiere.
From there I headed back to the Elgin for a few other shows that were going on over there after the Weisz one.
Unfortunately I missed Jim Broadbent leaving, but had good spot for the rest of the night which turned out decently.
It helped me nab 1 autograph each from Aaron Eckhart, Helen Mirren & Nicole Kidman. As it would turn out, the only autopgraph I got there that I wouldnt get again was Kidman, but at the time I felt pretty good about things. Sadly, I missed a chance to get Keith Urban as well, as he signed some while he waited for Nicole to finish signing as well. I have heard multiple reports from people I know who have gone for Urban with no success...so this was a missed chance for sure.
From there I was back to Ryerson to nab 3 autographs at the midnight show of The Ward from Amber Heard. I also got a photo with Kick Ass/HIMYM cutie Lyndsy Fonseca.
It wasnt a great day, but it was a relief to kick the dreadful 1 autograph in 44 hr slump I had been in prior to Weisz signing.
A+ Amber Heard A Aaron Eckhart A Helen Mirren A Nicole Kidman A Lyndsy Fonseca A- Dev Patel B- Rachel Weisz D Freida Pinto
A 9 autograph day doesnt usually thrill me, but after the day before...I was pleased....especially to finally get an A lister like Nicole Kidman as well.
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