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Heres a small clip of Sam Worthington signing for the plethora of fans on the red carpet of the gala premiere for "The Debt" at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival at Roy Thompson Hall.
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Day 10. My final day of the festival was very successful for such a short time...but it did end on a sour note.
I got over to 1 of the hotels early & hung around with a few other onlookers for a bit. Around 9:45 AM a scruffy bearded Sam Worthington made his way out of the hotel & came down to the crowd of 5. He signed everything the crowd had, joked with us & took photos with. He then went back up the ramp to his awaiting ride & left. All toll I got 13 autographs & a photo with from him. About 20 minutes later Eva Mendes came out & was quite the opposite. Hopped in her vehicle & the others went running to where he final destination would be. As she drove out I tried to get her to do a rolldown signing, but instead I got a half hearted wave & nothing more. I showed up to the press conference hotel to hear she ran into there past the 4-6 people waiting there upon her arrival. On her departure she was just as unwilling, and I opted to call that the end of my festival. It was 1:30 PM & I was done Despite the miserable Mendes mess, The Wonderful Worthington windfall made the day a success. 13 autographs on the day..all from 1 person. He will be a contender for best signer when I do my best & worst list in my next blog. A+ Sam Worthington F Eva Mendes My final total of the entire Fest was 97 autographs. I had a goal of 100.... ironically I had 3 Mendes photos on me to get done. Several factors lead to me not getting to 100. Mendes, wasting 1/3 of a day trying for Eastwood, Allen, Hopkins & the gang 1 day, the 1 rained out day, a lot of dumb luck missing autographs by a foot here or an inch there for certain. I am actually happy with 97. Even though looking back, I know I should/could have had 110-125 Day 8 was raining hard when I got up it didnt stop till alte afternoon...so I wasted the day watching The Big Bang Theory & a few other shows in Hamilton.
Day 9 showed potential, but ended with disappointment. First up was a film with Harvey Keittel & Tricia Helfer. At the least, I expected to get both of my Helfers done. As it turned out, this was not the case. Tricia showed up, came over, and only signed about 8-10 autographs before leaving to do press. I was stunned & thought I better clean up on Keittel, who I expected to be a challenge...I DIDNT expect I would literally get burned by mere inches. Keittel showed up & did a few autographs right near where I was. My item was probably no more than 4 inches from where he signed, but he never made the effort to just move a bit more to his left & I was left shut out by this premiere. Keittel also only signed maybe 10-15 autographs total. Jason Jones from The Daily Show With Jon Stewart was also in the film & did a decent amount of autographs, but I had nothing for him & had to sit back & watch. The next film had Abigail Breslin and a few people I had nothing for. I expected to do well with Breslin, and if the $8 an hr peons who hate their life werent there, I likely would have. I did manage to finally get 1 autograph from her near the end of her signing, but she was rushed away very quickly, and only signed maybe 20-30 autographs total, in random clusters along the red carpet. I left Roy Thompson Hall for the last time of the fest feeling very disappointed in my output there. I arrived at the midnight showing at Ryerson for a film with Danielle Harris & others, including Fringe castmate "The Observer" Michael Cerveris. Some young kid named Connor Paolo showed up first & girls seemed excited. Shortly after, Top Gun star Kelly McGillis arrived & signed a bunch for the fans. Then Danielle Harris came over & signed everything there was out there. I ended the evening getting a few photos of them & having a few words with Cerveris about his filming in Vancouver. My day was complete, with a very underwhelming 4 autographs. I was quite disappointed with the outcome, considering the potential the day had. A+ Danielle Harris A Michael Cerveris A Kelly McGillis A Connor Paolo B+ Jason Jones B- Abigail Breslin C- Harvey Keitel C- Tricia Helfer Day 7 was a short one for me. It was also a great one for me, despite moderate numbers.
I didnt start till late afternoon, as I got into Toronto around 4 PM & instantly went over to Roy Thompson Hall to get set for the premire for Peep World. It was the biggest event on the entire schedule for me, as it had my top priority of film fest, Michael C. Hall. Michael was the first person to show up. I eagerly hurried into the swarm to get him, just to assure I was going to get at least 1 from my main target. I soon had 1 & had a 2nd shortly after. A bit of a lull after that before I got my 3rd, which included a near fight with old people of all things. Some older woman was getting mad at another hound for being in front of her & she actually punched him in the back. Me reaching around her seemed to be her last sstraw & she elbowed me multiple times to move back. Now I have been in countless scrums & 1 of the reasons I dont seem to get as much as some is because I usually am a little too respectful of people...so when someone is giving ME grief, they are actually being unreasonable I would say. Its a scrum envirinment, dont go into it if you arent expecting to be in a condensed space & perhaps jostled a little. This lady seemed to be under some impression she was entitled to a couple square metres of space. The elbowing continued, my persistence then elevated to compensate for her aggressiveness brought in her husband who made the foolish mistake of grabbing my by my jacket. I gave him 1 good hard shove off, he pushed back & I walked away as frankly, I was far more focused on autographs than hospitalizing an old person because his wife is a fucking dumbass. As I went to go reposition myself a few metres down security came over to me (of course, the younger, larger, professional hound MUST be at fault here) and wanted me to walk over & have a few words with him. I declined his invite & continued into the crowd. I told him, if he wants to talk, go ahead. I was very willing to debate everything that just happened, but I wasnt going to lose out because of it. Instead, he just gave up. After the scrum ended, where I eventually got 4 more Halls, and a few words out of him about the upcoming season of Dexter that he is filming. I went over to the same guard, I apologized to him for having to deal with it, explained my side & went on my way. I still dont think he bought my side of it..although he word for word stated exactly what I said as well (with the exception of the continual elbowing), except making it sound like I somehow insitgated it. With 6 Hall autographs in my possession it was pretty tough for my day to be bad. Shortly after his co-star, the cutie comedienne Sarah Silverman showed up & I was able to quickly get thru the 3 items I had for her, and even helped out another hound get 1 of his giving me a total of 4 autographs on the evening from her. From there I headed over to a premiere across town for Ryan Gosling. Once there I heard news of an after party for Michael C. Hall's film, and I soon decided to abandon the Gosling premiere, as I really wanted a photo with Dexter Morgan. Arriving at the party early I sat around behimd where the roped off area was, till just before the first star showed up. Judy Greer, who also is in Peep World showed up first. She was pleasant & friendly, and even posed for a photo out on the street before getting to the red carpet set up at the party. Across the street we noticed another party going on, it was for a movie that had Jennifer Connolly, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan & Yeardley Smith. Smith showed up & we hurried across the street, others got autographs, but I squeezed in to get a photo with. Besides being Lisa Simpson, I am a fan of hers, because she was a character on my favorite show Dead Like Me for an episode or two. Immediately back across the street we went & a few minutes later Michael C. Hall showed up. He was patient & friendly, signing for everyone & doing photos with anyone who asked, including myself. I instantly headed back to RTH for the night premiere of a movie with Malin Akerman & Ryan Phillippe. Once I got there I found out both stars were already done signing & neither signed much. I SHOULD have just called it a night, or headed back to the Connolly party, but I foolishly waited around for Akerman leaving & was shut out. My night ended poorly, but the evening went so well I called the day a success. Afterall I got 6 autographs from my top priority of film fest, and a photo with. A+ MICHAEL C. HALL A Sarah Silverman A Yeardley Smith A Judy Greer C- Malin Akerman C- Ryan Philippe 10 autographs for the day & 2 photos with. Day 6 started a bit slow, but it turned out to be pretty good once the day ended.
The morning press conferences turned out to be good & bad. While I did very good with the likes of James Caan & Aaron Eckhart, getting 3 each from them (Caan 1 going in, 2 leaving. Eckhart all 3 leaving). The likes of Keanu Reeves, Nicole Kidman & Vincent Cassel proved less successful, despite them signing a limited amount. Notorious non-signers Natalie Portman & Winona Ryder stuck to their non-promoting ways that morning, and were joined in the "I dont need your ticket sales" group by unknown Vera Farmiga. After the up & down morning, I headed to a hotel to see if I could nab a few autographs with the few hours there was to kill before the premieres started. Much to my shock & disappointment, several Toronto Maple Leafs were seen leaving, and signing. I had originally planned to go for the Leafs on this trip, but it never happened...and now they were taunting me by walking right out past me. The likes of Patrick Wilson & Kick Ass cutie Lyndsy Fonseca would stroll out of the hotel before someone I needed finally would leave. John Turturro would come out & sign a few items, including 1 for me. Freida Pinto would come out & rush by the crowd without even so much as stopping for a photo, let alone an autograph. Rosamund Pike signed a couple, but stupid me, I wasnt carrying my photo of her at the time & missed a chance to get it done. A bit later Ingrid Veninger, the director of an independant movie "Modra" came out with one of the actresses in it & handed out small promo placards to the crowd for her star to sign. In my opinion, this was 1 of the best jobs anyone did at TIFF of trying to promote their film. The actress Hallie Switzer seemed overwhelmed by it all, but happily signed a couple dozen autographs before having to be whisked away. At the time I didnt know it was the director promoting her & the movie. I joked with Hallie that "you have a great publicist" & thats when Ms. Switzer told me "thats actually the director". This was certainly one of the cooler autograph stories of TIFF for me. If Hallie never becomes a star, she can at least lay claim to being sandwiched in between notable actors like John Turturro and Edward Norton in my autographing ventures.... as Smoochy was my next score at the hotel. Norton signed very few, but I managed to squeeze my Smoochy photo thru & got an autograph. On that note, I decided it was a great time to get out of there & hurry to the first premiere of the evening. The Debt premiere turned out to be ok...despite the fact I only had 1 photo of Helen Mirren to get signed when I arrived. My friend had sent out some photos for Sam Worthington but I had not received them by the time of the premiere. However, my friends needed some assistance, so I wasnt completely shut out of getting Worthington. I managed to get 4 from him & my 1 Mirren photo done. From there, a lot of the hounds chased after Bruce Springsteen. I put in a few minutes on him, but really I didnt do much in trying for him as I didnt think the odds were too good of getting him. Oddly, going for The Boss did lead me to lucking into a Jill Hennessy autograph, after I read a tweet that she was at a corner just 1 block from where I was waiting for Mr. Springsteen. A lot of the big hounds were still focused on Bruce when the premiere of Buried, with Ryan Reynolds was going on as it started a little earlier. I did well there, getting 5 autographs, and a little quip from Reynolds when I displayed an unofficial Green Lantern item for him to sign, which Ryan joked "this doesnt look too official" before signing it. After a coupke sluggish days, it was nice to have another strong day. As 20 autographs were had for the 2nd time in a week. A+ Sam Worthington A+ James Caan A+ Aaron Eckhart A Hallie Switzer A Jill Hennessy B+ Helen Mirren B+ Ryan Reynolds B- John Turturro C+ Nicole Kidman C+ Rosamund Pike C+ Edward Norton C Keanu Reeves C- Patrick Wilson C- Vincent Cassel F Freida Pinto F Natalie Portman F Vera Farmiga F Winona Ryder 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. Day 3 was to say the least, a lesson in frustration.
it started out with a painfully long & frustrating 3 hour & 18 minute journey to get from Hamilton to Toronto airport. Its SUPPOSED to take about 2 hrs.. It SHOULD take 90 minutes...yet it took 3:18 to get there. Shortly after getting there I heard rumblings that the person I went all the way out there for was in fact not coming. As it turned out, this was correct. Chloe Moretz, the the ass kicking kid from Kick-Ass was scheduled to come in, but did not..after 2 hrs of waiting, we conceded that fact (1 she would tweet the next day). However, while waiting for her I saw a sign for Dev Patel, the Slumdog Millionaire star. This would start 2 more hours of pointless waiting for me. Mr. Patel seemed to be very late coming thru from his flight, as even his driver seemed flustered at how long it was taking. I left for 2 mins to go to the washroom, only to return & see no driver anymore. OUCH. Needless to say, it wasnt a great time. I did get SOME compensations at the airport. I got Ron Perlman, Garrett Dillahunt, Rachelle Lefevre and Thomas Haden Church...but to be honest, as nice a bonus as those were... it certainly didnt compare to the disappointment of missing Patel or Moretz no-showing. To top it off, my 3 hour 18 minute journey also cost me getting Matt Damon and Marion Cotillard. The evening was going no better, as the TTC subway had an epic breakdown (I believe it was 2 seperate problems resulting in 1 massive problem for me). The dealy was so large I had to pass up on not just 1, not just 2, but THREE premieres I had hopes of hounding... I ended up going to my 4th choice. Once at the theatre for the premiere of Easy A with Emma Stone & Penn Badgley I waited what seemed forever for them to show up. Upon their arrival, I got 4 from Stone & 1 from Badgley (who may win nicest autograph award this festival). Thomas Haden Church was also there, but having got him earlier, I was done with him. My day would end. A grand total of 9 autographs, and really nothing noteworthy. All in all, a pretty disappointing day....Little did I know, it could actually get worse. Celebs grades A Garrett Dillahunt A Ron Perlman A Rachelle Lefevre A- Emma Stone A- Penn Badgley B+ Thomas Haden Church Day 2 of TIFF started out pretty miserable. At the time I didnt realize it would be my best outing ever.
The day started with me realizing I had taken out my Olivia Newton-John photo, as I didnt think it was needed anymore...only to find out she was the first press conference of the day....so instead I had to get a photo signed for someone else, instead of just standing there looking bored. There was a bit of a gap till the next press conference. This time it was for "The Town" with Ben Affleck, Jon Hamm, Blake Lively & Jeremy Renner. That was when the bad luck started. I managed to get 1 "B" from Affleck, but Hamm didnt sign much, and Lively skipped over the section I was in as she went in. Jeremy Renner was the biggest jerk of the bunch, he didnt sign going in or coming out & didnt even acknowledge people. Next up as Robert De Niro, Milla Jovovich, Edward Norton & Frances Conroy. The worst signer was again, the least known. Frances Conroy. She didnt even touch a pen, nor even look at people. Edward Norton was not too much better, but at least signed a few. Robert De Niro was a good signer, unfortunately, not everyone got one.... including me. Theres photos out there of him signing for the crowd & you can see my item right there in the mix, he just didnt go a little more to the left unfortunately. I got a consolation prize in Milla Jovovich, as the Resident Evil cutie signed 1 for me upon leaving. After 3 press conferences...3 autographs. Not too excited about that output. There would be a lull till the evening when the premieres started. First up was Daydream Nation with Kat Dennings, Josh Lucas & Rachel Blanchard. I had nothing for Blanchard, but she was a very willing signer for those who asked, and even chit chatted with some. Josh Lucas came over & signed for us almost immediately upon arriving & seemed to sign a fair bit afterwards as well. Kat Dennings signed most of the way down the red carpet and was stopping to do photos with fans when asked. Next up would be the major score of the fest for me. Passion Play with Mickey Rourke, Megan Fox & Billy Murray. While the miserable Murray avoided sharpies, he did take 1 guys photo & bite it & hand it back..the guy seemed thrilled with it. But that was all Murray did, no autographs, no photo ops. Mickey Rourke was next up, although his autograph often is nothing more than random squiggles, he signed a tonne, not missing anyone anywhere. He did photo ops with those who asked & even chit chatted a bit about this film & how it stood up to The Wrestler. All in all, he was an epic class act. Lastly was Megan Fox with her boyfriend Brian Austin Green. While BAG did get asked a few times & obliged, Fox was the main attraction & probably spent 20+ minutes signing on the red carpet. Although most of the autographs were very unspectacular, she at least did them. I might not be a fan of her work, and think shes grossly overhyped for looks, she is at the least, a class act with fan interaction. Last but not least was the premiere for Super. The Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page & Liv Tyler film turned out to be not too bad for me either. I managed 2 each from the 3 stars, despite the fact Wilson maybe only signed for a 1/3 of those who asked him. Liv Tyler was the class of this film, signing right up till she was going in the door. Ellen page was good as well, but probably left some people without. My final total for the day was 28 autographs..My highest total ever in a day at TIFF. Celebrity grades A++ Megan Fox A+ Mickey Rourke A Kat Dennings A Josh Lucas A Rachel Blanchard A- Ben Affleck B+ Liv Tyler B+ Olivia Newton-John B Milla Jovovich B- Ellen Page B- Blake Lively C+ Edward Norton C Rainn Wilson C Chris Cooper C Robert De Niro C- Jon Hamm F FrancesConroy F Bill Murray F Jeremy Renner Today marked the start of the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was my first day of hounding the event, and the results were to say the least, unspectacular for me.
My first film fest I finished day 1 with a whopping 4 autographs. This film fest, I finished with a sadly unspectacular 4 autographs as well. On the bright side, 1st TIFF I only got 2 people that day, where as this time I got 4. My day started late, and by the time I got to where I planned to start I had already missed 1 guest, David Schwimmer. I had nothing for Ross Gellar, just as I didnt in 2007 as well when he was also here for a film then. However, its never a good feeling knowing your missing something. A little while later the next star would be arriving. Clive Owen. Mr. Owen was miserable & mute, as he wandered a couple hundred feet thru the 10-15 autograph hounds & paps at the airport. He never spoke, he never reached for a pen & had a look on his face that one hound related to "he looks like his mother just died". Every film festival has assholes, and Clive Owen has shown unequivocably that he is one. There was again a bit of a lull, and then action broke out, in 2 different spots. It was a pick your poison. At 1 end was Josh Lucas, the other end Kat Dennings. My side had Dennings, and I managed to get 1 autograph..and probably could have got a 2nd if I just had a little luck getting thru the crowd of people that were everywhere. Those of us that got Dennings quickly returned to the side where Lucas had signed to see what else might be up. It wasnt long till Entourage star Kevin Dillon came thru & signed a small handful. His lackey/friend was chirpy & griping about us asking Kevin, but Kevin signed some. Although it was evident that Mr. Dillon wasnt excited about doing it..he did, even still signing right before he got into his awaiting vehicle. A while would pass before the final success of the evening at the airport would happen. Canadian cutie Ellen Page came thru & signed about 10-15 autographs along her block long walk thru the terminal. Often declining, Page did pick & choose a few spots to sign 1 here or there for people that she felt confident hadnt got 1 yet. From there, I hastily rushed to get downtown for the premieres going on. First up was the very Canadian film Score: A Hockey Musical. With music stars Olivia Newton-John and Nelly Furtado there, the crowd was thick. I showed up JUST as Olivia was being interviewed, and shortly after she came over & signed a small handful of autographs along the red carpet. Far short of most though, as she maybe signed 20 or so for the crowd of a couple hundred. I got shutout on her, but minutes later Nelly Furtdado showed up, andgot out of her towncar right infront of where I was standing. She came over, and signed an even smaller handful than ONJ did, and luckily, 1 of them was my item. My night ended with only 4 autographs & 2 failures. My grades for the interaction of the stars I saw today B+ Kat Dennings B Kevin Dillon B- Ellen Page C+ Olivia Newton-John C Nelly Furtado F Clive Owen When I have more time (maybe not till TIFF is over) I will add a few pics from the day. Two firsts happened today. I got autographs from Misha Collins. I have met him twice, before I was a fan of the show & didnt know who he was yet. So I never had anything for him to sign those times. Now I did, and he happily did them all & I got a picture with him. Of all the cast they have had come in & go out on this show, he is probably my 2nd favorite cast member behind Jensen. So this was pretty exciting for me. The interaction was breif, as he was just on his way to set as we got him, but he took time to sign for 2 of us, on multiple items, did a photo with & even chatted breifly with us. I asked him what he thought of this character when he first saw the idea for him, he said it looked fun. I got shots of scenes of Supernatural. I have met the cast on multiple occasions each...but never have I got pics of them on set, and definitely never in a scene. The fact that 3 of the 4 most notable cast members on the show were there for it was extra nice. So often I go to sets where only 1 or 2 of the main cast are there, so having most of the main cast in 1 spot was nice. Although it was impossible to really shoot them all in 1 frame, without looking like ants...still great to get them all at 1 scene. Below are the pics from todays shoot.... the next few paragraphs will have possible (not entirely confirmed in some cases) spoilers...so DO NOT read on if you want a spoiler free life..... Spoilers ahead. Are you ready?? Ok. So all I know is the Winchester boys are together for this scene and were looking down out of a 3rd story window that was broken after a scene that was shot where someone jumped out the window. Below was Castiel laying ontop of a green screen type object. he gets up from the screen and stares up towards where the boys would be looking down from. Reports I heard from those on the set prior to me showing up is 2 stunt persons did a jump out the window earlier onto a car (the car shown caved in in my pics). I dont know for certain if Castiels character was 1 of the 2 who jumped, but judging by the scene he was shooting when I got there, this may be the case. The other individual, (show in the suit in the pics) was also apparently in the jumping scene according to those on the scene before I got there. I do not know if he was a stunt double, or the actor in the scene. All in all, all thats really know is...someone jumped out a window, the Winchesters looked down at whoever it was as the hit a car...Castiel may or may not have been 1 of them, as he was filming a scene getting up from the spot where the fall happened.                                     |
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