Day 1 started with a text from my buddy "theres nothing downtown, come to the airport". So I did. In whats becoming a tradition for me at TIFF, I always seem to have 1 single trip from hell day and this seemed to be that day. It took me over 2 hours for what is usually a 75-90 minute trip. Once I got to the airport, I was underwhelmed with the fact I didn't get to see anyone till well afterwards. Finally, after a long long wait, Dan Stevens, from "Downton Abbey" came thru to promote "The Fifth Estate" & for the few of us that had stuff, he was willing to sign whatever we had. A little later Zac Efron showed up. With a posse of TIFF personnel & airport security, they tried to sneak the young star out a side door, but the paps & a couple fans were alert enough to find him & soon the rest of us did too. Once he got to his car he put his bags down & turned around for about 1 minute & signed about 4 autographs & took a couple pictures with & left. Leaving most of the growing crowd who were still just getting there empty handed. I headed into town to work my first premiere of TIFF, The Fifth Estate at the Elgin Theatre. But no one showed. In the past some stars will show, some wont. I knew it was a gamble & this time, it didn't pay off. Over at Roy Thompson Hall a little later was the actual premiere for TFE. The 1st person to show up was Benedict Cumberbatch, my "official" #1 target for all of TIFF. He signed a handful of autographs for the couple thousands fans & onlookers that had gathered there. He got close to me a couple times, but never close enough to get denied...which seemingly was what he was doing to people with actual photos to get signed. Daniel Bruhl arrived a bit after & I managed to get 2 from the star. Making it 2 days in a row I got him. The rest of the cast, I either missed chasing Benedict, or couldn't get close enough to. Eventually, I gave up on the hope of getting Sherlock Holmes and headed over to Ryerson to do the last premiere of the evening. At the "Only Lovers Left Alive" premiere, what can I say. All of them gave their all for the fans. Tom Hiddleston signed anything he was able to get to, Mia Wasikowska got a pretty good chunk of the fans as well, Anton Yelchin also signed lots. All in all, hard to think there will be a better all around cast this TIFF. They have set the bar high for the rest of the films. After I ran out of things from that cast, I headed back to RTH on the usually faint hope that I could snag anyone, specifically Benedict Cumberbatch, leaving their premiere. The karma gods were smiling. After my trip from hell that day, I was rewarded for my persistence, Benedict came up the 300 foot ramp to the crowd of 30-40 fans & signed for about 2-3 minutes. At 1st he outright was avoiding any photos, but eventually, he got to a point where he just seemed to think "ahh the hell with it" signed about a 1/2 dozen of them before leaving, mine being 1 of them. Great way to end my day. DAY 1 - 14 autographs, 20 total A+ TOM HIDDLESTON A- MIA WASIKOWSKA B+ ANTON YELCHIN B DANIEL BRHUL B DAN STEVENS B- BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH C+ ZAC EFRON
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TIFF13 - Day 0 of The Toronto International Film Festival - Meeting Daniel Bruhl & Tom Hiddletston9/13/2013 The 2013 Toronto International Film Festival is off & running. My TIFF started on "day 0", aka - the day before. With stars from around the globe coming in to Toronto, I waited out at the airport for awhile, and just like the year before, the results were pretty underwhelming. I arrived from Vancouver at 2:15 PM & by about 3 PM was already on the board. Daniel Bruhl, from Inglourious Basterds, had arrived to promote The Fifth Estate & Rush at the festival. He was nice enough & I probably should have gotten more from him, but his publicist was a grade A bitch. Using the absurd excuse "he'll be here all week" which I replied "yeah, but hes HERE, RIGHT NOW, in front of me" which she didnt have a reply for. Luckily Daniel was nice enough to still sign a few more times while he waited 5+ minutes for his car. But the publicist made it so awkward. I can just imagine the conversation later with Daniel, his girfriend & the publicist. Daniel "Why didnt you just let me sign them all & they would have been gone in 2 minutes" Publicist "uhh... Uhh, I'm a publicist. Its my job to make things inconvenient & awkward" Daniel "Oh, I thought your job was to tell me my schedule" Publicist "*chuckles* haha, no silly. I am here to constantly tell you that you are in an urgent hurry to get anywhere but where you are when fans or professionals are within ear shot of you...and if that doesnt work, I have 39,492 other excuses pre-planned into my database" Daniel "so basically, your job is to annoy people, and at times, me?" Publicist "*nods head in agreement*" Daniel *facepalms, shakes head*" Quite awhile would pass before my next chance at anyone. Tom Hiddletston, of course best known as "Loki" in The Avengers movie franchise came thru. He was making fans left & right. His handler would at times try to stop people by saying "you already got one" which was adorable, considering no one left there with less than a couple each, and at least 1 person I talked to, got 12. Note to all publicists. If your star WANTS to sign, stfu, stand in a corner & wait till he looks at you with a "ok, can you get me out of here" look. I "missed" Jake Gyllenhaal, but since I had little interest in him, I wasnt too disappointed. My day ended earlier than usual because the last couple flights I would have been waiting for were deayed till well after I could have waited. So I took off & got the rare treat of leaving Toronto early. I headed to Hamilton to relax & prepare for the real festival. DAY 0 - total autographs 6 A+ TOM HIDDLESTON B DANIEL BRUHL You can find my "day 1" report HERE
THIS BLOG MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS ABOUT AN EPISODE FOR SEASON 8 OF "PSYCH". If you do not wish t read or see any spoilers of the season prior to it airing...do not continue Earlier this year, I caught the USA Network comedy "Psych" filming scenes in historic Gastown for their 8th & final season. This particular scene is of James Roday as Shawn Spencer, roaming the streets of London, England. Why? Who knows. Why is he dressed like hes Burt Reynolds?? Who knows? Below, there is also a link to the blog I did earlier with still photos of this days shooting, including photos of Dule Hill on set, dressed as a character from a major film franchise as well. This episode was directed by series creator, Steve Franks. ![]() September is a monumental month for autograph hounds in Canada. Its the start of the NHL pre-season, our most popular sport across the country, as well, the Toronto International Film Festival takes place. TIFF 2013, the 38th annual festival, takes place from Sept 5-15 & as usual, I'll be there taking in the opportunities to get autographs from some of the largest names of TV & movies. As always, there is a lengthy list of notable names with films there. Academy Award winners like Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Jessica Lange, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Kate Winslet, Sandra Bullock, Nicolas Cage, William Hurt, Adrien Brody, Colin Firth, Kevin Kline, Robin Williams, Jim Broadbent, George Clooney, Juliet Binoche, Judi Dench, Marcia Gay Harden & Tilda Swinton are all in 1 or more films at this years festival. Popular stars of this generation like Daniel Radcliffe, Chris Hemsworth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Emilia Clarke, Ralph Fiennes & Dakota Fanning also have films at the festival. Theres then an even longer list of "hey, I know them from something" names. With so many names, so many shows going on over only 10 days, you need to prioritize if you are planning to catch celebs...and that means picking & chosing who is most important to you. Whether as a fan, or a seller, you need to generate a list of who you want to get the most, because you simply cant get everyone. (please vote on the poll below for who you most want me to see at TIFF) So here is my list of my top 20 for TIFF 13. Its a mixture of who I want to get for myself, or just want to get to say I got them or for financial benefits. (note - not all names are guaranteed to be at the festival, so please dont take my list as a guarantee of their arrival... it is merely who I would like to get if they are there) 1- Melissa Rauch (The last 3 years in a row I have gotten my #1 on my list. Johnny Depp, Michael C. Hall & Chloe Moretz. This year, I am picking someone that was not on the initial guest list... so theres a good chance getting my #1 wont even be an option. ) 2- Benedict Cumberbatch (If Ms. Rauch doesnt show, Benedict, the man who brings Sherlock Holmes to life, will be my #1) 3- Michael C. Hall (Former #1 target of 2011 is still high on my list since the last season of Dexter is under way) 4- Emilia Clarke (Hot girl who walks around naked 1/3 of the time on Game Of Thrones? Yeah, like I wasnt going to have her on the list) 5- Chris Hemsworth (As Thor, hes become a household name.) 6- Jessica Chastain (back-to-back Academy Award Nominations. Shes gonna win 1 sometime in the next 5 years) 7- Brad Pitt (If he comes, he will be sought after target for no other reason than to right the fact I haven't gotten him the 1st 2 times I saw him) 8- Hailee Steinfeld (Always some newcomers to my list every year, this year, Hailey has grabbed my attention as someone to nab, 2010 Academy Award nominated actress) 9- Meg Tilly (This Golden Globe winning recluse was most recently on the hit Bomb Girls. She is making a rare public appearance this festival for the 30th anniversary of The Big Chill) 10- Magda Apanowicz (My crush of her character on Hellcats not withstanding, I've quite liked her work on everything I have seen her in, most recently the Canadian sci-fi hit Continuum) 11- Lorenzo Izzo (Saw her a couple years ago at TIFF & was so taken aback by how gorgeous she was, I had to find out who she was. Now that I know, time to get her autograph.) 12- Karen Gillan ( I may not watch Doctor Who, but I know enough to know I'd be a fool not to go for her) 13- Scarlett Johansson (A household name now adays. ScarJo will be on most peoples list, regardless if they ae fans of her work or not.) 14- Kurt Russell (Grindhouse & Miracle. Thats all) 14- Julia Roberts (Academy Award Winner should be enough to make the list...but I just want to get her really because of Pretty Woman) 15- Joel Edgerton (I've met Tom Hardy, I've met Jennifer Morrison, I've met Nick Nolte. So obviously I need to meet the final piece of the "Warrior" main cast) 16- Brendan Gleeson (Huge In Bruges fan, so excited that 2 of the 3 are at the fest) 17- Ralph Fiennes (see Brendan Gleeson) 18- Meryl Streep (when a legend this big is at any event, even if you dont care for them...you go for them) 19- Jennifer Aniston (met her once many many years ago & had nothing of note to get signed, now I will.) 20- Hugo Weaving (V For Vendetta, that about says it all) 21- Liam Neeson (even though hes a prick, still love most of his work) 22- Marcia Gay Harden (kind of an off the map 1. Really only want to meet her because of the amazing job shes done this year on The Newsroom) 23- Mke Myers (met him several times, but still always excited to meet him again) 24- Kate Winslet (Titanic is all I really know her from. But isn't that enough reason to go for her?) 25- Daniel Radcliffe (I loathe the Harry Potter franchise. But that said, I like money. So I will go for this stiff) Honourable mention - Nicole Kidman, Jackie Earle Haley, Michael Fassbender, Mila Kunis, Olivia Wilde, Judi Dench, Tom Welling, Keanu Reeves, Tobey Maguire, Pierce Brosnan, Jude Law, Katheryn Winnick, Peter Sarsgaard, Alia Shawkat, James Van Der Beek, Metallica, Alice Cooper, Hugh Jackman, Sandra Bullock Notables not on my list - Reese Witherspoon ( she isnt going to sign more than 2 or 3 autographs anyways...just long enough for the cameras to get pictures of her interacting with the "common folk" so why waste my time. Shes a bitch, thats the nicest thing anyone who has ever met her can say about her) - Glenn Close (got her 2 years ago. I really am not impressed enough by her work to care to chase this fairly elusive signer) - Jake Gyllenhaal (the lesser talented of the Gyllenhaal siblings, hes a douchebag. I'd rather ask homeless people for their autograph than giving him the satisfaction of ignoring me) - Zack Galifinakis (outside of the Hangover, has he done ANYTHING to warrant such a big ego? No? Thats what I thought. When he comes back down to reality, maybe I'll care. Till then, his self importance of himself makes him irrelevant to me) - Owen Wilson (really untalented, terribly unfunny, and a bit of a prick. Cant be bothered) - Keira Knightley (I got her last year & was really underwhelmed by her. Maybe once her ego comes down to reality I'll place more value on her. For now, shes a mediocre actress with too much of an ego & an abysmal autograph.) My 2012 TIFF saw me go 10/25 (got my #1 Johnny Depp) My 2011 TIFF saw me go 9/30 (got my #1 Chloe Moretz though) My 2010 TIFF saw me go 8/20 (got my #1 Michael C. Hall) How will TIFF 2013 go? Who will I get? Who will I miss? Will Ms. Rauch show up? Will my 3 year streak of getting my #1 continue to 4 years? I will update this blog as the festival goes on. I will TRY to do it everyday, but as those of you who read my previous years blogs know, it will probably be more of every 2-3 days. |
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