Day 5 started off fast for me.

Getting into Toronto, I immediately went to the press conferences. Once getting there I saw Maria Bello go in & she promised the couple dozen people there she would sign on the way out. Shortly after Richard E. Grant showed up to do press for "Dom Hemingway" & signed for several people asking him. Emilia Clarke, & Jude Law arrived after, neither of them signed. The other star of the film Madalina Diana Ghenea did, and I got 2 photos done that my friend gave me the night before to try & get done. Shortly after, Maria Bello came back outside & signed for everyone before she left. On the way out of the presser, Law again didnt sign, and Clarke did the same thing she always seems to do, ignore everyone. This got a rousing boo from the majority of the fans & regulars that were there who realize its a low class move to not sign & meet fans at an event where your sole job is, promote the film. A TV camera for CP24 was there to catch her getting booed, whether or not they ever showed THAT on the air, I dont know. What I do know is, her people WHINED to TIFF about it, as the next day the security there came over & told some people there was a complaint made about the booing.

A long stretch of bad luck, timing followed me for awhile. I I headed over to the Elgin to get Ralph Fiennes. Unfortunately, I was greeted by 100s of fans waiting there....not for him, but for Taylor "I'm a celebrity mattress" Swift, who was making an unscheduled appearance at a film she had a song in. Instead of a few dozen fans being there for Ralph, there was now 100s, and most had no clue who he was. Ralph didnt exactly make it easy either, as he signed MAYBE 5 autographs total. So, still needing the In Bruges star to finish off an item I got signed the day before by Brendan Gleeson, I went around back in hopes he would duck out earliy, as most stars do. No such luck, 1 thing I didnt take into account, he was directing this film. So he stayed for it all.

This constituted me standing in the same crowded corner for about 3 hours as other autographing opportunities passed by around the city, including right on the other side of the building as the mattress signed for her delusional fans, and then the stars of the 9 PM film that followed Fiennes were showing up as well.

The star of Ralphs film "The Invisible Woman", Felicity Jones came out & happily signed. Short while later, Raph did the same, and I managed to get both photos I wanted done, done. A lot of waiting for 2 autographs, but I felt someone relieved to get him. By the time I left that pit, it was already 8:45 PM & I looked & figured only premiere I MIGHT have a chance at was Scarlett Johansson. But I had a new problem, serious strain in my knee & thigh was making me walk gingerly. So whatusually is a 12-15 minute walk seemed potentially longer. I battled through it, eventually making it there ina  pretty reasonable 25 minutes, and found a spot for ScarJo easily enough, despite the entire street being 2 deep already.

Once Scarlett showed up at the Princess Of Wales Theatre for the premiere of "Under The Skin", she walked to 1 end of the line & started signing & didnt stop till she got almost to the other end. Her guard/handler made things easy for her by constantly grabbing items out of the crowd & holding them for her to sign. This meant each item got a bit more of an autograph than most celebs slap down on red carpets, usually resembling a bastardized version of their initials.

Still sore, and unsure how bad my knee/thigh problem was, I ditched on the rest of the night. Earliest I think I've ever finished a night at TIFF.

Day 5 - 9 autographs - 64 total

A  Scarlett Johansson
A- Maria Bello
B+ Felicity Jones
B- Ralph Fiennes
B- Madalina Diana Ghenea
F  Emilia Clarke
F  Jude Law

Day 6 of TIFF was my 2nd highest total for autographs of any TIFF day ever... and I still feel I didnt do as well as I should have.

It started off in the morning, missing a press conference for a Julia Roberts film. I got there in time though to grab a couple autographs from Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard. She was there promoting "Blood Ties". After that, came a long gap of fail.

It would be several hours before my next autograph opportunity.

After seeing Brendan Gleeson snub several fans at his a hotel that I staked out after a lunch break, after a tip from a buddy telling me that there was a chance to get people there (I knew people stayed there, but assumed from the look of it, it was going to be impossible to get people....turns out, I was wrong)., Friday Night Lights star Taylor Kitsch came out & signed for the people waiting. A bit later, Eli Roth came out & did the same. Nicolas Cage came out twice to to a growing crowd & both times, too the time to sign & meet everyone. I got the Con Air & Kick Ass star to sign several items, although he didnt put much effort into the 2 wavy lines he scrawled on most items. I also saw Keanu Reeves, who didnt sign 1 whole autograph before leaving. His "Man Of Tai Chi" co-star Tiger Hu Chen, who signed everything that was asked of him.

Shortly after, True Blood star Ryan Kwanten signed 1 for me, and I suddenly felt like I should wait there for awhile.... but I had a premiere coming up that I wanted to go to. So I took off from there after seeing the likes of Daniel Radcliffe run in & Michael C. Hall come out & deny the growing crowd.

At the 2 premieres that were starting at the same time across the street from each other, I managed a whopping 0 autographs between them. Michael C. Hall ( I didnt even wait for Daniel Radcliffe) went in without signing anything at his, I then went to a premiere  Scarlett Johansson was at, in her 2nd premiere of the fest. She signed some, but far less than the day before & skipped my item, twice. After ScarJo went in, I went back to the Hall/Radcliffe one & found them deep in the press pit & took a few photos of them working the line before they headed into their premiere of "Kill Your Darlings". Hall may have eluded me this night, but I would get another crack at the "Dexter" star later on in the fest.

Back to the hotel I went to kill a little time, and while there I managed an autograph from Golden Globe winner Jessica Chastain.

I then headed over to the Elgin/Wintergarden theatres for back-to-back premieres.

First up was a "How I Live Now" with Saoirse Ronan, and she signed, a much shorter autograph than the full namers I had gotten from her multiple times before. Some of the regulars took off as soon as she stopped signing the 1st time, and missed her coming back out from the photo pit to sign for fans across the street. I managed a couple more autographs there.

A bit later was the premiere for "Felony" and I managed a handful of autographs from its stars Melissa George & Joel Edgerton. An added bonus was that of Edgerton's "Warrior" co-star Jennifer Morrison, taking a break from filming "Once Upon A Time" in Vancouver to visit Toronto & see some films. I also saw the films other stars Jai Courtney & Tom Wilkinson go in, but I had nothing for them at the time.

I attempted to help a friend get Al Pacino during my downtime at a non-TIFF event, which didnt turn out well. It was, without a doubt, 1 of the craziest, most idiotic displays of fans losing their fucking shit that I've ever seen. Even as a grizzled veteran who has endured crushing mobs against rails & flavour of the minute boyband crowds, Pacino fans had them beat by a mile for being borderline braindead.

The insanity & pure spectacle of seeing grown ups practically wrestling each other for a scribble, and I do mean a scribble, was a sad statement on the celebrity culture, and an even sadder example of humanity. The professionals in the crowd were oddly enough, outdone by regular fans who made the terriblly unprepared exit of Mr. Pacino quite literally, unsafe.

After the Scarface star bolted past me (I was right near the door) I got the fuck out of there in fear of possible physical harm. These were not normal fans. These were mentally damaged wannabe gangsters with the IQ of a bruised turnip literally pushing, shoving & likely elbowing each other for a glimpse of a man they just saw on stage for 2 hours.

After that stupidity, I hung around at the back end of the Felony premiere, and managed a few more autos from Joel, Melissa & their co-star Jai Courtney for a buddy before I headed back to Hamilton for the night.

Day 6 - 22 autographs. Total 86

A+ Melissa George
A+ Marion Cotillard
A+ Tiger Hu Chen
A  Saoirse Ronan
A  Jai Courtenay
A- Al Pacino
A- Jennifer Morrison
A- Jessica Chastain
B+ Nicolas Cage
B  Joel Edgerton
B- Ryan Kwanten
C+ Scarlett Johansson
D  Keanu Reeves
D  Tom Wilkinson
F  Michael C. Hall
F  Daniel Radcliffe
F Brendan Gleeson

You can find my "day 3" report HERE
You can find my "day 4" report HERE

Day 4 got off to a so-so start.

I went to the "Belle" premiere at the Elgin Theatre. I hoped for 4 people to show up, only 2 of them did. The first, Miranda Richardson snubbed the crowd of people waiting literally 10 feet from her. Didnt even give so much as a "I'm sorry, I cant" lie. Just simply snubbed them. Not long after though, Harry Potter star Tom Felton arrived & made up for Ms. Richardson's rudeness. He signed not only for the people in the pit beside the doors, but actually crossed busy Yonge street to sign for the crowd of onlookers over there, then crossed back over & signed more for people on the other side of the doors. Class act.

Tom Wilkinson & Emily Watson also arrived for the premiere. Watson signed for those asking, Wilkinson signed for some before heading in.

Next up, I went to a premiere at the newly accessible Princess Of Wales Theatre for the premiere of "Philomena"

Unfortunately, the only person I went there for, Judi Dench, no showed. Steve Coogan showed, but I had nothing for him & he didnt come over to the crowd anyways.

I then walked around aimlessly for a bit, and found something I was unable to find 2 days earlier in my journeys. The door for the press conferences. I stood around there, only to see 2 people I didnt have anything for, Seinfeld star Julia Louis-Dreyfus & Toni Collette.

Next up was a premiere for "The Grand Seduction" with Brendan Gleeson & Taylor Kitsch at Roy Thompson Hall.

With nothing else in between, I got there early & staked out a spot as I was really eager to get Gleeson. My spot was a good 1. I managed to get everything I had with me for that premiere signed with no problems, which considering Gleeson only signed maybe a dozen or so autographs total before leaving, says a lot about how good the spot was. Also on the red carpet was "Supernatural" cutie Liane Balaban.

More time was wasted till the evening premieres. I again tried RTH for the premiere of "Rush" & got REALLY lucky to get a Chris Hemsworth. While he did sign quite a bit, the crowd of people was so thick, even the most skilled graphers couldn't find too many, if any openings in the wall.

But, there was 1 chance. When he first showed up, he walked from the top, all the way to the end and started signing there first. I realized it, rushed to a fairly thin spot in the crowd there & got lucky enough to get him. Ron Howard showed up before him & completely stiffed the crowd. When the 3rd person showed up, Olivia Wilde, I couldn't even see anything, so I decided to give up on that premiere as I already had lucked out once at what I would consider the hardest premiere to find a space at.

I immediately went to the POW for the Jude Law & Emilia Clarke premiere of "Dom Hemingway". Both stars signed lots of autographs on the carpet, and I managed a Law. However, Emilia eluded me. partially dumb luck, partially her handler telling her she had to go as she was less than 2 feet from me.

I was determined to get Clarke, so I waited at the back of the theatre for THREE FUCKING HOURS (for a 93 minute film) & ended up getting 2 more Law autographs, but Emilia Clarke stiffed the 12-16 people waiting for her. A dozen people, and she couldnt muster 1 minute to sign & take pics.....even sadder to know when you realize she sat in her car for FOUR PLUS MINUTES before it took off.

I met Kit Harington in Vancouver, and he made me more of a fan of Game Of Thrones than I already was at that time. Emilia Clarke, just undid all of that. I'm done with the show. I wont be seeing her movie either. The red carpet stiff, understandable, I see that all the time & accept that happens. The after show stiff, nothing but classless. I'll have more on Clarke in another blog coming up that solidifies what a bitch shes become.

Day 4 - 12 autographs, 55 total

A+ Tom Felton
A+ Jude Law
A  Taylor Kitsch
A  Chris Hemsworth
C  Toni Collette
C- Brendan Gleeson
D+  Emilia Clarke
D  Julia Louis-Dreyfus
F  Ron Howard
F  Miranda Richardson

You can find my "day 2" report HERE
You can find my "day 3" report HERE