DAY 7 The 7th day of TIFF started out with another press conference for me. I got there in time to get an autograph from Guardians Of The Galaxy star Benicio Del Toro when he left his press conference for Escobar: Paradise Lost. His co-star, Josh Hutcherson actually SNUCK OUT of the building. Seriously. Actually, fair enough... I mean he is like the 12th most famous person in a Hunger Games movie ever I think.... so yeah, hes important *rolls eyes*. I was also introduced to Columbian hottie Claudia Traisac, who was the anti-Hutcherson and signed till no one had anything left for her. Every TIFF there seems to be 1 "holy fuck, shes hot, who is she?" girl I learn about... gonna say its Claudia this year. After that, there was a lot of time to kill unfortunately...which sucked since the evening premieres were going to be severely affected by another rain storm coming in. I went to 1 of the places where celebs sometimes I found in Toronto and instead of getting someone from TIFF, I saw former Boxing legend Iron Mike Tyson instead. Earlier that day Mike had a heated TV interview with a reporter from Toronto least liked station CP24, who asked him a touchy subject & angered the man who once bit off an opponents ear. So after getting blindsided by a Toronto wannabe reporter live on air, no one would be shocked if the champ snubbed everyone. But he actually did stop, roll down his window & sign for 1 fan still. He really didn't have to, but did still. After a couple hours wasted there, I attempted to go to Infinity Polar Bear premiere to get Mark Ruffalo. Unfortunately a steady rain started falling shortly before it started, then turned into a heavy rain by the time Mark arrived. So there was no chance to get him there. I ventured across the street where the premiere for '71 was with Jack O'Connell, but there was no red carpet, or press pit set up for it. I was pretty confused by that one.... so I ventured off and headed back across town to Ryerson for the premiere of "Revenge Of The Green Dragons". The cast list was nothing spectacular besides Ray Liotta, who did not show, and former Twilight actor Justin Chon, who did show up. What was drawing everyones attention though, was the potential for 1 of the movies producers to show up for it, Martin Scorsese. Sure enough the 9 time Oscar Nominated director showed up. After doing the photo pit, Mr. Scorsese came over to a crowd that was small, but deep in experience at getting autographs. What happened next, even the veterans, including some of the very ones who are usually the aggressive ones in a mob, was 1 of the most absurd wrestling matches for position you might ever watch 20 grown men partake in to get some autographs from Martin. Anytime you hear the horror stories of how rude and aggressive autograph hounds are, most of them are blown way out of proportion by people with a sense of entitlement that they should get what they want just because they were there 1st when there is no set order. But this scene, if it was seen by those who constantly bash autograph hounds, would validate all their complaints. It was ugly, and the fact no fights broke out after is solely because of the fact it was a bunch of professionals who all in the end understood the guy beside them was just doing the same thing as them. But it was absurd to witness. LUCKILY, the 1 photo I had for him got signed when 1 of the security guys grabbed it from me when Mr. Scorsese grabbed my pen, but didn't sign my item after the jostling started. I really am glad I didn't have to work thru that mass of humanity to get my item signed. It is a bad scene when people, often the ones 1st time fans whine about the most in scrums, considered the events that unfolded "ridiculous". After that, I considered calling it a night. But instead, I went on the faint hope the weather would deter most away from trying for 1 more iconic name that was going to be out that evening. Neil Young. The drizzle slowed down enough that some of the hounds gambled on the showing of Human Highway, a film from 1982 that Neil Young and Dean Stockwell co-directed. Sure enough Mr. Young arrived for the premiere and snuck up behind us. One hound noticed it happen and approached Neil, but went around the barricade to do so and this seemed to upset the Canadian music legend. No autographs would be had outside on the way in. Around back on the way out of the show, the same group were out there that stood out front on the way in, along with a couple more fans. After the show, another Canadian legend came out, Gordon Lightfoot. Shortly after, Neil came out, and signed "1 per" for everyone out there, although in the misty rain that fell, I am sure some of the items did not come away unscathed. I know myself, my signed item was fine, but my 2nd item that I tried to get was ruined by the rain. Day 7 total - 3 autographs
TIFF Total - 94 autograpjhs A Claudia Traisac B+ Gordon Lightfoot B Neil Young B Martin Scorsese B- Benedio Del Toro C+ Mike Tyson F+ Mark Ruffalo F Josh Hutcherson
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DAY 4 The 4th day of TIFF 2014 was an exciting one for me. I kept my now, 5 year streak, of getting my top get of TIFF alive. The day started with a fluke 1 off chance encounter. I walked by an area popular with the celebs, and managed to get Mark Ruffalo within 2 minutes of being there. It was the fastest I had scored an autograph from the time I started my day I think ever. I then headed shortly after that over to the press conferences. The press conference for Manglehorn was 1st up for me. Everyone was taken by surprise when both Holly Hunter and Al Pacino walked in, as opposed to being driven, like everyone does. Hunter signed for a few people, myself included. Al did a few as well, but it was a very sporadic pattern that made it hard to get one. On the way out of their presser, They snuck Al out a side door and had the street completely cordoned off for him to walk down. This actually worked to my benefit as I was able to find a good spot & was forced to stay there. When he got close enough to me, I called out to him to sign, and he swung around with an eagerness to search out the autograph request. He hastily scrawled an "Al" (if you can call it that) on my item & vanished into the swarm up the street. At the press conference for The Equalizer I didn't get anything more than a semi-hand shake from Denzel Washington and got shut out by former #1 from TIFF 2012 Chloe Moretz. I did manage an autograph from Marton Csokas however. I went from there to the Princess Of Wales Theatre hoping to score Jon Stewart as he went in for an event he had there...but there was no red carpet set up for the show. With no success there, I tried the back end of the event, and eventually had the success I was looking for as I managed to get several autographs from the host of The Daily Show & in turn, kept my TIFF #1 streak alive for another year. Jon was in Toronto for TIFF, as he had a film there he directed, Rosewater that would be playing later on. Feeling happy with myself, I tried the front of Princess Of Wales for the premiere of The Theory Of Everything. From all accounts, everyone I talked to said they managed to get Felicity Jones over the few days she was there.... I however, failed. Getting no closer than maybe 30 people away. Oddly though, I got Eddie Redmayne, who most people seemed to be unable to get. I made the mad rush over to RTH for This Is Where I Leave You premiere. All I managed from there was 1 Tina Fey autograph, which considering the absolute mass of humanity at it, was an accomplishment...but I went away disappointed I was unable to get Jane Fonda. From there I went to the Elgin for the premiere of Hector And The Search For Happiness, A problem everyone endures at TIFF at least once in their time will be the unpredictable scheduling of things. I got there to find Christopher Plummer had already gone in, I had JUST missed Rosamund Pike, and Simon Pegg was already signing for the crowd. I got shutout. How was I to guess the entire cast would show up about an hour before the film? Most Elgin red carpets usually happen within 20 minutes of the films start.... if you are lucky. I stuck around since another premiere was going to start in the theatre soon. Love & Mercy stars Paul Dano and John Cusack signed for me going in. I immediately took to the back door to try and get a position for departures from these films. It became quite a bit of a blur of who I got in what order as the two films casts mixed between going in & out. Eventually when it was all done, I got more autographs fromJjohn Cusack, as well as Elizabeth Banks. Also, got an autograph from each of Christopher Plummer, Simon Pegg and Rosamund Pike. Day 4 total - 18 autographs
Total TIFF - 50 autographs A+ Jon Stewart A John Cusack A Marton Csokas B+ Simon Pegg B+ Mark Ruffalo B+ Holly Hunter B+ Paul Dano B Felicity Jones B Tina Fey B- Rosamund Pike C+ Al Pacino C Elizabeth Banks C Eddie Redmayne C Christopher Plummer C- Chloe Moretz C- Jane Fonda D Jason Bateman F+ Denzel Washington |
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