Day 3 started for me with lining up for the premiere that Sigourney Weaver and Felicity Jones had at Roy Thompson Hall for A Monster Calls. The young boy from it, Lewis MacDougall arrived first, then shortly after Sigourney arrived. I missed the iconic actress there as her publicist/handler kept taking her from side to side of the two sided carpet, causing her to miss large chunks of fans. A little while later Felicity arrived & I managed to get 1 1/4 autographs from the Star Wars Rogue One actress. I then went to Ryerson to work on back to back premieres there. First one was the back end of Mascots. With a large cast attached to it, I was hopeful for a lot of cast for it. I managed to get a couple of them leaving, Jane Lynch from Glee, and Christopher Guest from This Is Spinal Tap fame. Also nabbed another Parker Posey autograph. I then moved to the front of the venue for the arrivals of the Barack Obama based movie Barry. The first person I saw was Jenna Elfman. I had nothing for her, so I watched as she signed upon her arrival. Anya Taylor Joy signed for anyone who asked her..... sadly it was nothing more than an "A". Some of these actors need to take lessons on how to at least spell their first names. When I see someone sign just their first letter, I get the "fuck you all. Im better than you" vibe from them, regardless how many they sign. I also managed to get the POTUS, or at least the man playing Barry, Devon Terrell. I then went back to Roy Thompson for the premiere of Planetarium with Lily Rose Depp and Natalie Portman. As expected the rotten attitude of Ms. Poorsportman was on fine display as she stomped down the red carpet ignoring EVERYONE and only doing press as many fans moaned in disbelief, while others booed her. Her co-star Lily-Rose Depp, whose largest accomplishment is being the daughter of Johnny Depp barely did much more as she signed 3 whole autographs there and took maybe 2 photos with. Luckily 1 of those 3 was for me..... but still a terrible showing from someone who is only famous for being the offspring of someone famous. I quickly went across the street after that to try and get a lucky break and nab Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber at their premiere of The Bleeder. But it was not to be, as I missed Watts by about 5 seconds, and Schreiber by about 15. I went to the midnight premiere of The Belko Experiment. I had photos for 4 people that I hoped would come, but not a single one did. A Jane Lynch B+ Felicity Jones B+ Devon Terrell B Jenna Elfman C+ Christopher Guest C Sigourney Weaver C- Parker Posey D+ Lily Rose Depp D+ Anya Taylor Joy F Natalie Portman Day 4 total autographs - 11 Total autographs for TIFF 2016 - 45 Day 4 started with me checking out the line at the Princess Of Wales theatre for the premiere of Sing. After coming to the quick reality there was NO WAY, even 3 hours prior to the films red carpet starting that I was going to get a spot in their “fan zone” I gave up and moved on to trying to find a better option. I found my way a few blocks away to a restaurant where Felicity Jones and Sigourney Weaver were having a meal. Shockingly neither of them signed for any of the fans waiting there and even more shocking, the pair were snuck thru a back door of another venue where the pair both denied all requests for autographs or photos with. After that fiasco, I headed over to Roy Thompson Hall for the premiere of Their Finest with Bill Nighy, Sam Claflin and Gemma Arterton. I managed a couple autographs from the guys but Gemma managed to sneak most of the way down the carpet without any of the 300 or so fans even noticing her. Seriously. I quite literally couldnt believe the incompetence of that crowd. I cant even blame Gemma for not signing..... because no one asked her. I was busy getting Sam when she went by. I then went to Ryerson for the premiere of American Honey. With Riley Keough, the granddaughter of Elvis Presley and Shia LaBeouf on the "confirmed" list that TIFF comes out with, it was at least something I thought could be good. Well, Shia no showed, and Riley showed up 1/2 hour after the movie started. That said, Riley Keough gets full marks because she STILL took the time to sign for everyone that asked before going into the premiere that she was already late for. I then went right back across to RTH for the Christian Bale & Oscar Isaac premiere of The Promise. Just as I got there, I saw someone signing outside of the fan zone area, and took a look to see it was Colin Firth. He was producer on the film, Loving, that was there just prior. I went into my bag to find an item I had for him....but like so many times at TIFF he was gone before I had a chance to get to him. Eventually the red carpet for The Promise started. I was lucky enough to get a pretty good spot right near the front of the carpet, and managed to nab both stars on multiple items quickly there. I then took my rare good fortunes and left. I found my way to the back of the Elgin theatre for the premiere of Jackie. Although Natalie Poorsportman was in it, I was there hoping to get Peter Sarsgaard or hoping Billy Crudup would show. Sadly neither of the guys came, and the only person from the film there was the cancerous attitude of ms. poorsportman. I did also see Lily Rose Depp there. She stormed out at the end of the movie, ignoring the 1 and only person who recognized her, me. Afterr that disappointment I headed over to Ryerson for the midnight premiere of Blair Witch. I managed to get all 3 cast that showed, Valorie Curry, James Allen McCune and Callie Hernandez with ease. All 3 were terribly gracious with their time. A++ Riley Keough A+ Christian Bale A+ Callie Hernandez A+ James Allen McCune A Valorie Curry A Sam Claflin A Bill Nighy A- Oscar Isaac D- Lily Rose Depp F Felicity Jones F Sigourney Weaver F Natalie Portman Total autographs for day 4- 20 - Total for TIFF - 65 Day 5 for me started with a press conference for the movie Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale were there promoting. I had 1 item left for Isaac, so I went there and got it done quickly.
From there I went for a tour of a few places I know. I happened across a couple different sets of celebs out & about at different places. First up was Aaron Taylor Johnson and his cast mates. I got an autograph from the Kick Ass star, but his cast mates snubbed everyone waiting for them. A little later I came across Aaron Eckhart and Miles Teller. I managed 1 autograph from each of them in what can only be described as a `civil mob`. After that success I moved back to the press conference venue where I managed to nab a couple autographs from Jeremy Renner. Then began what would be a terrible few hours. It started by going to Ryerson to try and get Star Wars The Force Awakens star Adam Driver at the premiere of Paterson. Mr. Driver should find a different profession, because he looked like he hated being there, seemed to hate interacting with fans, and DEFINITELY hated anyone there with a Star Wars item. He sparingly signed, did a few selfies, but skipped 90% of the people there. I got lucky and nabbed Diane Lane at the back end of her premiere of Paris Can Wait. Then I headed way up town to Isabelle Bader Theatre. There they had a premiere for Orphan with Gemma Arterton and Adele Exarchopolous. Both of the stars signed a few, but Adele gets the extra low marks because the unknown actress stood outside for FIFTEEN MINUTES facing the dozen or so people waiting for autographs without coming over to them while she waited for Gemma to arrive. Gemma eventually arrived, signed a handful, then signed again, then one last time before going into the premiere. From there I tried the back end of La La Land with Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. While Stone ignored everyone, Gosling came by & signed for as many people as he could before taking off for their after party. There was a couple more premieres out that night, but none of them really inspired me enough to stay out. So I took advantage of an early night & left Toronto before it was even 10 PM A+ Aaron Eckhart A Jeremy Renner A Miles Teller A Ryan Gosling A Diane Lane A Oscar Isaac B+ Gemma Arterton C- Aaron Taylor Johnson D Adam Driver D Adele Exarchopoulos F Michael Shannon F Amy Adams F Emma Stone Total autographs for day 5 - 11 Total for TIFF 2016 - 71
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Day 6 started with me checking out a couple of the places celebs are often found, with no success. From there I headed over to POW to lineup for the fan zone of the Manchester By The Sea premiere. My main goal there was Michelle Williams, but it had a pretty decent list of others coming including Casey Affleck, Kyle Chandler and producer Matt Damon. Shortly before that premiere started a group of "protesters" came & occupied the intersection where the stars vehicles WOULD be coming in from normally. I'll hand it to Toronto Cops. They spent NO TIME going over there and making a barrier for the protesting yahoos to not cross, including several of them on bikes who hopped the barricades WITH their bikes in 1 motion like some type of action heroes. It was actually pretty cool to see. That caused some hiccups in the premieres plans....but it didnt stop them. As the fan zone let in I headed straight for the area i knew would statistically have the best chance for success understanding I would be in row 2 there, instead of taking a row 1 spot somewhere further down the rail. As I walked up to the main area, I found to my shock, a space in the front. So I occupied it. Thank goodness for that . When Matt Damon showed up, he came right to where I was, started signing for the guy to the right of me, and went up & down the line. When he was done, he came right back to where we were to bring the man his pen back and I managed to talk him into signing one more there too. Moments later Kyle Chandler came over to the exact same place and I managed to get him with little problem as well. Everything was coming up Canadagraphs, THEN the guy beside me said "if I dont get anything else tonight I'll still be happy" & like a rolling row of clouds coming across the sky, the fun & games ended. Casey Affleck came in on foot, and never made it to out section. A bit later Michelle Williams arrived & didnt even come over for 1 autograph or photo with. After that, I headed to the back of the POW to get a spot for them leaving. Michelle came out after the intro and signed for a bunch of people…..but ignored my item. From there I left in a huff and headed off to check out other venues. My next stop found me at checking out Elgin to see if I could get Tatiana Maslany leaving her premiere of Two Lovers and a Bear….. but sadly she didn’t leave. when I expected her to, so I had to bail on her. So I hustled over to Ryerson for a premiere that had Suki Waterhouse and Jason Momoa at their premiere of The Bad Batch. Its kind of sad that Suki & Jason could make it, but the two Canadians, Keanu Reeves & Jim Carrey no showed. Suki signed everything that was put in front of her... but, her autograph is literally an effortless scribble of varying lengths. By far the worst autographs I got of the festival. Jason Momoa at least signed nicer, but was trying to intimidate people into not trying for a second one. He would say things like "have I signed for you yet, you look like someone I signed for" and the always memorable "have I signed for you? *hound answers no* ok, but if I find out I have, I'll have to come back and kill you". Let me tell you, when Jason Momoa tells you he might have to kill you, you probably feel intimidated a bit. After there I foolishly attempted the back end of the Wakefield premiere at POW. Both of the films stars Jennifer Garner, who did say on her way back into the theate "if I have time" when asked if she could sign leaving, and Mr. Walter White himself Bryan Cranston snubbed the crowds leaving. Apparently Jennifer Garner didnt "have time" to sign AFTER her job was done. I bet she had lots of time to drink & schmooze at some over priced party though. This is now the 3rd consecutive time I have had a terrible interaction with Jennifer Garner. A+ Matt Damon A Kyle Chandler B+ Casey Affleck B- Suki Waterhouse C+ Jason Momoa C- Michelle Williams F Bryan Cranston F Jennifer Garner Total autographs for Day 6 - 13 Total autographs for TIFF 2016 - 89 Day 7 was a short one for me. I started it at the premiere of All I see Is You with Yvonne Strahovski, Ahna O'Reilly, Danny Huston and West Chatham. I managed an autograph from 3 of the 4, Ahna being the only 1 I missed out on there. From there I checked out the back end of the premiere for (Re) Assignment and managed an autograph from Sigourney Weaver and a couple from Michelle Rodriguez. I then went to the POW for the back end of All I see Is you. I managed an autograph there again from 3 of the 4, this time Danny Huston I didnt get because I didnt have anything more for him. I tried the front of that same theatre for the next premiere Una with Ben Mendelsohn, Riz Ahmed and Rooney Mara. Unfortunately only Mara showed up, so I didnt get anything signed there. Back over to Ryerson I went. I tried for Iggy Pop leaving the premiere of his movie, but they somehow snuck out the aging rock legend. The final premiere of the night The Girl With All The Gifts saw the films 1 & only star that showed up sign anything put in front of her. So I got several autographs from Gemma Arterton before heading home for the night. A+ Michelle Rodriguez A Wes Chatham A Sigourney Weaver A Danny Huston A- Yvonne Strahovski A- Ahna O'Reilly Total autographs for Day 7 - 16 Total for TIFF 2016 - 105 Day 8 was a very light day as well.
Even though there were several premieres on that day, the 1 that I focused on made it so that I couldnt front end or back end any of the others worth checking. So I focused on The Exception with Jai Courtney, Christopher Plummer and Lily James. This cast was quite good at signing both in & out as I managed several from both Courtney and James and 1 from Plummer. A+ Lily James A Jai Courtney B+ Christopher Plummer Total autographs for Day 8 - 8 Total autographs for TIFF 2016 - 113 Day 9 I went only to the Brain On Fire press conference and got 1 Chloe Grace Moretz autograph before moving on for that day to working on hockey autographs. A- Chloe Grace Moretz Total autographs for Day 9 - 1 Total autographs for TIFF 2016 - 114 Day 10 saw the final premiere of the Fest do a double showing. I first checked the back of the POW and got lucky there, nabbing autographs from Haley Lu Richardson, Melissa Benoist and Blake Jenner. UNFORTUNATELY I missed a chance to also get iconic creator of The Simpsons and many other programs, James L. Brooks, as well as Woody Harrelson (I legitimately assumed he wouldnt sign...but in a rare feat, he did). At their 2nd premiere, I agan got Richardson, Benoist and Jenner. At both events Hailee Steinfeld refused to sign for most people. She sparingly interacted with 1 fan here 1 there at the 2nd premiere, but skipped about 80-90% of the people there. A+ Haley Lu Richardson A+ Melissa Benoist A+ Blake Jenner A Woody Harrelson (you have no idea how shocking that is to me to write) A James L Brooks D+ Hailee Steinfeld Total autographs for Day 10 - 7 Total autographs for TIFF 2016 - 121 Day 0 of TIFF started for me a tad slow. I missed pretty much every connection getting out of Hamilton that I could. This caused me to not get out to Toronto till after 2 PM. The first autographs I managed to get would be from Chris Pratt. This was the 2nd time that I had got the Guardians Of The Galaxy star at TIFF. A few years ago he came to promote Moneyball. Back then he was one of the nicest celebs around. Times have changed, and now the Mr.Pratt we were welcomed to this year was more at the level of “tolerant” of meeting with people. His body language was nothing short of “I’d rather not be doing this” and his actions of not once, but twice throwing someones pen on the ground when he was done signing suggested he wasn’t too concerned with leaving people there with a very good impression. I managed a couple autographs from him, but I was legitimately disappointed to see one of the few “nice guys” turn so anti-social. A bit later came a disappointment for me of a different type. Asian star Zhang Ziyi came thru. I was not prepared for her coming thru, as I had her film premiere scheduled for much later in the festival. Turns out shes also a judge at this years fest, thus why she was in so early. I had to just stand back and watch with disappointment as she willingly signed for everyone that had stuff for her after she got her toddler safely into the transportation vehicle. After that came Luke Grimes. He came in while I was gone for a couple minutes checking on something. Shortly after that came Greys Anatomy star Sandra Oh who I managed to get and asked her how she was doing which she replied with a gripe about how hot it was in Toronto. She wasn’t wrong. It was an unwelcoming 35C at the time. The Flash guest star Robbie Amell came thru. I had nothing for him so I watched as others got photos with and autographs. Shortly after that I managed to notice Michael Smiley from Luther come thru and no one else knew who it was…. So I grabbed my photo went and got him and that was the end of my day 0 TIFF. A Zhang Ziyi B+ Robbie Amell B+ Michael Smiley C+ Chris Pratt C- Sandra Oh Total autographs for day 0 – 4 Day 1 of TIFF started with me making a quick trip out to the airport to check on some early arrivals. I didn’t spend a lot of time there, but enough time to fluke into a Dakota Fanning and a Parker Posey autograph. Neither of whom came across as terribly happy to be seen by fans. Also saw a former media sensation as Amanda Knox came into town for her film. After that I used the UP train to get downtown quickly and stand in the mosh pit that is the TIFF press conferences thanks to the imbeciles in the mainstream media who troll for click views on their site by posting the entire list of press conferences to the generally unknowing public. What used to attract 5-20 people in the jknow now never has less than 100 people at it, and has devolved into a panicked frenzy. I know some in the TIFF security team want to blame that on autograph hounds... but point the finger at the REAL culprits, the media. THEY are the ones telling 100s of people where it is & when.... not us. The press conference for The Magnificent Seven started late. That’s pathetic considering it was their 1st event of the day, hell of the Fest. On the way into the presser, despite being late, Haley Bennett signed for some people and I managed to get one there. I missed Peter Sarsgaard unfortunately, who was my top want of this premiere, and the fest. They were the only ones to sign before the presser. After the presser I managed to get Chris Pratt AND Peter Sarsgaard FINALLY on my season 3 cast signed The Killing promo. Biggest disappointment was of course NOT getting Denzel Washington whom last year refused to sign autographs, thus wasting my front row spot for him then. Sure enough he signed this year though, and I had a decent spot for him, but he stopped signing 3 people before he got to me. Why couldn’t he have done that last time instead? Shortly after that, at the back of Princess Of Wales I managed to get Bennett again, along with Ethan Hawke. Chris Pratt Also came over, but stopped signing after 1 or 2 signatures because of someone pushing from behind. Its rare where I hear that statement come from someone and its legitimate…but in this case, it was and the celeb punished everyone else for it. Vincent D’Onofrio also came over but he signed at one end while Hawke signed at my end. I then made it over to Elgin for Message From The King with Chadwick Boseman and Teresa Palmer. Luckily they had a Q&A that took a while. It gave me a chance to get there and snag 1 from each of them. After that,I had a quick Chipotle break…. Then I headed over to Ryerson to be disappointed at the Midnight Madness crowds. Midnight Madness premiere for Free Fire was much much worse than you might expect for a Midnight film. With a cast that included Enzo Cilente and Noah Taylor from Game Of Thrones, as well as Michael Smiley from Luther, along with Armie Hammer, Sam Riley and Sharlto Copley, there was a lot of decent enough names for cagey veterans of a TIFF to be inspired for. UNFORTUNATELY the film also dragged in the buzz name of 2015/16 Brie Larson, so instead of having 30 or so people at the midnight screening of this film, it had about 150 and 27 spots for press. OF COURSE, Larson, a notorious non-signer didn’t do anything for the fans, snubbing all requests including a piece of paper from a younger girl. What her unneeded appearance DID do was made it difficult for those smart enough to know the rest of the cast to get to that cast as the 100 or so people that came thinking they would get Brie clogged up space for the others as well as got “selfies” with people they had never heard of till that minute. Despite Brie trying to ruin the hopes of the knowledgeable fans who wanted to get the other cast, I still managed to get everyone that came, and even managed a couple from some of them. But it was far far far more effort than it really should have been. A+ Enzo Cilente A+ Michael Smiley A Sam Riley A Noah Taylor A- Haley Bennett B+ Chris Pratt B+ Chadwick Boseman B+ Sharlto Copley B+ Teresa Palmer B Ethan Hawke B Peter Sarsgaard C+ Armie Hammer C- Denzel Washington D+ Vincent D'Onofrio D Byeong Lee F Brie Larson Total autographs for Day 1 – 18 Total for TIFF so far - 22 Day 2 started with me missing the arrivals for Carrie Pilby premiere at Ryerson.
I waited around for the departures, I managed William Mosely and a scribble that’s supposed to be Vanessa Bayer. However Bel Powley sped by & signed for few people leaving, I missed her because I patiently waited for Vanessa who was busy spending far too much time taking selfies.... especially considering how shitty her autograph is. I then waited around for the premiere of Catfight with Sandra Oh and Anne Heche. I was honestly hoping moreso that another co-star Alicia Silverstone would make an appearance. Unfortunately, the only people to show up where Sandra, who came over to the fans BRIEFLY to do a couple selfies before going to do media, and Anne who showed up so late that (20 mins after the movie started) she didnt even stop to do anything with anyone, and I am not even sure if she did any media. Needless to say, up till this point, this is the WORST cast of TIFF. The Catfight premiere ruined my plans for other premieres. So I moved on to 1 of my top targets at The Birth Of A Nation, Jackie Earle Haley. Unfortunately I was the victim of "new changes" that TIFF had made at many venues this year. Elgin changes saw the side that we used to wait for everyone at now become the further away side, and the other side now be the closer side. Unfortunately, this was info I would get too late as the stars of the film arrived & constantly went to the "other" side, and didnt come over to the side I was on, despite acknowledging me & the others first. I had to sit by and watch as Gabrielle Union, Nate Parker, Mark Boone Jr, and others all went and signed for the other side and refused to walk the 40 ft over to our side. I headed back to Ryerson for the 3rd time of the day hoping for SOME type of success there. Colossal with Tim Blake Nelson, Jason Sudekis and Anne Hathaway was there. Of course the majority of people were only there for Anne. I was more excited for TBN after his role on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Sure enough Tim was 1st to show up & I got him on my UKS photo and told him I loved his role on there which he thanked me for and then said "what is that from?". You know youve worked a lot when you cant remember something you filmed 2 or 3 years ago. I then got Sudekis and headed towards the mosh pit of people trying to get Hathaway. I quickly decided my chances of getting her were slim & focused instead on getting my other TBN done, and didnt even try getting her. She signed quite a bit, but I found the insanity for her wasnt worth the effort. After that I went back to Elgin to get the Birth cast leaving. I managed to FINALLY get someone from there as I nabbed Jackie Earle Haley and Colman Domingo. I ended the night going to the Midnight Madness premiere of Headshot. I got there in time to see Iko Uwais from Star Wars The Force Awakens on the carpet already, and got him to sign my photos within 3 minutes of getting there and then went home. A Jackie Earle Haley A Tim Blake Nelson A Iko Uwais A- Jason Sudekis B+ Peneleope Ann Miller B+ Colman Domingo B+ William Mosely B- Anne Hathaway C Vanessa Bayer C- Gabrielle Union C- Nate Parker C- Mark Boone Jr. D Bel Powley F Sandra Oh F Anne Heche Total autographs - 12 TOTAL for TIFF 2016 - 34 |
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