DAY 8
 
On the 8th day of TIFF I had hopes of breaking my all time single TIFF record for autographs of 97. With a dry day forecast and several premieres out, the chances were really good I would do so.
 
I started off going for the premiere of Pawn Sacrifice which had 1 of the top names I wanted at TIFF there. No, not that useless stiff Tobey Magwhiner. Nope, it was all about Mr. Big Noise, Ray Seward... errr I mean Peter Sarsgaard. If you have not seen season 3 of The Killing, you should Sarsgaard was spectacular in it, and in my opinion still, its 1 of the 10 biggest Emmy travesties still is he didn't get nominated for Supporting Actor last year. Fucking bullshit. Anyways....... enough ranting on that.
 
First up would actually be the man himself. Peter Sarsgaard. Peter came over to the crowd and did spend a few minutes interacting. Unfortunately, he never came close to where I was, although he still got close enough that he heard me when I yelled at hime to come down to where I was as he gave a half assed wave over his shoulder at me. Disappointed, but what can you do. He just better come back to Vancouver for something. Next would be Liev Schrieber, the 1 person from the cast I brought nothing for.... so OF COURSE he would come right over to where I was and stop and sign there.  After he finished the alleged star of the movie Tobey Magwhiner arrived, I assume fresh of riding at Woodbine racecourse. I was shocked when I saw 1 of the most notorious non-signers head down to the far end of the carpet. Sadly, it made more sense once I realized that the guy who a higher up with a hotel called "1 of the 3 biggest divas hes ever dealt with" went along the front row giving out "high fives" instead of stopping to sign, or taking photos with anyone. Yeah Tobey, the fans will always cherish that 1/8 of a second you slid across their hand.
 
With the 1st disaster firmly under my belt for the day, I moved on. Across the street was the premiere for American Heist with Jordana Brewster and Hayden Christiansen.  For whatever reason the POW this 1 time only during the fest set up a pit next to the red carpet similar to how they used to do it in years prior. While fans still lined up on the opposite side of the street like they had all fest, some of us went to the side and filled the pit. Aliaune Thiam, who prefers to call himself Akon for some reason showed up and signed for a couple people but shockingly ignored some requests. Kinda funny coming from someone with 3 credits to his resume who 80% of the people there didn't even care about. Cardinal Official (who insists on spelling BOTH of those words wrong for his "rapper name" arrived, and was being called over by 1 fan before I reminded him that we don't want nobodies in the way when the talent gets here. A problem that everyone, myself as well sometimes do, but not for a Canadian rapper. The fan eventually stopped asking for him to come over when Hayden Christiansen arrived. The Star Wars star did his job and signed for everyone in the pit, then crossed the street signed for a bunch over there, then came back over and did more for us. Eventually, he went inside. Sadly, no Jordana Brewster. But with the 4 autographs I got from Christiansen there I broke my old record... so that was a success to me.

Day 8 Total - 12 autographs
TIFF total - 106 autographs
 
A  Hayden Christiansen
A  Ryan Reynolds
B+ Anna Kendrick
B+ Patricia Clarkson
B+ Scott Speedman
B+ Ellen Barkin
B  Adam Sandler
C Peter Sarsgaard
C  Liev Schrieber
D Aliaune Thiam (akon)
F Tobey Maguire

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

DAY 6
 
This was 1 of the days of the Fest I had circled on my calendar more than others. The chance to get Benedict Cumberbatch again, and hopefully, a lot better one than the "B.C. xx 2013" autograph he gave me last year was high on my list of goals.
 
I headed over to his press conference as soon as I got in town and saw the Sherlock star go in to do his press for The Imitation Game, along with Keira Knightley. On the way out, Benedict signed sporadically, but I managed to get his attention enough that he turned around and signed the duo photo I had of him with Andrew Scott that I got signed by Andrew just days earlier. Better yet, it was a nice, fuller autograph than the 1 the year prior. This was my TIFF 2014 favorite piece by far. I attempted to get a 2nd from him a couple minutes later, but he said he couldn't. I then said "what about at the red carpet?" he replied "if I see you". Hope still to get another autograph.
 
Following that was a press conference for 99 Homes. Unfortunately my Andrew Garfield luck didn't follow thru to the next day, but I did manage a few Michael Shannon autographs before he left. So all in all, not too bad.
 
Eager for another Cumberbatch autograph, I did the rare thing for me... I went to POW & waited for about 2 hours just so I could have a decent position. Allen Leech would show up first, and I eagerly tried to get him...but he went the opposite direction of where I was and I was not about to sacrifice the great spot I had to chase him down... I would just have to hope to get him later. Eventually Benedict Cumberbatch arrived, and partially random fluke, and I believe, my own vocal strength when he got closer, he came right to me. Took my pen, I told him he could use it for everyone. He signed 1 of my DVD covers & vanished into the swarm of overstretched arms, heads and cameras along the rail all hoping to see or interact with him. Several minutes later, my pen was returned to me by a security guard, surely drained of its resources as the Sherlock star was still signing away. With little to no use for a worn out sharpie, I asked the girls behind me if they wanted it, and both of them hastily lunged at it. They would surely be happier with something Benedict held than I was. A couple minutes later Benedict stopped right by us again, and signed a few more, but this time I missed him. He then went the opposite direction. All in all, he was out there signing for over 20 minutes. I know this, by the time stamps on the pics I took of him out there. A while later Keira Knightley arrived, but she was not nearly as gracious, and only did about 1/4 of the line... in the opposite direction of where I was. Still I was pleased with the outcome.
 
After my BC high wore off I started to plan out my evening gameplan and headed over to the Elgin to try and get a couple people at their premieres leaving. First up was Viggo Mortensen, and the A History Of Violence star was his regular great self leaving the premiere for Far From Men. I managed to nab a couple from him there. An hour later, Game Of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau came out and signed for everyone who was there leaving the premiere for A Second Chance.
 
I then hurried over to Ryerson theatre. There I managed to get some autographs from the cast of Good Kill from Ethan Hawke & former Supernatural unofficial Winchester brother Jake Abel. I also saw actress Rachel Roberts there, she was there supporting her husband who was the writer for the movie.

That was the end of my night. SO CLOSE to my all time single TIFF record of 97 autographs...maybe next day?

Day 6 total - 16 autographs
Total TIFF - 91 autographs
 
A+ Benedict Cumberbatch (red carpet)
A+ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
A  Michael Shannon
A  Jake Abel
A- Viggo Mortensen
B+ Matthew Goode
B+ Rachel Roberts
B+ Benedict Cumberbatch (Press conference)
B  Allen Leech
C+ Ethan Hawke
C  Keira Knightley (red carpet)
F Keira Knightley (press conference)
F  Andrew Garfield

DAY 5
 
Day 5 of TIFF14 would be my most successful of the fest stats wise. However, it did start with failure. I went to try and get Jennifer Aniston and Sam Worthington at their premiere for Cake, but was unable to get close enough. For some reason, the crowd there was substantially larger than anyone should have expected. I got very close to getting an Aniston, but in the end, not close enough.
 
I instantly left that disaster and headed to Ryerson for the premiere of Whiplash. Although Melissa Benoist was not there, I did well enough between Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons there that I was pleased with the time I spent there.
 
The next premiere, back at Elgin was for "Still Alice" with Julianne Moore and Kate Bosworth. I got lucky with my position for Moore, and got 3 autographs in the 1st minute or so of her signing. Bosworth on the other hand... refused to sign the specific photo I had. Not having another photo with me, I went away shutout by her.
 
I headed back to Ryerson for the back end of Whiplash and managed a couple more Miles Teller autographs there. After doing that, I hurried back to the front of Ryerson for the premiere of Adult Beginners. I managed to get an autograph from everyone of the cast there, Nick Kroll, Bobby Cannavale, Joel McHale and Rose Byrne all attended, and I got each of them at least once.

With a couple hours to kill, I went over to a celeb hotspot, and fluked into another encounter with The Theory Of Everything star Eddie Redmayne which nabbed me a couple more autographs. I also saw former The Killing star Evan Bird there, he was in town to promote Maps To The Stars. Also saw rapper Lil Jon in the short time I was there. Also ran into the rapper named Lil Jon, who was in town for a show & happened to also be there.
 
I went back over to the Elgin for a night time premiere of The Keeping Room with Sam Worthington and Hailee Steinfeld. Both of the stars were terrific signers there, and I managed to get a couple from each. Sam might not have been at his old "sign 13 at once" level of nice this festival, but he was still really good. I also saw Britt Marling there, but had nothing for her. I also saw former The Walking Dead star Sarah Wayne Callies there. Despite reports I have heard of her being an unfriendly person to meet, she came over to the crowd and did photos with and signed autographs for those asking.
 
I hurried across the downtown core to the POW to try and hopefully get The Amazing Spider-Man star Andrew Garfield at his premiere of 99 Homes with Michael Shannon. Thankfully, I had success there. I managed to get Shannon on 1 photo, and shortly after Andrew Garfield on 2 photos. Oddly, I had two odd interactions with Andrew on that carpet. First time, he said something to me. He shook his head no, is body language seemed negative, yet he still signed the photo I had. The second time, he pushed my photo away, then pulled it back in before signing it. Random, but I had no complaints with the end result.

Day 5 Total - 25 autographs
Total TIFF - 75 autographs
 
A- Julianne Moore
A- Sam Worthington
B+ Rose Byrne
B+ Andrew Garfield
B+ Michael Shannon
B+ Hailee Steinfeld
B  Miles Teller
B  Evan Bird
B  J.K. Simmons
B  Sarah Wayne Callies
B  Eddie Redmayne
B- Kate Bosworth
B- Bobby Cannavale
B- Britt Marling
B- Joel McHale
B- Nick Kroll
C+ Jennifer Aniston

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

DAY 3
 
The 3rd day of TIFF was the 1st one that I walked away from going "it didn't completely suck". But boy was there a lot of legwork involved to make it not suck.
 
The day started with a couple press conferences that garnered no success.
 
In the early afternoon I went to the Elgin to try & get Gemma Arterton at her premiere for Gemma Bovery. The star showed up eventually, and did sign, but declined to sign my photo that I had displayed. A trend that happened to me all too often this fest. I quickly switched to another photo. Her assistant got her attention and directed Gemma to that new photo, which she did sign before being whisked away.
 
Thankfully my next objective was in the same spot. An hour later, the cast started arriving for Pride. Andrew Scott, the man who brings Moriarty, nemesis of Sherlock on the hit BBC series to life showed up 1st. He was an amazing signer, and I ran out of things for him in quick fashion. I managed also to get an autograph from Bill Nighy (who stole my pen), Ben Schnetzer and Dominic West before they went to do press on the red carpet.

I don't even remember now what I wasted my time on for the 3 hours in between the Pride red carpet & the next one, but it garnered no results of any type.
 
Next up was Men, Women & Children premiere at the Ryerson Theatre. With stuff for 5 people in this premiere I had high hopes for it.... and it was a dud. I managed two Adam Sandler autographs...in the last couple minutes of the red carpet, but Kaitlyn Dever and Ansel "Allergic to people, sharpies, and being nice" Elgort were a shut out for me. I did manage two J.K. Simmons autographs as well, but overall this was pretty close to horrible considering how many cast were there.

I then made my way back over to Elgin to try for Kate Beckinsale and Daniel Bruhl. I managed to get Bruhl with no problems, but Beckinsale, despite spending a fair amount of time signing on our side, refused to actually move from the spot she chose, so people either came away with several, or none. Myself, none. Some no name model chick Cara Delevingne had a few fans out there too hoping to meet her, but the model couldn't be bothered to come over. Seriously, a fucking MODEL wouldn't come over and sign for a few people, yet real celebrities like Bruhl & Beckinsale did. Thus why she'll be going down as the biggest bitch of TIFF when I do my wrap up.

I checked the back of the theatre, and saw the crowd was a bit bigger than I hoped it would be. I saw Gugu Mbatha-Raw leaving her premiere for Beyond The Lights while I was there, but I had nothing with me.
 
I tried to get to RTH in time for The Riot Club carpet, but got there just in time to see Max Irons and Sam Claflin sign the last of their autographs before heading in.  Across the street the premiere for Top 5 was already under way. I got over there and managed to get an autograph from Rosario Dawson on my Death Proof DVD cover in the mess. I don't know why, but she asked me if she could keep me. It was....random. I saw Chris Rock, and a pile of other people there for the film, but was holding nothing for any of them....so I left.

I then tried the back end of a Ryerson premiere for The Sound And The Fury with James Franco. I managed 1 autograph from him on the departure, but the biggest kick was when I saw Wayne Gretzky waltz by, as I failed to realize his wife Janet Jones Gretzky was also in the film & everyone told me how they racked him going in.
 
Back at the front of Ryerson, the red carpet for the Midnight Madness showing of Tusk was starting soon. I managed to get an autograph from all 4 of the cast & director that were there. Justin Long was his typical good self, although maybe not quite as great as the 1st time I met him. Kevin Smith was really good. Haley Joel Osment eventually signed, but for awhile looked like he wouldn't. While Genesis Rodriguez signed a bunch, but not as many as she could because she insisted on personalizing every item, thus leaving a few people without a signature when her people told her she had to go.

Day 3 total - 16 autographs
Total autographs - 32
 
A+ Andrew Scott
A- Kevin Smith
B+ Rosario Dawson
B+ Daniel Bruhl
B+ James Franco
B+ Justin Long
B+ Gugu Mbatha-Raw
B  Gemma Arterton
B Bill Nighy
B Dominic West
C+ Kate Beckinsale
C Haley Joel Osment
C Genesis Rodriguez