2018 Toronto International Film Festival - Days 3,4 and 5 - featuring - Lady Gaga, Emilio Estevez, Melissa McCarthy and more

The 2018 Toronto International Film Festival has ended, and here is my reports on the festival.

This is part 2, day 3 to day 5.
For part 1, day 0 to day 2, go HERE
For part 3, day 6 to day 8 go HERE

Day 3 started for me later than I had hoped as exhaustion was setting in already. I wanted to do a late morning premiere, but didn't get there in time to have a chance at it, so I started my day instead at an afternoon premiere for Can You Ever Forgive Me, starring Melissa McCarthy, Richard E Grant & Christian Navarro. Pleased to say, a rare occurrence at the fest, all of the cast I was there for were quite accommodating. Richard and Christian signed everything asked of them, while the big star, Melissa, signed a pretty notable amount. I managed to get everything done by Richard & Christian, and 1 from Melissa.

I left that premiere feeling like I had a solid start. I went then to the premiere for "Everybody Knows" with Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz. Unfortunately, this premiere killed my early high. I got 1 Cruz, and 0 Bardems, despite having a really good spot. After such a good start, this was a bit of a gut punch.

My next choice was an easy one for me. My top want of the fest, Mandy Patinkin, was going to have a premiere at the same venue I was already at next. The premiere for Life Itself had a pretty large cast, but it was Dead Like Me star Mandy Patinkin that had me choosing it over others going on at that time which included the likes of Hugh Jackman and Julia Roberts at other venues. I managed to get 1 autograph from Patinkin, keeping my streak of getting my top want of every fest together. I also managed autographs from This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman, Annette Bening and Olivia Cooke, while Olivia Wilde snubbed our area entirely, and seemingly only really interacted with young girls, and Oscar Isaacs no showed. Still, getting Patinkin was worth it for me.

I took a very short break from that venue, to go across the street from it to see if there was any action at the Julia Roberts premiere for Ben Is Back. I was mostly hoping to track down Kathryn Newton, but it was becoming quickly obvious the stars for the film weren't going to leave early, which is something that happens more often than not. I knew I couldn't wait this one out for its end, AND get a good spot in line for the next one I was going to do, so I abandoned my spot at that one to go line up for my next event.

For my 3rd time that day, I found myself at a premiere at the Roy Thompson Hall, this time for Widows. Another movie with a major cast of notable names. I should have done great at this as I had a really great spot. But instead, the unwillingness of the cast to sign soured that. While many DID sign, Viola Davis, and Liam Neeson did NOTHING, and Daniel Kaluuya did little to nothing. I did manage an autograph from the legendary Robert Duvall, as well as some autographs from Colin Farrell, Michelle Rodriguez and Elizabeth Debicki. But even with all those successes, the amount of outright non-signers at the premiere really dampened the excitement for it. At least Liam came over to the crowd to explain he wasn't going to sign because of a wrist injury (whether true or not, at least he made SOME effort to explain himself)

I then headed to the last event of the night, the premiere of Halloween. If you were a fan of Danny McBride, this was a good night for you. If you were a fan of any of the main cast, you went away disappointed, and perhaps, even disgusted. The shows two main leads, Jamie Lee Curtis and Judy Greer both refused to come and meet fans. With JLC going as far as to give the fans the finger when they booed her for walking away from them.  Ms. Greer at least didn't flip everyone off, but she did beeline right into the theatre, but in her defense, I believe she was told to do this by the staff at the theatre, as they did stand around her car talking to her inside it for well over a minute before she got out. Disappointing end to a day that started pretty well, and featured me getting my top want of the festival. Andi Matichak also came over to sign, but seemed at first she was not going to either, and got a smaller chorus of boos than JLC did, and in turn came over after a quick photo shoot, whether for PR or a legitimate sense of feeling bad that she didnt first, at least she came over. While producer Danny McBride was good and signed for everyone, I hate to say it, I hope his film flops because of JLC. This former TV actress really thinks more of herself than she actually is.

My day 3 autograph total - 16
My TIFF 2018 total - 54

A+ Richard E Grant
A+ Christian Navarro
A+ Dan Fogelman
A+ Elizabeth Debicki
A+ Danny McBride
A  Andi Matichak
A  Melissa McCarthy
A  Olivia Cooke
A  Colin Farrell
A- Robert Duvall
B+ Michelle Rodriguez
B+ Annette Bening
B  Penelope Cruz
B- Mandy Patinkin
C- Javier Bardem
D+ Olivia Wilde
D- Daniel Kaluuya
F+ Liam Neeson
F  Judy Greer
F  Viola Davis
F- Jamie Lee Curtis

Day 4 saw me start with the premiere for The Public. This was one I was eager to get a good spot for, as I had a couple items for one of my friends to try and get done. Thankfully, for the person I needed.... it paid off.  Things started off with Christian Slater and Alec Baldwin showing up at almost the same time, which is pretty rare at this venue. While I managed a couple autographs from Mr. Slater, I was shut out on the sporadically signing Baldwin who skipped large chunks of the carpet to hasten his arrival time at the media pit, despite the fact they were both 20 minutes before any other cast. I got 1 autograph from the person I went there for, former Breakfast Club and Mighty Ducks star Emilio Estevez. I also managed 1 from Jena Malone, which was rare there as she ignored most requests, and got two autographs from The Wire star Michael Kenneth Williams. Sadly Mr. Baldwin was not the only denial I received there, as Taylor Schilling, Gabrielle Union and Jeffrey Wright also didn't sign in the area I was.

From there, I headed to another premiere, but once I got there I was told of a different event that was going on soon at a venue close to it, so I headed there instead and that turned out to be a pretty great decision.

Before the event happened. They obviously had to let out the movie prior, which to my luck was for Burning starring former The Walking Dead star Steven Yeun. Luckily I got a couple autographs from him as he left. I also helped one other grapher get autographs from another person with the movie, Lee Chang-dong. Its always nice stumbling into bonus autographs, something I would have a bigger one of a bit later.

A live reading of The Breakfast Club took place at the Ryerson Theatre. Every year they do a live reading of some older movie, and they bring in a variety of actors in town for the festival to do the roles, but they don't announce who till the day of. This year, they had Aaron Paul, Christina Hendricks, Jesse Eisenberg, Bel Powley, and a couple others. I managed a couple autographs each from Aaron and Christina. But was of course denied from the always unfriendly Jesse & Bel. If you had told me I'd get 4 autographs there, and still not get two of the people I had stuff for, I would have nodded my head in understanding & known exactly which two I would & wouldn't get.

After that little bonus event, I went back to the theatre I was originally going to to try and get the cast of Her Smell. When I got there, I was a bit surprised how large of a crowd was waiting, as I assumed it was just 1 cast member there, but was told not only were 4 of them there, but the 2nd screening for A Star Is Born had already started showing up.

Like I said a few paragraphs earlier, a bigger unexpected autograph would fall into my lap. When the cast for ASIB came in, I managed to get a few, Dave Chappelle signed 1 for me, Sam Elliott signed two for me, and the biggest "I wasn't expecting to get them at all" one Lady Gaga I got 1 from. Nice extra bonus. Also seen at the showing for ASIB were Salma Hayek and Michelle Rodriguez, BOTH actresses ignored all requests from fans.

A bit later, the cast of Her Smell finally started leaving. I managed a couple Elisabeth Moss autographs, but the rest of the cast Amber Heard, Ashley Benson and the always miserable Cara Delavigne just speed walked out into their awaiting vehicles and left.

After the ASIB cast left, I went around front, just in time to get 1 autograph from Abbie Cornish on the red carpet of her premiere for Where Hands Touch. Unfortunately the movies other star that came Amandla Stenberg ignored all requests and went straight to the carpet.

I ended the night with Sofia Boutella at the premiere of Climax. She was terrific, knocking out all the items I had within just a couple minutes.

My day 4 autograph total - 24
My TIFF 2018 total - 78

A+ Sam Elliott
A+ Aaron Paul
A+ Christina Hendricks
A+ Christian Slater
A+ Dave Chappelle
A+ Sofia Boutella
A  Elisabeth Moss
A  Lee Chang-dong
A  Robert Wuhl
A  Richard E Grant
A  Lady Gaga
A- Steven Yeun
A- Emilio Estevez
A- Michael Kenneth Williams
C+ Abbie Cornish
C  Jena Malone
C- Alec Baldwin
C- Taylor Schilling
C- Gabrielle Union
C- Jeffrey Wright
D+ Bradley Cooper
F+ Jesse Eisenberg
F  Bel Powley
F  Michelle Rodriguez
F  Salma Hayek
F  Amber Heard
F  Cara Delavinge
F  Ashley Benson
F  Amandla Stenberg

Day 5 was a far too short of a day. While lots was going on, remnants of a hurricane made their way through the Toronto area, pouring lots of rain down on the area for most of the day. So I started my day off late.

I first attempted to work the 6 PM premiere of The Death And Life Of John F Donovan. This was such a failure, that I left before the cast had even finished leaving. All I saw of the cast was Kit Harington, who signed a couple autographs, but not a lot, and Susan Sarandon who didn't sign at all... but I couldn't really blame people, as it was still raining pretty hard.

There was ONE event that SHOULD have been a slam dunk, and at a dry place. SO I went there. Every year CBC hosts 3 or 4 talks with individuals. This year, they started with Mahershala Ali, the Academy Award winner from Moonlight, and as I know him, Cottonmouth from Luke Cage. Unfortunately, this was NOT a slam dunk, as other hounds that arrived, got pushy (which isn't rare) but when the entertainer tells you to stop... you are supposed to stop. They didn't, and he handed the pen back after just a couple autographs and went inside.

While his event went on, I had decided the rain had lightened up enough to risk trying for autographs outside, and went to do the premiere for Driven. WHAT A SHIT SHOW! There was LITERALLY 11 fans on the red carpet, so this should have been the easiest thing ever. But between the fact they would have had to cross an active street (although it was closed down when vehicles arrived for a few moments), in light rain none of the cast bothered. Eventually a clunker of a Delorean showed up at the premiere, and two guys who looked like failing film students got out, and they were filming the car, and had Jason Sudeikis pose with it, and a few of the production people took photos and videos of the car.... fine, now get the clunker out of here. NOPE... lets leave it sitting there, doors open on an ACTIVE STREET for OVER TEN MINUTES! The fucking imbeciles that pulled off this moron riddled idea left their car there for 10+ minutes, while City Of Toronto Cops had to hold up traffic at both ends to accommodate this idiocy. In the traffic being held, were two cars for the premiere, including that which had Lee Pace in it. At some point Judy Greer and Cory Stoll both arrived, but not from the front, did quick photo shoots, and went back inside without coming over on the closed street to the whole 11 people there. When Lee finally showed up, he hurried across the street, signed for my buddy and me, then went right back across the street, leaving the other 9 people there with nothing for their time at possibly the most scarcely attended red carpet in this theatres history. Like I said, shit show. AFTER everyone was in, the fucktards who drove their shitmobile to the front of the theatre attempted to get it out of there.... and to top off the worst red carpet of the year.... the pile of shit would not start.... so they had to literally push it down the road. Fucking losers. If these idiots were not fired for this shitshow, the producers of Driven should never be allowed to make another film again just for guilt by association.

After that debacle, I went back to the CBC event, and thankfully, it was a much smaller, and calmer crowd on his departure, and I managed to get 2 autographs there.

I then hurried back to the venue with the terrible red carpet to see if I could get any of the cast leaving. I managed to snag two more Lee Pace autographs (in a dying/dead pen), and 1 Judy Greer, but was still snubbed by Cory Stoll and Erin Moriarty for some reason.

My day 5 autograph total - 6
My TIFF 2018  total - 84

(Grades only based on events AFTER 8 PM due to rain.. because honestly, cant blame them for not wanting to stand in the downpour.)

A  Mahershala Ali
A- Jason Sudeikis
B- Lee Pace
D+ Judy Greer
F  Isabel Arraiza
F  Corey Stoll
F  Erin Moriarty