The TIFF Tattler: September 12 & 13 weekend edition

by: Chris Berube

September 13, 2009 12:00 PM

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CELEB CITINGS
Ok, let's get this celebrity business out of the way. First off, George Clooney is one of us, apparently. Instead of eating in a hermetic bubble, the Up in the Air star ate in (gasp!) a very, though not completely, posh Italian restaurant in Yorkville. And a bunch of us plebes got to see him. Egad!

Other celebrity sightings are starting to roll in at a pretty rapid clip; Matt Damon and Steven Soderbergh introduced The Informant! on Friday (despite reports Thursday of the star's untimely death), Terry Gilliam has shown up to start hyping The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (whose star, Heath Ledger, is most certainly still dead), and George Romero introduced the Midnight Madness screening of his latest, Survival of the Dead (for which he was honoured with a march by people dressed like the undead). But the big news was Jennifer Connelly letting her emotions get the better of her at the Creation press conference. Apparently Astral Media exec John Riley said some very harsh things about the Oscar winner after she left early from a party because it was the anniversary of her father's death. Good going, jackass.

In other news, Megan Fox compared her Transformers director Michael Bay to Hitler (and not just because he makes incredibly crap movies), only to recieve a well-deserved trashing from others who worked on the set of the movie. And, some asshole stole an Italian director's suitcase, containing a manuscript and $12,000. Worst TIFF day ever!

SOLONDZ FINDS HAPPINESS… IN VENICE

Buzz (good and bad) is starting to accumulate around a couple of films after some big news this weekend. Todd Solondz's Life During Wartime was, strangely, not one of the films sold out by the first morning of ticket sales (though seemingly every other movie had — hell, even Vincere had sold out; strange how a movie top-lined by Paul Reubens is not the popular draw one would hope), but the film seems to be generating renewed interest after picking up the Best Screenplay Award at the Venice Film Festival Saturday.

Two other prominent TIFF movies — John Hillcoat's adaptation of The Road, and Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story — were shut out of the festival jury prizes, even though they had come in with pretty great expectations from their respective studios. As an aside, could the news get any worse for The Road? First it gets pushed back a year, then it gets pushed back again, then it gets pitted against Up in the Air, Ninja Assasin, The Fantastic Mr. Fox and 2012 in an unfavourable American Thanksgiving release schedule, with just a limited, 1,200-screen commitment. It's as though Harvey Weinstein wants us to think it's crap.

Also, the first real pickup of the festival was announced Saturday (thank God; it took them long enough): Czech drama Shameless has been selected for North American release by distributor Menemsha Films. (Director Jan Hrebejk's 200 effort, Divided We Fall, was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.) Otherwise, nothing particularly to report on the purchasing front — as promised, everything's moving more slowly this year.

LARS AND IN CHARGE

So, about that Lars Von Trier "press conference" on Friday. Apparently he doesn't like us. Though Von Trier suffered visible shakes of anxiety throughout the presser, he was cogent enough to get a dig in at North American audiences, after a (relatively) warm reception for his new film Antichrist on Thursday night. "If North Americans liked it," he said wryly, "then I'm not happy." Von Trier dedicated the rest of his presser to suicidal musings, noting that "not being here sounds pretty good right now" when talking about his depression. Nice to hear from you, too.

Otherwise, quite a bit to watch out for early this week. Monday sees the long-anticipated Declaration Group press conference to denounce the Tel Aviv programming; and the final batch of prominent films receive special screenings, including Whip It! and The Invention of Lying. Keep checking in!

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Toronto International Film Festival 2009

The TIFF Tattler: September 12 & 13 weekend edition

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