Hey folks, Harry here with another pre-report from Anton Sirius, our resident chronicler of the Toronto Groove. He's been supplying himself with a wide assortment of various recording devices from toilet paper to chicken feathers to holo-reactualizers. So stay tuned for more from Mr Sirius...
Greetings, starkinder! The shape of this year's party scene at Toronto is starting to become clear- a lot of old friends, and some people I'd like very much to become new friends, no matter how many martinis I have to pour down their throats. Here's who's here:
The A-List: The Bruce is sweeping into town, as is Le Denzel, Susan (sans Tim), Big Kev (that's Spacey, not Smith- he's been here for weeks, making a nuisance of himself), Danny D, both Fiennes, the (don't say it, don't say it) 'irrepressible' Robin Williams (damn, I couldn't do it), Ethan (sans Uma), Liv, Nick, Sean, Sigourney (I called her Siggy once- she's got a great death stare!), Ed Harris, Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges, Bill Pullman (how'd people with last names get on this list?), and that loose cannon Holly Hunter. She better keep that Nair to herself.
The Undercard: Character actor jackpot! Now THESE people know how to party- Stephen Rea, Ned Beatty, Maury Chaykin, Mary-Louise Parker, Campbell Scott, Albert Finney, Miranda Richardson, David Paymer, Frank Whaley, Sir Derek, Tim Roth, Forest Whitaker, Bob Hoskins, Ray Liotta, Will Hurt, Mary McDonnell, Chris Cooper, Andre Braugher...
The Band: Musical accompanyment won't be provided by these folk. They're ACTORS now- Jewel, Raekwon and Power from Wu-Tang, Harry Connick Jr., and Kris Kristofferson. Elton might sing somewhere, though, and the Barenaked Ladies are here too.
Who Will Be The Belle of the Ball? (Vegas odds):
Sarah Polley 1-1 (Canada's Sweetheart AND here with her directorial debut!)
Natasha Lyonne 3-1 (The new Queen of Indie had two films showing)
Molly Parker 4-1 (also a Canuck, also with a couple of films)
Chloe Sevigny 10-1 (another double dipper)(HARRY NOTE: I soooo love Chloe!)
Pascale Bussieres 40-1 (she's everywhere this year with THREE films, and she's Canadian- well, Quebecois- too! You probably know her best as Camille in When Night Is Falling, or from Twilight of the Ice Nymphs.)
Other Young Scamps: Saffron Burrows, Skeet Ulrich, Gretchen Mol, Taye Diggs, Anna Paquin, Tobey Maguire, Kathleen Robertson, Penelope Cruz, Giovanni Ribisi and Rachel Weisz.
TV People: Jason Alexander, Brooke Shields, Jason Priestly, David Schwimmer. How'd they make the cut?
The Directors: Norman Jewison, Michael Apted, Gregg Araki, Giuseppe Tornatore, Harmony Korine, Wes Craven, Wayne Wang, Alan Rudolph, Ang Lee, Lasse Hallstrom, Paul Schrader, Jim Jarmusch, Steven Soderbergh, Errol Morris, Mike Figgis, Agnieszka Holland, Lawrence Kasdan.
George's Friends: Natalie Portman and Terence Stamp are both here. Wonder if I can get 'em to recreate a scene from TPM? (I was going to do this with Bruce and Toni Collette, but it would have been really boring- just the two of them sitting there. Besides which, Toni ain't here.)
Living Legends: Catherine Deneuve is here. I remember the first time I met her and her sister, in Nice in '62. Of course, neither of us have aged a day. And the whole festival is still in 'hold' mode, hoping Hayao Miyazaki can make it. They've held off MH until the very last day of the fest, just in case.
Is this list complete? Goddess no. But I imagine one or two of these people will ramble drunkenly into my data recorder, so if you've got any questions you'd like to ask any of 'em, as always, send 'em on to robbie_dogstar@yahoo.com
