TIFF ‘08 off the red carpet

Most Popular OFF The Red Carpet celebrity and movie reports this week on tiff.shovine.com

Posted by ShoVine editor - 19/09/08 at 05:09:40 pm

Most popular reports this week on www.tiff.shovine.com

By a long mile our most popular report on tiff.shovine this week was our BEST & WORST Autograph Signers List from the 2008 Toronto Festival. Tens of thousands of you checked in to view the list and for that we say a big thank you. It was amazing to see the story spread to over 50 blogs, then sourced into stories on major online news portals, into the British tabloids, and finally back into a major Canadian daily.

other popular reports on the vine this week…

–> Lindsay Lohan arrives at the Festival to party, not act.
–> Director Steven Soderbergh talks mobile movie making and the director that inspires him.
–> Sean Penn smoking rules in effect - Viggo Mortensen avoids hefty fine.
–> Paris Hilton blows… off the press line.
–> uncontrolled fandemonium at Jennifer Aniston premiere.
–> Matt Damon rescues girl from the crush of fans at oneXone gala.
–> The Hotness that is Rachel McAdams.

Ricky Gervais GHOST TOWN opens today after 2008 TIFF premiere - can Ricky avoid the Rainn Wilson box OFFICE curse?

Posted by ShoVine editor - 19/09/08 at 08:09:17 am

All round nice guy Ricky Gervais stars in the romantic comedy Ghost Town which recently had a premiere at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival and now opens in theatres this weekend. Gervais found small screen success with the original British The Office and the equally brilliant Extras. We think Ricky’s unique talents are probably better suited at mocking Hollywood cinema than trying to pull off some. (see Extras - season 1 - episode 2 - Ben Stiller for what Gervais does best.)

But we know success on the big screen is an entirely different game. The last time a popular television Office star was trusted to open a picture - the box office results were disastrous. Let’s hope the same fate does not await Ricky.

photo: Ricky Gervais and girlfriend Jane Fallon lunch in Toronto during the 2008 Film Festival. (photo by Todd Gillis/KEYSTONE Canada)

photo: Ricky Gervais outside the TIFF ‘08 press conference for Ghost Town. (photo by tiff.shovine.com)

TIFF ‘05 Flashback - Director TIM Burton and JOHNNY Depp arrive for Corpse Bride press conference - Burton forgets how to spell his name?

Posted by ShoVine editor - 19/09/08 at 02:09:14 am

video: Director Tim Burton and Corpse Bride star Johnny Depp arrive for TIFF ‘05 press conference. While it was calm for Depp’s arrival - the scene would change when Johnny exited the press conference an hour later.

More Than A Game - LEBRON James documentary first runner-up for People’s Choice Award at 2008 Toronto Film Festival - Hollywood calling Lebron next?

Posted by ShoVine editor - 19/09/08 at 01:09:11 am

While Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” has emerged as the buzzed about film of the Toronto festival - capturing the Cadillac People’s Choice Award. The Lebron James documentary, More Than A Game is quietly getting rave reviews and took home the first runner-up spot to Boyle’s film for the People’s Choice Award. We heard from more than a few people that the big guy himself, Lebron James, was in tears at the screening by the end of the doc.

photo: Basketball star Lebron James attends the TIFF ‘08 premiere of More Than A Game at Ryerson Theatre.

Director SPIKE LEE sparing again - First CLINT Eastwood now JUDD Apatow?

Posted by ShoVine editor - 18/09/08 at 09:09:09 am

Director Spike Lee has been holding interviews this week for his upcoming war epic, Miracle at St. Anna. Spike was at the Toronto Film Festival last week promoting the movie and a certain Presidential candidate. Seems a few journalists were digging at Lee this week to see if he would come up with another provocative response. This time, it seemed Lee had something to say about Judd Apatow?

photo: Spike Lee leaves the TIFF ‘08 press conference for Miracle at St. Anna.

The HOTNESS that is CAROLINE Dhavernas - outside Passchendaele press conference in Toronto - IS Dad coming to the rescue of cultural cutbacks in Canada?

Posted by ShoVine editor - 17/09/08 at 10:09:22 pm

Caroline Dhavernas is a rising Canadian television and motion picture star. She co-stars with Paul Gross in the recently TIFF premiered war movie Passchendaele and has also been in Fox TV’s Wonderfalls and movies like Surviving My Mother and Hollywoodland. But Canadian government cutbacks to the arts community has got people screaming mad. Caroline’s father Sébastien Dhavernas is going one step further and actually running for government in the upcoming election to help stem the tide of cultural cutbacks. Funding cuts or not - we would bet daddy’s little girl won’t have much trouble finding work.

PHOTO SHOT WITH A QUIK POD: Caroline Dhavernas outside the TIFF ‘08 press conference for the Paul Gross directed Passchendaele.

photo: Caroline Dhavernas outside the TIFF ‘08 press conference for the Paul Gross directed Passchendaele.

Flip Video: JEFF Goldblum attends 2008 TIFF premiere for ADAM Resurrected at Isabel Bader theatre - greets fans and ECO protester?

Posted by ShoVine editor - 17/09/08 at 05:09:29 pm

SHOT ON FLIP VIDEO: Jeff Goldblum attends the 2008 Toronto Film Festival premiere for Adam Resurrected at Isabel Bader theatre. Jeff greets fans and the tradition of protesters at TIFF ‘08 continues with some funny dude and his eco cause at the end of the video.

Flip Video: Shooting celebrity sightings at 2008 Toronto Film Festival - thoughts about the video camera

Posted by ShoVine editor - 17/09/08 at 03:09:54 pm

Now that the 2008 Toronto Film Festival has wrapped for another year - we can take a minute to reflect upon the week that was. ShoVine.com was given a Flip Video camera to try out for the week and see how it fits into our celebrity reporting.

We have to admit on first inspection as we opened the pretty packaged box - we didn’t think much of the Flip. It’s when we started using it - we quickly became impressed with the results. The video quality is what you would expect - standard compressed video you would get from a point-and-shoot digital camera. It’s ease of use and audio quality is where the Flip Video camera begins to really shine. The Flip was just so easy to switch on and begin recording - we could actually take still pictures in one hand - and use the Flip in another. The quality of the audio it recorded also deserves mention - much better than you would expect from a small recording device. The Flip managed to pick up clean dialogue even when the subject was ten feet away. We should also mention one last thing about the Flip - it is an obviously sturdy little device. On two occasions shooting TIFF in crazy mob scenes - the flip video camera went flying out of our hands and crashing to the ground (our fault, as we should have used a wrist strap - which is provided in the box) But we can honestly say, save for a few scratches, our Flip Video continued to record and perform perfectly. ShoVine will certainly be looking to make more Flip Video cameras a standard piece of equipment with contributing reporters.

The HOTNESS that is RACHEL McAdams - Toronto 2008 THE LUCKY ONES premiere

Posted by ShoVine editor - 16/09/08 at 11:09:29 pm

One of our favorite OFF the red carpet photographers is Christian and we wanted to feature more of his works. Christian was getting a great spot at most Toronto Film Festival galas and firing some really beautiful frames. You can check out more of Christians TIFF photography at his flickr stream.

photo: Rachel McAdams on arrival at 2008 TIFF premiere for The Lucky Ones

photo: Rachel McAdams on arrival at 2008 TIFF premiere for The Lucky Ones

PARIS, not FRANCE - Hilton an icon for a new media generation?

Posted by ShoVine editor - 16/09/08 at 03:09:25 pm

Having PARIS Hilton at the Toronto Film Festival this year deserves another mention. If anything, you cannot escape a certain irony in the Toronto Festival questioning different notions of celebrity, with the selection and premiering of the documentary Paris, Not France - but still making sure TIFF rides the wave of publicity that Hilton brings to the machine. Hilton is already being credited for bringing some badly needed buzz to the festival this year.

Ghita Loebenstein expands on that in a good piece for the official TIFF news daily, Pedro and Paris: The Power of Celebrity. Loebenstein got some good new media food for thought out of the Hilton documentary director - Adria Petty (Tom’s daughter, no shit.)

” What intrigues me the most about her is how mysterious she is and what an incredible relationship she has with the camera,” says Petty, speaking from Los Angeles. “She has this incredible resilience and a kind of magic to her.”

Five years ago, few people would have associated the name “Paris” with anything but the city. Today, however, Hilton enjoys a unique kind of celebrity. “Paris is an icon for this generation, based on the dawn of a new media age. She was the first celebrity created through the “viral-ness” of the Internet. She stoked that engine so effortlessly and spoke the language of this new media so well.”
- Pedro and Paris: The Power of Celebrity

TIFF ‘05 Flashback: JOHNNY Depp proves why he is the Toronto Film Festival’s best autograph signer and nicest guy

Posted by ShoVine editor - 16/09/08 at 02:09:24 am

In continuing the spirit of our very popular BEST & WORST autograph signers list from TIFF ‘08 - we premiere video of one celebrity who is known to be among the best when it comes to signing autographs and greeting fans - Mr. Johnny Depp from the 2005 Toronto Film Festival.

video: TIFF ‘05 Flashback. JOHNNY Depp exits the 2005 Toronto Film Festival press conference for Corpse Bride and signs autographs and greets the many fans out to meet him.

The BEST & WORST Celebrity autograph signers of the 2008 Toronto Film Festival - Best BENICIO Del Toro - Worst JIMMY Page

Posted by ShoVine editor - 15/09/08 at 01:09:38 am

Celebrity autographs and Film Festivals go together like peanut butter and jam. ShoVine cameras certainly captured enough people collecting signatures throughout the festival. We wanted to know from the people who care… Who were the BEST and WORST celebrity autograph signers during the 2008 Toronto Film Festival?

photo credit: www.tiff.shovine.com

So we did some polling. From fans, film festival volunteers, official (and non-official) celebrity photographers, and most importantly the personal and professional autograph collectors who run tirelessly after film festival stars. By collective opinion tiff.shovine.com presents…

THE BEST & WORST Celebrity Autograph Signers during the 2008 Toronto Film Festival

THE BEST:
1. BENICIO DEL TORO - The Che star was almost everywhere during his few days in Toronto - late nights and early mornings. But Del Toro never refused to sign. When one autograph collector mentioned that Benicio did 21 photos in a row at one stop for him - he was crowned our TIFF ‘08 signing champ.
2. VIGGO MORTENSEN - Viggo does have a dislike for the professional autograph guys and the blue pens. But we can’t deny this guy goes out of his way to please his fans and sign lots of autographs.
3. ROSE McGOWAN - Star in pop art stuff for Tarantino and the upcoming comic adaptation Red Sonja and your sure to be chased hard for autographs. And Rose certainly was. But McGowan did not disappoint and signed anything and everything put in front of her.
4. GERARD BUTLER - The 300 star was a man-about-town during the Toronto festival attending many premieres and parties. Gerard was always willing to sign and pose for picture with fans (and he was asked. A LOT.)
5. KATE BECKINSALE - The BEST list continues to be filled with BRITS. And KATE was more than willing to sign autographs at most occasions she was stopped. And Beckinsale certainly looked beautiful in the process.
6. JIM STURGESS - The white-hot British actor is riding the success of 21 and Across the Universe and could not have been more like the regular guy out and about in Toronto during the Festival. Jim never refused an autograph or photo request from fans and collectors. A true gentleman.
7. DAKOTA FANNING - Dakota is only 15 but already a festival veteran when it comes to Toronto with many appearances here over the years. While the requests for her autograph can be a bit much at times - Dakota always seemed willing to sign - even when the powers around her have had enough.
8. ZAC EFRON - Another white-hot actor fresh from the High School Musical phenomenon that was surprisingly very good when it came to autograph requests. Zac signed up a storm at his premiere.

HONOURABLE MENTION (BEST) - TIM ROBBINS, MATT DAMON, ANTON YELCHIN
BIGGEST SURPRISE (BEST) - ED NORTON

THE WORST:
1. JIMMY PAGE - Disappointing for many, considering Page was the one autograph everybody wanted. Jimmy was at least nice and did explain to collectors - from the moment he landed in Toronto that he “was not doing the autograph thing anymore. Kind of finished with that.” For his three days in Toronto - he basically stuck to his word and signed nothing. At least, almost nothing.
2. KEVIN ZEGERS - Kevin did sign a little here and there. But it was his curt, rude remark, “I’m not here for autographs” to some waiting fans that zoomed Zegers to #2 on our worst signers list.
3. THE EDGE - A little surprising considering The Edge is generally known to willingly sign autographs for fans when on tour with U2. But on this occasion at the Toronto Film Festival, The Edge was following Jimmy Page’s lead and signing nothing.
4. JESSICA BIEL - She seemed to make herself available enough to the paparazzi as Biel would regurarly walk on popular Toronto streets during the festival. But ask Biel to sign an autograph? and you will get no response back (and no autograph.)
5. JENNIFER ANISTON - Aniston did scribble a few signatures for the cameras at her TIFF premiere - but in any other circumstance fans or collectors saw Jennifer in during her few days in Toronto, she just would not touch pen to paper (or photo.)
6. QUEEN LATIFAH - As the Queen migrates fully from music star to movie star - Latifah has also slowly moved from the Best signers list to the worst. She was terrible about signing autographs in Toronto. Just would not do it.
7. ALAN ALDA - No real surprise here. According to long-time autograph collectors, Alda has been a tough signature for years. Even with two movies in the Toronto Festival and numerous opportunities to ask Alda - he would just give the same reply, “no thanks.”
8. JOHN MALKOVICH - Just look at his performances on the screen. Are you really surprised to hear that Mr. Malkovich is not a nice man and refuses to sign for the collectors? Con Air? In the Line of Fire?

HONOURABLE MENTION (WORST) - KIERA KNIGHTLEY, RENEE ZELLWEGER, BRAD PITT
BIGGEST SURPRISE (WORST) - PARIS HILTON

photos: BEST & WORST autograph signers list taken during the 2008 Toronto Film Festival (photo credit: www.tiff.shovine.com)

other popular reports on the vine this week…

–> Lindsay Lohan arrives at the Festival to party, not act.
–> Director Steven Soderbergh talks mobile movie making and the director that inspires him.
–> Sean Penn smoking rules in effect - Viggo Mortensen avoids hefty fine.
–> Paris Hilton blows… off the press line.
–> uncontrolled fandemonium at Jennifer Aniston premiere.
–> Matt Damon rescues girl from the crush of fans at oneXone gala.
–> The Hotness that is Rachel McAdams.

LINDSAY Lohan arrives at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival for PARTY not acting at ULTRA Supper Club

Posted by ShoVine editor - 13/09/08 at 07:09:25 pm

photo: Lindsay Lohan arrives at a September, 2008 Toronto Film Festival party at Ultra Supper Club.

for the best shots of Lindsay Lohan and Sam Ronson at Ultra Supper Club in Toronto visit TheHollywoodMinute.com

TIFF ‘05 Flashback - CLAIRE Danes takes dog for walk during 2005 Toronto Film Festival

Posted by ShoVine editor - 13/09/08 at 06:09:42 pm

video: CLAIRE Danes takes her dog for a walk along the busy Cumberland Ave. in Toronto during the 2005 Film Festival.

Claire Danes returned to the Toronto Film Festival during 2008 for the premiere of Me and Orson Welles.

MATT Damon talking movies and PRESIDENT SARAH Palin during the 2008 Toronto Film Festival

Posted by ShoVine editor - 13/09/08 at 03:09:28 pm

” I really need to know if she thinks dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago… I want to know that. I really do, because she’s going to have the nuclear codes. ”
- MATT DAMON

photo: Matt Damon takes time for fans outside a 2008 Toronto Film Festival premiere. The next night, Damon would have some interesting words with a reporter regarding the U.S. Presidential race.

NO BLUE Sharpie Markers! VIGGO Mortensen prefers to autograph for fans in Black pen

Posted by ShoVine editor - 13/09/08 at 01:09:30 pm

Viggo Mortensen is one of the nicer celebrities we have seen with fans. But he could live without the people who get his autograph and sell it. Viggo, like a growing list of celebrities, is starting to associate the professional autograph collector with the BLUE pen. For that reason alone, Mortensen will rarely use that colour. During the 2008 Toronto Film Festival - Viggo would always look for the Black Sharpie and stick with it.

photo: Viggo Mortensen arrives for the 2008 Toronto press conference for GOOD

photo: Viggo Mortensen autographs (in black pen only!) outside his Toronto 2008 press conference for GOOD

photo: Viggo Mortensen autographs (in black pen only!) outside his Toronto 2008 press conference for GOOD

Flip Video: Oscar buzz for Mickey ROURKE? The Wrestler star leaves Toronto Film Festival audiences buzzing

Posted by ShoVine editor - 13/09/08 at 11:09:17 am

SHOT ON SHOVINE FLIP VIDEO: Mickey Rourke exits the 2008 Toronto Film Festival premiere of The Wrestler. The first reviews are in, and as one guy says in the video, “Mickey, your going to win an Oscar.” From here, the buzz has spread.

The HOTNESS that is KATE Beckinsale outside 2008 Toronto pc for Nothing But The Truth - Is she a GREAT KATE?

Posted by ShoVine editor - 13/09/08 at 08:09:47 am

The cast and director of the recently premiered Nothing But The Truth are heaping praise on their star - KATE Beckinsale. Kate certainly won over audiences in Toronto. But will she one day be considered among the great Kates?

“She’s one of the great Kates you know, along with Winslet and Blanchett, and now here with Kate Beckinsale. She’s brilliant.” - ROD LURIE

photo: Kate Beckinsale outside the 2008 Toronto Film Festival press conference for NOTHING But The Truth

photo: Kate Beckinsale outside the 2008 Toronto Film Festival press conference for NOTHING But The Truth

photo: Kate Beckinsale outside the 2008 Toronto Film Festival press conference for NOTHING But The Truth

RACHEL McAdams and EVIL Tim Robbins premiere Toronto Film Festival THE LUCKY ONES at RTH Gala

Posted by ShoVine editor - 12/09/08 at 07:09:42 pm

photo: Rachel McAdams signs autographs for fans at the 2008 TIFF gala premiere of THE LUCKY ONES at Royal Thomson Hall in Toronto.

photo: Rachel McAdams signs autographs for fans at the 2008 TIFF gala premiere of THE LUCKY ONES at Royal Thomson Hall in Toronto.

photo: Tim Robbins has that look of EVIL as he greets fans at the 2008 TIFF gala premiere of THE LUCKY ONES at Royal Thomson Hall in Toronto.

TIFF ‘07 Flashback - JENNIFER Garner and ELLEN Page exit Toronto Film Festival pc for JUNO - nobody knew who Ellen was?

Posted by ShoVine editor - 12/09/08 at 06:09:02 pm

video: Jennifer Garner and Ellen Page exit the TIFF 2007 press conference for JUNO

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