Imposters get no respect

“We saw the fake Joaquin with his fake entourage and fake security getting kicked out of Varsity by real security,” tweeted @kmacp Friday evening, where Joaquin Phoenix imposter (a.k.a. Diamond Darryl K. a.k.a. Darryl Komaromi) showed up with fake beard as part of his unsolicited effort to promote I’m Still Here, a documentary about actor Joaquin Phoenix’s strange and self-indulgent pursuit of a career in hip-hop.

Komaromi, president of Nuclear Lounge Media, issued a press release on Thursday, Day 1 of TIFF saying someone impersonating the heavily bearded Phoenix was making the rounds at TIFF. More likely, it was Komaromi, rather than an alleged “client” of his, who was the man behind the beard and the lame stunt.

Hours later, Komaromi threw an “exclusive” (and self-congratulatory) Joaquin Phoenix Impostor TIFF party at Rocco’s Plum Tomato, 164 The Queensway.

Bruce DeMara

What time is it?

Festival co-director Cameron Bailey tweets, Friday Sept. 10:

“So do they call you the prime minister of the film festival? -- Will Ferrell to me, deadpan.”

“No, I'm not Security." Second time I've had to say that tonight. Time to go home.”

Bruce DeMara

Absolut party was through the roof

Our intrepid party scribes Rob & Rita ventured to the top of a parkade in the Entertainment District for the Absolut St.Art party, which featured art installations and musical performances from emerging artists.

Le Cirque chef feeds the stars in fine style

If as life wasn’t decadent enough for the scores of movie celebs attending this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, add fine dining to the menu, prepared by Craig Hopson, executive chef of New York’s legendary Le Cirque restaurant in New York City.

The stars of four hot fest flicks, Stone (Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Milla Jovovich), The King’s Speech (Helena Bonham Carter, Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush), Jack Goes Boating (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Ryan) and Canadian filmmaker Bruce McDonald’s latest Trigger – well, come on, they had to have one Canadian film in the culinary mix – (McDonald, Don McKellar, Molly Johnson) will all chow down special meals prepared by Hopson and chef Mike Yakura (Bravo’s Top Chef season 1, 2) as part of LIVEStyle Supper Club’s fourth annual event at TIFF.

De Niro et all chow down Friday night at the Roosevelt Room while the Trigger crew gets well fed Sunday eve. The Windsor Arms will play host to The King’s Speech stars Friday night and the Jack Goes Boating stars Saturday evening.

Oh yes, in case you didn’t know, they’ll be serving Stella Artois, the official beer of TIFF, and cocktails made of various concoctions including Grey Goose, the official vodka.

Bon appétit.

Bruce DeMara

New York haute cuisine brunch coming to TIFF

One of the Big Apple’s hottest French-style bistros is bringing its tres chic et cher version of brunch to TIFF for the first time.

The Roosevelt Room will play host to chef Nicolas Cantrel and the crew from Bistrot Bagatelle for two seatings of brunch on Saturday and Sunday at the super-glam Roosevelt Room at 328 Adelaide St. W., a rock’s throw from TIFF’s new King St. W. HQ.

Bagatelle, located in NYC’s trendified Meat-packing District, has previously served the likes of Sienna Miller, Spike Lee, Alicia Keys, Kanye West, John Legend, Mickey Rourke, Hugh Grant, Hillary Duff, Elle Macpherson, Tyra Banks, Sophia Bush, Derek Jeter, Michael Jordan, Mary-Kate Olsen and others.

A publicist for the event noted Bistrot Bagatelle has a “strict policy” of not identifying celebs until after they’ve eaten and departed.

“I can also assure you that we DO expect some great names to attend,” the publicist noted.

A YouTube video features copious celeb name-dropping, pristine white table cloths and gliding waiters.

And while the menu sounds yummy, the bill could lead to heartburn. The “petit” brunch is $60 and the “grand” version is $115 (which includes a magnum of champers.)

Main course choices include traditional French fare, such as Croque Monsieur (basically, a grilled ham and cheese sandwich) and Croque Madame, (the same with a fried or poached egg on top) or non-traditional, a Bagatelle burger, pancakes or a club sandwich with roast chicken.

Reservations are “strongly suggested.”

Bruce DeMara

Video gamers get in on TIFF

 

The Ubisoft opening bash will feature music by Peaches Geldof. (AP file photo) 

It may seem strange that video-game developer Ubisoft decided to open its local studio with a party on first weekend of the Toronto International Film Festival, but according to Jade Raymond, the studio managing director, it makes perfect sense.

Lured to build in Toronto by a $253-million grant from the Ontario government, the company behind such hits as Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell started the process of setting down roots in Toronto about a year ago, and began moving into their new studio near Bloor and Lansdowne in May. The hold their opening bash on Sunday night, featuring music by Bob Geldof’s daughter Peaches.

Now with 65 employees working in still-being-converted warehouse space, and two games being worked on – one is the next in the Splinter Cell franchise, the other so-far unannounced - Raymond says it’s a good time to open the doors and start building bridges to other entertainment communities.

“There’s a lot of stuff happening right now, but we were always planning on having it around now. It’s been a year since we announced the studio, and we gave ourselves about a year to get up and running,” she says. “It’s a way for us to say we’re here. We’re ready to start discussions with partners ... It’s just kind of a good way to tie in all of the stuff that we’re doing, because on top of it being a milestone, we also announced that we are going to do things that are entertainment-focused, not only games-focused, and kind of leverage all of the entertainment talent here. So TIFF is kind of a good way to make that connection obvious and also invite some of those people from the film industry and some of the people we’re starting to collaborate with there.”

Raymond says that one advantage of coming to Toronto is that the A-list voice talent in many of their games are often recorded in Toronto, so now they’ve got a home base for that. There are plans to build a full motion capture studio within the facility for future game development. As for branching into other entertainment fields, Raymond points out other tie-ins like the Assassin’s Creed: Lineage, a series of live-action shorts film directed by Yves Simoneau.

Raymond is also part of the TIFF Bell Lightbox Media think tank and is talking to TIFF about digital media, and is appearing at an Industry panel on Sunday called Get in the Game: The Worlds of Film and Gaming Collide, along with John Landau, producer of Avatar and Jordan Mechner, the creator of Prince of Persia and others.

“That should be fun. I’ve only met John Landau once, but he’s not like some in the film industry who look down on games,” she says. “It’s a good group. It should be an interesting discussion.”

Raju Mudhar 

The Insider for Sept. 10

Phoning it in, punching a clock, spreading margarine instead of butter, no matter how you say it, the sentiment is the same - Robert DeNiro has not been delivering on his reputation.

Meet the Fockers, Analyze That, Everybody’s Fine…c’mon, this dude’s supposed to be one of the greats.

Well, Star movie dean Peter Howell says Bobby D is back to form in Stone which premieres Friday at 9 p.m. at Elgin Theatre. “He's completely engaged in John Curran's drama, playing a parole officer whose personal foibles are about to haunt him,” Howell said.

Thank goodness, because co-star Edward Norton, who plays a cunning arsonist, replete with tats and cornrows, is no slouch and apparently the fetching Milla Jovovich, playing wife to Norton’s character, is an impressive foil to the fellas. The film also screens on Sept. 11, 2:30 p.m., Varsity Theatre and Sept. 18, 6 p.m., Ryerson Theatre.

Also hitting the red carpet today: father-son acting duo, Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez at 2:45 p.m. for The Way premiere at Winter Garden. Estevez also directed the film about a literal journey that yields self-discovery.

It’s a Biutiful night, says party patroller Rita Zekas. A private soiree for Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, a close pal of newlywed actors Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, is being held at Bistro 990 early enough for all to decamp to the after-party for Bardem's film Biutiful at Soho House Lounge.

And if you are an FOB, friend of Bill Gates – he’s in town to support education doc Waiting for Superman - you can talk technology over drinks at his invite-only bash at Ciao.

Culture vultures will want to flock to Toro Lounge for Caitlin Cronenberg's photo exhibit.

-- Ashante Infantry

The upscale way to down a brew

Everything is more upscale at TIFF, including the way they shotgun beers.

We always thought you just made a quick stab with a stick pen or a key to the bottom of the can, before raising it to your lips, popping the tab and shooting the sweet brewski down the hatch.

Not that we'd know from personal experience - we learned it from Terry and Dean in Fubar and Fubar II, which is premiering at TIFF Thursday night.

In honour of Fubar II, the movie's distributor ,Alliance Films, is handing out a nifty black plastic shotgun keychain device that pairs a can puncher with a fancy beer-tab puller.

Sweet, but does it work on champagne bottles?

-- Linda Barnard

The Insider for Sept. 9

TIFF’s opening night is party central, but unless you know somebody, or know somebody who does, you’ll have to make your own fun.

There are two official events: a 4 p.m. cocktail affair at Spice Route and the Liberty Grand gala in the CNE complex. Both are invite only for industry, press and sponsors.

There’s also a private party at Morton's at 10 p.m. and the Absolut Vodka bash on a parkade rooftop at Bay and Adelaide Sts.-- last year they had it at an abandoned subway station - from 9 p.m. The really hip ticket is the afterparty series at the Spoke Club.

Celebrity hounds can check out the red carpet at the Score: A Hockey Musical premiere at Roy Thomson Hall. The talent will begin arriving at 6:45 p.m. - Michael McGowan (director), Marc Jordan, Noah Reid, Olivia Newton John, Allie MacDonald, Walter Gretzky, Hawksley Workman, Theo Fleury, George Stroumboulopoulos, Evan Solomon, Nelly Furtado, Ron MacLean, Kyoko Ina, Kelly Chase, Shae-Lynn Bourne and Kurt Browning.

Party fiends who don’t like feeling left out should don their chicest gear, gather together and ring in the festival with their own nosh at any bar that will have them, in Yorkville or along King St. W.

Anybody asks, tell ‘em, yes, you’re in town for TIFF.

-- Ashante Infantry