Film Fest, signing, celebs, etc.
It was quite the day yesterday. First, we headed out to Bakka Books for the Toronto launch of Tesseracts 13. That was fun. 9 contributors, myself included, showed up. Bakka sold quite a few copies, I think. The turnout was good. Here's a group shot of the contributors. I'm far right.
We had film festival tickets to see The Disappearance of Alice Creed, but we had time to kill, so grabbed some dinner at a cool micro-brewery. After dinner we still had time, but headed to the theatre anyway. There was a crush of people. Screening was Jason Reitman's latest, Up in the Air, starring George Clooney. That explained the throngs of young girls. Plus, we'd heard Oprah Winfrey was also inside watching the film. That explained the security.
Carolyn, not averse to trying to weasel an autograph, sidled up to the barricade and waited. As did I. I'd nothing better to do. Though, at one point, I left to get coffee. We sort of got penned in with all these other people. After the film Clooney and Oprah came out. Carolyn slid in there and got an autograph from Clooney. He signed for a few minutes. Then Oprah quickly passed by. I think Clooney was a decoy. I managed to grab a few shots by holding the camera up high and shooting down. The old Hail Mary shot. Tate Donovan, also in the film, signed as well. Pictorial evidence.
Oprah
George grimaces
Oprah sneaks past George
The throng awaits
Tate Donovan
Before we headed to the theatre, I grabbed this shot of a Zombie kid. Romero's latest flick was screening and the city was chock-full of Zombies. More so than usual.
Mmmm ... flesh.
The film itself, The Disappearance of Alice Creed, was terrific. It was the world premiere, and everyone in the audience really seemed to like the film. It is a tightly crafted thriller by first-time director J. Blakeson.
The first 10 minutes are quite harrowing. 2 men abduct a woman, tie her to a bed, strip her, and take photos for a ransom demand. I was really worried it was going to be cheap torture porn. But, really, after the first 10 minutes, it's the antithesis of that. The movie really twists and swings. Incredibly, there are only 3 cast members in the whole thing: Gemma Arterton, Martin Compston, and Eddie Marsan. They were, frankly, all brilliant. Especially Marsan, who plays Vic. I think there could be some award recognition for him. The movie was tense, dark, humourous and quite engaging. Highly recommended.
Afterwards, there was a Q&A with the director and 2 male leads. Then, later, we saw them outside the theatre and I got the director, J. Blakeson, and Martin Compston, who played Danny, to sign my ticket stub.
Martin Compston and Eddie Marsan
On Friday, Carolyn went to the festival with our daughter. They saw Creation, with Jennifer Connolly and Paul Bettany, and also Perrier's Bounty, with Cillian Murphy and Brendan Gleason. They liked both films, but especially Creation, which they said was quite moving.
Brendan Gleason and Cillian Murphy
Cillian Murphy
We had film festival tickets to see The Disappearance of Alice Creed, but we had time to kill, so grabbed some dinner at a cool micro-brewery. After dinner we still had time, but headed to the theatre anyway. There was a crush of people. Screening was Jason Reitman's latest, Up in the Air, starring George Clooney. That explained the throngs of young girls. Plus, we'd heard Oprah Winfrey was also inside watching the film. That explained the security.
Carolyn, not averse to trying to weasel an autograph, sidled up to the barricade and waited. As did I. I'd nothing better to do. Though, at one point, I left to get coffee. We sort of got penned in with all these other people. After the film Clooney and Oprah came out. Carolyn slid in there and got an autograph from Clooney. He signed for a few minutes. Then Oprah quickly passed by. I think Clooney was a decoy. I managed to grab a few shots by holding the camera up high and shooting down. The old Hail Mary shot. Tate Donovan, also in the film, signed as well. Pictorial evidence.
Oprah
George grimaces
Oprah sneaks past George
The throng awaits
Tate Donovan
Before we headed to the theatre, I grabbed this shot of a Zombie kid. Romero's latest flick was screening and the city was chock-full of Zombies. More so than usual.
Mmmm ... flesh.
The film itself, The Disappearance of Alice Creed, was terrific. It was the world premiere, and everyone in the audience really seemed to like the film. It is a tightly crafted thriller by first-time director J. Blakeson.
The first 10 minutes are quite harrowing. 2 men abduct a woman, tie her to a bed, strip her, and take photos for a ransom demand. I was really worried it was going to be cheap torture porn. But, really, after the first 10 minutes, it's the antithesis of that. The movie really twists and swings. Incredibly, there are only 3 cast members in the whole thing: Gemma Arterton, Martin Compston, and Eddie Marsan. They were, frankly, all brilliant. Especially Marsan, who plays Vic. I think there could be some award recognition for him. The movie was tense, dark, humourous and quite engaging. Highly recommended.
Afterwards, there was a Q&A with the director and 2 male leads. Then, later, we saw them outside the theatre and I got the director, J. Blakeson, and Martin Compston, who played Danny, to sign my ticket stub.
Martin Compston and Eddie Marsan
On Friday, Carolyn went to the festival with our daughter. They saw Creation, with Jennifer Connolly and Paul Bettany, and also Perrier's Bounty, with Cillian Murphy and Brendan Gleason. They liked both films, but especially Creation, which they said was quite moving.
Brendan Gleason and Cillian Murphy
Cillian Murphy