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Day 3 of the Toronto Film Festival once again brought all kinds of fascinating adventures — from swanky screenings to celebs on the carpet…
Another fascinating difference between Cleveland and Toronto: In Cleveland, you can (technically, though not necessarily advisedly) see seven movies in one day without a problem. I’ve done five. Yeah, you’re pretty tired by the end of the day (especially when you’re taking notes and trying to remember all of them so you can write about them later), but it’s possible. In Toronto, technically, you can see a bunch of movies in one day (as long as you’re seeing a whole bunch of movies that are showing in the same theater. But, for the most part, seeing two movies can completely wear you out.
I got to a late start on Day 3. After all, I’d been up pretty late (meaning: after 2) on Friday night, following Ed’s big concert. So I decided to sleep in on Saturday. I was determined to get at least seven hours of sleep for once, so I chose to skip the 9 a.m. movie. Instead, I got up, did some work, and had a nice big, breakfast with Ed before he drove me off to my first screening of the day.
Before I left, I announced that I was doing something that I never do: I was going to wear jeans to a movie. When I started going to screenings, I just decided that it would be more professional if I refrained from wearing jeans to screenings. And I’ve done so ever since. But since this was the film festival, I decided to break the rules and put on some jeans. I didn’t have any interviews or anything — just one screening and another couple of movies that I was paying to see — so I figured I deserved jeans. And, as I later discovered, it was the one day when I really should have worn something other than jeans.
The first stop of the day was a screening of The Duchesswith Keira Knightley. Instead of showing at one of the main theaters, it was playing at the Hazelton Hotel. I knew nothing about the hotel (nor did Ed), so we Mapquested it before heading out the door. Even after we made it to the general vicinity, we didn’t really know where it was, so Ed dropped me off and the Four Seasons, which was somewhere nearby, and I took off on foot to find it.
I almost missed the hotel — because it was pretty much hidden down a side street. But then I noticed the awning…and the ropes…and the two men standing by the door…and I knew I’d made it. I wandered up to one of the men at the door — the one with the list — and gave him my name. Fortunately, I was actually on the list, so he let me in.
Inside, I met the Paramount Vantage rep, who once again checked my name off on a list. She told me that there was a screening of Burn After Reading still going on, but if I’d take a seat, someone would be there to take me to the screening room soon. So I took a seat on a big modern couch and pretended to look over my notes from my other screenings. Mostly, though, I was checking out my surroundings and mentally kicking myself for choosing today to wear jeans. Here I was, settled in one of the nicest hotels in the city, and I was wearing jeans. Idiot.
Just then, I heard a familiar voice outside, followed by a familiar laugh. John and Clay had arrived. They chatted with the men at the door for a while before finally making it inside. They joined me on the couch and told me all about their morning screening — and about showing up at the hotel early and being sent away because the man at the door didn’t have the list yet. They also told me that the men at the door were sworn to secrecy as to which celebrities were staying there.
We waited patiently until someone came to take us to the screening room (apparently, you need a special key to get there). We took the elevator down and where met by the Paramount Vantage rep, who checked us off the list for the third time before directing us to bottled water and the screening room. What we found through those doors was my dream come true — the most beautiful screening room I’ve ever had the privilege of sitting in. It was filled with rows of big, plush leather couches, divided into seats with big, plush leather armrests. And each seat had its own back pillow. John took pictures (but you can see pictures of the room on the hotel’s site). It was amazing — and I can only imagine who once sat in the seat that I settled into (though I do know for a fact that Roger Ebert was in the room on Friday afternoon — or at least he was on the list I got).
The beautifully posh room was perfectly suited for the movie. Knightley is gorgeous as the Duchess of Devonshire, and the story may have even gotten me a bit choked up in the end. I enjoyed it so much, in fact, that I may just have to catch it again when it screens back in Columbus. I almost didn’t want it to end — for two reasons: first, because I was enjoying it so much, and, second, because I really didn’t want to leave the screening room. I actually considered refusing to leave my seat and begging them to let me stay and watch whatever was showing all day, but I decided to be the professional that I am and move on. Reluctantly.
So when it was over, we got back on the elevator and made our way back through the lobby. The doorman opened the door for us to make our grand entrance out onto the street — and grand it was. Because the street was lined with people, coffees and cameras in hand, all waiting to see Somebody come out of that door. Unfortunately, that Somebody wasn’t me. And, also unfortunately, I wasn’t aware that my exit would be witnessed by so many onlookers. If I had, I would have made the most of it.
After the screening, we rushed back down to Yonge and Dundas, where John had tickets for a 4:00 movie. Funny story, that. Clay and I had both had Richard Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles on our list, and John decided to go along. But during their 6:30 trip to get tickets, they ended up in different lines. And when John got to the box office, there were only two tickets left. So he took one, leaving the two of us who had actually wanted to see the movie without tickets. So as John rushed in to see his movie, Clay and I headed to the theater to decide what to do next…
