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So after our experience in Heaven’s Screening Room, Clay and I ended up back at the AMC at Yonge and Dundas to figure out our plan of attack. First things first, though. I needed Starbucks.
As I was waiting at the Starbucks for my iced coffee, someone walked up to one of the two guys who were standing right next to me and asked him for his autograph. He signed the guy’s festival catalogue, but I couldn’t really make out the name. I asked Clay, but he didn’t know who the guy was, either. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him — and I figured it would be kinda corny to walk up and ask, “Excuse me…who are you?” So the mystery will remain unsolved.
After I took a few seconds to enjoy my first few sips of coffee, we went upstairs to the food court (which was just outside the theater entrance) to figure out our next steps. Clay had bought tickets for a movie from the Bahamas called Rain, but neither of us knew anything about it. We found some info in the festival dailies, but we still weren’t sold. So I suggested an alternate plan: sell the tickets and walk down to Roy Thompson Hall, where the gala for Rachel Getting Married was about to take place. Then we could see all the craziness of a red carpet.
Though Clay has been to a few galas, he decided that I needed to experience it for myself. So that settled it. We wandered outside to the Rush Line to sell our tickets, and we headed for the carpet. We missed one of our streets, so we ended up walking a bit out of our way to get there, but it was a good day for a walk — and we still managed to make it on time — so it wasn’t a big deal (though I’ll admit that I may have given Clay lots and lots of crap for his inability to read a map).
But then…there it was. The shiny round building, surrounded by anxious crowds. And at that point, I decided it was okay to shut off Business Mode and switch to Crazy Fan Mode. So Clay and I made our way to the end of the line — right where the limos would let people out, at the beginning of the carpet (most of which was inside a big tent-like structure). I positioned myself one place, while Clay chose another. And after a while, I decided to head over to Clay’s chosen area — mostly because I found the two families who had crowded in line in front of me to be a bit…well…nuts. And I feared that a fight might break out if anyone moved into anyone else’s territory. I just didn’t want to be in the middle of that.
For the most part, Rachel Getting Marriedisn’t a huge, star-studded film. And when each new person showed up, there was a bit of a buzz — but nothing too crazy. I just snapped away, hoping that I’d be able to get some good pictures in the mess of blurry pictures of security guards and festival volunteers. But then something bad happened: the low-battery icon on my camera appeared on the screen. Fortunately, though, this is why I was breaking my back to drag my Handy Dandy Bag of Essentials with me. In it, there were two extra AAA batteries (voice recorder) and four extra AAs (camera). Clay held my bag as I frantically dug for batteries — and then as I exchanged the old batteries with the new. But it all worked out well — and I turned my camera back on just in time for the next car to arrive.
And then Anne Hathaway showed up, and the crowd came live. People were screaming at her from the crowd, and she did a great job of playing to it. She spent tons of time smiling for various people with cameras and signing autographs. And then she approached the red carpet, and the strobe light of flashes began. She posed one way, then turned and posed another. Clay said he’s never seen anyone play to the cameras the way she did. She stood there forever, just letting them capture her from every angle — a flawless smile on her face the whole time. And, really, it was amazing to see it all. Sure, it was cool to see Anne Hathaway from 30 feet or so, but it was even more amazing to be there, in the middle of the circus — to watch the photographers and the fans and to see her walk the carpet.
Once the last car had left — and the ticket holders were let in — Clay and I walked around the corner to the subway station and made a quick trip up to the museum, which was just a few blocks away from our next venue. We had tickets for an 8:15 show, and it was only about 6:30 — which gave us plenty of time to have a seat and grab something to eat. Clay chose Lettieri, a cafe where we could get sandwiches and dessert and hang out for a while. Clay swears that if you hang out there long enough, you’ll see someone famous (since it was just blocks away from the Hazelton and the Four Seasons), but we didn’t. Or at least not that we noticed. After all, believe it or not, famous people tend to look a whole lot like normal people when they’re not on the red carpet.
After an incredible dessert, we headed to our next movie — Cold Lunch, a Norwegian film. I didn’t really know anything about the movie, but I tend to love Norwegian movies, so I was excited to see it — but I wasn’t all that impressed. Interesting characters — and it looked good — but I didn’t really connect to it. In fact, it wasn’t until the director got up afterwards for the Q&A that I got the point. And even then, I was still a little shaky. So that was one that, for my $20, was a bit of a disappointment. But it’s always fun when the director is there to sit and chat, so I enjoyed that.
Once the movie was over, I gave Ed a call, and Clay hung out with me as I waited for him to pick me up. We tried to figure out what to do about the coming day’s schedule. We actually had a bit of a dilemma — our rep from back home had supposedly requested a spot at an afternoon screening for us, but we hadn’t gotten confirmation, so we weren’t sure what to do about that. I told Clay that I’d head back to the apartment, take a look at the movies online, and pick something to see.
So after Ed picked me up — and we went out for a round of drinks with his friend, PJ, I got back and checked the schedule. There was one movie playing at the same theater as the screening that we may or may not have been on the list for — called Is There Anybody There?I checked it out and found that it starred Michael Caine and Bill Milner (from Son of Rambow), and I was in. Ed was going to join me, too, so I emailed Clay and asked him to pick up two tickets for us. I figured it was one that would be worth seeing. After all, even if the movie isn’t all that great, Michael Caine pretty much always is — and I love that little kid from Son of Rambow. So I figured it would be worth the $20.
And, after sending off my email, I noticed that it was nearly 3 — so I decided to call it a night.
