As anyone who went into Toronto between September 10-20 will tell you, TIFF is the place to be for celebrity stalking…uhhh I meant gazing… yeah… “gazing”
For those who don’t know what TIFF is, it stands for the Toronto International Film Festival and it takes place on King St. in Toronto every year. It’s main purpose is to premier a bunch of different films, ranging from dramas to comedies to actions to horror and beyond. That also means it’s a wonderful place to see your favourite celebrities who are starring in one or more of the films being premiered. That is, if you have the patience to wait for up to ten hours in a line in order to be at the front and actually catch a glimpse of said celebrity that you wanted to see.
A few of the great films that premiered there this year included Black Mass (Johnny Depp, Kevin Bacon, Benedict Cumberbatch); The Martian (Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristin Wiig): and Spotlight (Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Stanley Gucci). Each film has a red carpet with all the celebrities and media covering the event starting about an hour and a bit before the film begins.
There are a few options when it comes to TIFF. You can buy a ticket to any of the movies and actually go see the film itself. Or, you can do what my dad and I do every year, and GO Train into Toronto for one fun-filled afternoon of trying to run to as many red carpets as we can, without having to wait in lines for hours, and try to see how many celebrities we can spot. Usually, we just end up running around like crazy people and see either no one or just a not-so well-known minor celeb. However, we lucked out this time after seeing a random pileup of people in one alleyway. In going up to ask them who they were waiting for, we figured out it was none other than Kate Winslet (Titanic, Divergent, Finding Neverland, etc.)! However, she seemed to feel her phone was more important than her fans, which is totally understandable… you know… whatever (cue the annoyed, sad face). And while my wonderful photo does not seem to want to upload, come find me if you want proof because I swear we were only about 2m from her!
So, if you’re a celeb stalker, looking for some famous prey, TIFF is your place to be! Sadly you’ll have to wait until next September, but that just gives you time to start planning your attack.