The place: Soho House
Not surprisingly, the SoHo was a hotbed for both talent-packed cast parties and late night Grey Goose cocktails on the terrace. We arrived early for the parties for Love & Mercy, the biographical film about Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and for Miss Julie, starring Jessica Chastain, which went down simultaneously. Love and Mercy stars a fresh-looking John Cusack, gorgeous-in-person Elizabeth Banks, and Paul Dano (who was at SoHo with girlfriend Zoe Katan). They were joined on the main level by surprise guest Brian Wilson and his wife Melinda Ledbetter, where they happily posed for pictures and chatted over appetizers. Meanwhile, upstairs, Miss Julie director Liv Ullman and Jessica Chastain attended a decidedly more low-key party, where Chastain spent most of her time in a booth nibbling away on Soho offerings (and yes, it was refreshing to see a Hollywood actress actually eat her food instead of pick at it).
The carpet: blue eOne
We hit the carpet last night, which was filled with some of the country’s most recognizable names like Jason Priestley (he’s everywhere this TIFF), Adam Beach (who told us he’s working on serving the minorities of Hollywood in creating a film system and fund for the indigenous community to create their own work), the cast of Saving Hope, Lyriq Bent, Monika Schnarre, longtime TIFF CEO Piers Handling (who told us that Canadian film Corbo has left the greatest impact so far), the Trailer Park Boys (who naturally hammed it up), and Atom Egoyan, to name a few.
The Film: The Last Five Years
We hit Storys for the official cast party for the film The Last Five Years, where all the buzz and banter was about the film more so than other parties. Starring Anna Kendrick (the teeny tiny star sipped away – aka: didn’t nurse – on a Ketel One cocktail at the bar with a handful of other females before retreating to a corner booth), the film is based on the musical and centres on the relationship of a struggling actress and her writer boyfriend. We chatted with producer Kurt Deutsch, who told us that young professionals will relate to the film if they’ve ever been in love with someone and career issues got in the way. “It’s the love story of a failed relationship between two twenty-somethings, told through song,” he says.
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Images: Shawn Goldberg, tiff.net
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