Live from Toronto! Shortbus stars Lindsay Beamish and Jay Brannan meet the media at a press conference for their "scandalous" film.
Greetings movie lovers! Starting today (and then whenever I can get him to send in some dishy reports) I'm going to be running reports from guest blogger Lawrence Ferber (who's a gay journalist who's written for just about every homo-flavored publication in existence) from this year's Toronto International Film Festival. Lawrence will be sending in buzz-filled notes about movies he's seen, the mad parties, the gay films and filmmakers making the news, and more!
Here's his first dispatch from up north... Enjoy!
BORAT OFFENDS, SHORTBUS RIDES IT HARD, PEDRO TURNS IT & BRAD PITT STICK IT OUT!
By Lawrence Ferber
While not quite the frenzied (and freeeeeezzzinnnggg!) hootenanny each winter's Sundance Film Festival represents, the Toronto International Film Festival boasts its share of glitzy premieres, celebrities (and a contingent of locals who case out any possible place they might surface), swag, and queerness. Last year, Brokeback Mountain and Capote made big splashes. This year saw the first presence of Queer Lounge, which hosted a queer brunch, panels, and high-profile parties, and the North American premiere of John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus, his eagerly awaited omnisexual ensemble real sex action dramedy (say that five times fast with a bing cherry in your mouth!).
It's director John Cameron Mitchell—at the Intercontinental hotel in between press gigs for his Shortbus film.
Things got off to a kooky start Thursday eve with the premier of the Borat movie, which features the ignorant, boozing, incest-prone (!) Kazakh, Borat—the alter-ego of “Ali G.”’s Sacha Baron Cohen—baiting American rednecks to reveal their most homophobic, bigoted selves. He has no trouble getting a guy at a Virginia rodeo to gleefully confess hopes that America starts hanging its gays. Borat himself (Cohen only appears as the character in public right now) arrived at the red carpet in a wooden cart with peasant women in tow. The film, alas, was cut short after about 20 minutes due to a projector malfunction that even projection expert Michael Moore—who was in the audience—couldn’t fix.
Brad looks good even like this. He's a press conference for his new film Babel.
The celebs kept pouring in—Brad Pitt! Christian Bale! Joan Collins! Russell Crowe!—and popped up at the many Friday night parties. First stop for us: A shindig for the documentary, Summercamp! Which (surprise) follows a gaggle of kids at a summer camp. Taking the film’s theme to heart, the party saw a giant outdoor campfire where folks roasted marshmallows and S’mores while indie darlings The Flaming Lips sang songs that, they promised, wouldn’t mock Jesus. (Not that restraint of Jesus-bashing stopped the Pope, as reported in front-page headlines the following morning, from bashing Canada’s liberal gay-marrying, abortioning ways.)
Bring on the S'mores! The campers party at the Summercamp! bash.
Meanwhile, outside the Chanel store, waiting for Pedro Almodovar and Penelope Cruz to cruise by.
And here they come... Whoosh! Blink and you'll miss 'em!
Then it was on to the two-level Chanel store to celebrate Pedro Almodovar’s Volver. Instead of campers and S’mores, there were flamenco dancers and fancy finger foods. Lots of gay industry folks peppered amongst the cramped masses too, including Outfest’s Stephen Gutwillig and Strand Releasing’s Marcus Hu. When Almodovar and star Penelope Cruz arrived, dashing quickly past fans hoping for an autograph (“Penelope—an autograph please? Waiting two hours in the rain here…” one desperately pleaded to no avail) and directly to the upstairs VIP lounge, the flamenco dancers furiously hopped on to a small stage and stomped away. The movie’s great, by the way.
It ain't over til the flamenco dancer's slapped you in a face with a rose!
Yes, they were in Toronto this weekend as well. They're everywhere! But not always together...
Saturday morning. Queer Brunch at the Church of the Redeemer. As I approached, with TLA Releasing’s Lewis Tice, a somber procession of people poured out. And a coffin. Not the usual brunch spread. Fortunately, the brunch was taking up the Church’s back patio and downstairs, where food and homos awaited. Gay celeb of the moment, Reichen Lehmkuhl, showed up, sans his boy Bass (and reticent to discuss the state of their relationship, I was informed), as did Shortbus’s Bitch and Daniela Sea, filmmaker Q. Allan Brocka (whose animated “Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple In All the World” TV series is currently in production), and Small Town Gay Bar director Malcolm Ingram (Who seemed to be at every single party and gay event I attended. Work it Malcolm!).
Bitchfest! It's singer/performer Bitch and her girlfriend, L-Word star Daniela Sea.
Queer filmmaker Malcolm Ingram. CHEERS!
At the Intercontinental Hotel, amid a hive of celebrities and swag (Overheard: A fellow journalist lamenting, “Christian Bale bailed on me.”), I sat down with the producer of King and the Clown, which has been hailed as the Korean Brokeback Mountain. The film involves an androgynous performer who becomes the object of affection of a crazy-assed king. Like Brokeback Mountain, the film had a huge cultural impact (it's the highest-grossing Korean film in history!), resulting in TV parodies and, echoing the androgynous lead’s looks, a fad called “Pretty Boy Syndrome,” which sees celebs and citizens alike striving for leaps-beyond-meterosexual feminine beauty. And to think all we got was cowboy hats!
The Shortbus cast works the Toronto red carpet! Flash!
Perhaps Shortbus, which revolves around individuals and couples who meet at a New York sex party/salon, will see a boom of the scene it depicts. Its big ol’ festival party/concert, at the Mercury Concert Theater, was pretty bawdy. The drag queen who was emceeing the bash went sans undies (and untucked!), while the other drag queen co-MC pretended to be Kevin Spacey, frequently noting “I’m not gay.” Shortbus stars took to stage to perform songs, including Toronto local hero Sook Yin Lee (who does a show on Canadian radio), PJ DeBoy, Gentleman Reg, and the oh-so-cute Jay Brannan. Other highlights included alt-rockers Kids on TV and nouveau burlesque act The Wau Wau Sisters, who possibly summoned further ire from the Pope with an elaborate striptease act, as a pair of stigmata-bearing Catholic schoolgirls, which climaxed with a crucifixion.
At the Shortbus party, which was packed with downtown NYC party people, the Wau Wau Sisters flanks burlesque goddess Dirty Martini.
Onstage performing at the Shortbus bash: One of the Kids on TV and Gentleman Reg.
But the naughtiest action of the evening surely occurred on the second floor of Remington’s strip club, where a certain gay publicist organized an elite, hush-hush evening of go-go boy debauchery. It was fun watching some of those PR gals and boys get “pitched” something big for once. Publicists gone wild!
Coming later this week: More movie talk, parties, gossip, and homoliciousness!
Until then... Some photos from the red carpet arrivals of For Your Consideration, the latest from the Waiting for Guffman/Best in Show spoof-meisters! This time, they take on Hollywood during awards season.
Parker Posey lookin' good!
Out actress Jane Lynch lookin' good, too!
And who doesn't love big, bold and beauticious Jennifer Coolidge?
PLEASE I LOVE LOGO
Posted by: monica petties | September 13, 2006 at 03:05 PM
I love Parker Posey, she is so pretty :D
Posted by: tower defense | May 11, 2009 at 05:28 AM