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Tuesday, September 11, 2007
At the Toronto fest: To be or not to be Jerry Springer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Toronto - I’ve covered film festivals at Sundance, in Seattle, certainly in Atlanta and once stood on the main drag in Dahlonega talking to John Waters before that North Georgia town’s film event made its move to Rome.
But Monday at the Toronto International Film Festival was the first time I’ve ever been followed two or more blocks of a big city by a drunken vagrant who thought I was Jerry Springer and that my reporter’s notebook sticking out of my back pocket was to be used exclusively to obtain cherished celebrity autographs.
The vagrant talked incessantly. I said nothing, not even a word to advise my newfound buddy that I don’t ask for celebrity autographs.
But I shouldn’[t complain. Celebrities are often everywhere at film festivals - yes, Robert Redford showed up on the streets of Park City, Utah, at Sundance when I was there; so did Kiss singer Gene Simmons. So why should it surprise anyone that someone with hazy vision thinks they’ve spotted Springer. But could I not have at least been mistaken for Donald Sutherland?
I came to Toronto to see Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter and hear them talk about their new documentary “Man From Plains.”
And I feel better now, because before the only other president I’d been able to see up close and personal was Richard Nixon.
You know who’s fun to meet? Brad Garrett, Dennis Hopper, Molly Shannon, George Clooney and Fernando “City of God” Meirelles.
By the way, I sat in a Four Seasons Hotel hallway here on Sunday and watched silently as Brad Pitt, and later Tilda Swinton, walked by.
They probably thought I was some drunken vagrant.
Have you had encounters with the famous? If not, who would you most like to see or meet?
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