Looper
In the futuristic action thriller Looper, time travel will be invented – but it will be illegal and only available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past, where a “looper” – a hired gun, like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) – is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good… until the day the mob decides to “close the loop,” sending back Joe’s future self (Bruce Willis) for assassination. Also starring Emily Blunt, Paul Dano and Jeff Daniels.
For the first time since 2001, the splashy opening party for the Toronto International Film Festival is moving downtown. The star-studded bash, which follows the Sept. 6 world premiere screening of Looper at Roy Thomson Hall, will take place at Maple Leaf Square at the Air Canada Centre.
“It’s a hop, skip and a jump” from the film fest’s heart at the TIFF Bell Lightbox at King and John Sts. and the Gala screening at Roy Thomson Hall, said Barbara Hershenhorn, president of Party Barbara Co. and organizer of the opening bash, among other TIFF soirees.
An estimated 3,000 invited guests will mingle among Maple Leaf Square’s restaurants, including the 25,000-square-foot Real Sports Bar & Grill, which has room for 1,000 guests and features 199 high-def TV screens, plus e11even with its private patio. Other outdoor spaces around the complex at York St. and Bremner Blvd. will also welcome TIFF guests.
Hershenhorn said she’s hoping for a clear, warm fall night — no rain, please — as Rian Johnson’s time-travel thriller Looper, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt and Bruce Willis, kicks off the 11-day festival, which wraps up Sept. 16.
The huge TIFF opening event has been held at the Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex at Exhibition Place since 2001 and Hershenhorn says shifting the post-opening party closer to downtown will make it an easier destination for festival partiers to reach.
As with last year, the pre-opening Gala cocktail party, also organized by Hershenhorn’s company, will be at The Ritz-Carlton on Wellington St. W.
In past years, the opening party was considered an event that could be skipped. Out-of-town buyers, distributors and festival insiders often arrived in Toronto the following day for the star-packed first weekend of the fest.
But last year upped the ante when TIFF decided to ditch the conventional opening feature — usually a Canadian title — for Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim’s From The Sky Down, a documentary about U2, arguably the world’s biggest rock band. Suddenly the TIFF opening night party was a hot ticket.
Now the action comes closer to the heart of the city with Hollywood stars in tow, including Gordon-Levitt, who is fresh from his role in The Dark Knight Rises and whose bike messenger thriller Premium Rush opens Friday.
It’s the first time Maple Leaf Square, which opened last year, has been part of TIFF. Work crews have been busy sprucing up outdoor spaces, which Hershenhorn says will be ready to welcome partiers.
“We’re playing on the theme of Looper, which takes place in several different locations within Shanghai, France and Kansas,” Hershenhorn explained. “The food will relate back to those locations.”
The party will flow around the entire entertainment complex with three deejays, two live performances and full use of outdoor video screens to entertain the opening-night crowd, said Hershenhorn. “Maple Leaf Square allows us to take a large space that is composed of multiple facilities and create a different vibe in each location on the site,” she added.
And because you can’t start party planning too early, Maple Leaf Square was also announced as host of the opening night party for TIFF 2013.
Cameron Bailey, artistic director of TIFF, said the festival is thrilled to be partnering with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment for the bash. “Looper is a hip, stylized time-travel action film and we couldn’t think of a better party venue that will support this film and set the tone perfectly.”
For more information go to mapleleafsquare.com or tiff.net.
Meanwhile, a handful of IATSE union members held an information picket outside Deluxe Entertainment Services Group on Adelaide St. E. Monday to protest TIFF’s decision to contract out film revision work to Deluxe.
Jim Brett, president of local 58 of IATSE, said members do work for both the film festival and the TIFF Bell Lightbox to ensure films are properly packaged, organized and ready to be screened.
Brett said TIFF has said “they don’t have the equipment or technology to deal,” with digital movie exhibition, which has all but taken over from film in recent years.
Jennifer Bell, TIFF vice-president, communications and content management said she had no comment about the picket but confirmed: “Deluxe is performing specialized work for us which we need done for the festival.”
“I can also confirm that IATSE has filed a grievance relating to this work and we are in the process of scheduling a hearing in the next few months. We believe that this is the appropriate forum for resolving any disagreements,” she said. Today at TIFF (Thursday, Sept. 6): American Beauty table read, Looper gala and more
Our daily roundup of opening galas, parties, screenings and more.
• 6 p.m. Jason Reitman’s live read of American Beauty at Ryerson Theatre
• 6 p.m. Rust and Bone cast dinner at Michael’s
• 8 p.m. Looper gala presentation at Roy Thomson Hall
• 9 p.m. On the Road special presentation at Ryerson Theatre
• 9:30 p.m. Rust and Bone special presentation at the Elgin Theatre
• 11 p.m. Looper official cast party at Lot 580
• 11 p.m. On the Road party at Patria
• 11:30 p.m. Looper party at Soho House
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