TIFF 2016: When the stars get star-struck

By Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian Press

TORONTO – The Toronto International Film Festival kicks off Thursday and will no doubt see thousands of screaming star-watchers getting worked up into a frenzy on the red carpet-lined streets.

But did you know celebrities get star-struck too?

The Canadian Press spoke with industry movers and shakers, including two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis, about their memorable star encounters.

“The first time I met Dustin Hoffman I was stumbling,” says Haggis, a native of London, Ont., who will hold his annual Haiti benefit — the Bovet 1822 Artists for Peace and Justice 2016 Festival Fair — on Sept. 11, during TIFF.

“And the first time I met Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg, I was calling them ‘Mr. Eastwood’ and ‘Mr. Spielberg’ and really annoying them.

“I’m often star-struck, still,” he adds. “Helen Mirren, I introduced myself to her in Santa Monica in the line of a coffee shop. She was standing in front of me to get coffee and I couldn’t stop myself, I admired her so much, and she was so kind. Now she’s a personal friend … but at the time the urge was like: ‘Uh, excuse me, you’re brilliant.’

“Anthony Hopkins, I did it exactly the same way. He was in Santa Monica, minding his own business, having his breakfast, and I had to go over and tell him what a genius he was and then felt like a fool, of course.”

Oscar winner Brigitte Berman — who’s at TIFF this year with the doc “The River of My Dreams: A Portrait of Gordon Pinsent” — recalls seeing her hero, Federico Fellini, walk past her after the Academy Awards.

“The person who inspired me with all his films, there he was right in front of me and I thought, ‘Am I going to go up to him and tell him?’ and then I thought, ‘No, I’m not. I am just going to treasure this moment that I am very close to somebody who was part of my growing up, part of my learning about filmmaking, and I’m going to respect it.'”

Molly McGlynn, director of this year’s TIFF short “3-Way (Not Calling),” was star-struck by Bill Murray when she worked at TIFF in the publicity department.

“He had a fishing vest on and his hair was all over the place and he said, ‘Do you have any Advil?’ and I said, ‘Sure,'” she recalls.

“I gave my bottle and he just pocketed it. I was like, ‘That’s my Advil,’ and he was like, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ and I was like, ‘Touche, enjoy your festival.'”

For director Ann Marie Fleming, who is bringing her animated film “Window Horses” to TIFF, it was Robert Redford who rendered her nearly speechless when he walked into a room she was in.

“I shook his hand and he said, ‘Hi, I’m Robert Redford,’ and I just looked at him and I said, ‘I know! Like, I know!'” she says.

“I wanted to say something about, ‘Thank you for all the work you’ve done for independent cinema, not just as an actor, as a producer at Sundance.’ I wanted to say all this stuff but I just said, ‘Come in!'”

TIFF director/CEO Piers Handling and artistic director Cameron Bailey were both in awe of the same person: director Jean-Luc Godard.

“He was the most important filmmaker and had a huge impact on the direction of my own personal life and my career,” says Handling. “So when I met him, that was an extraordinary moment.”

Bailey says Godard is responsible for him “making the turn from literature to film in university.”

“I made the idiotic mistake of trying to speak to him in French and I was just totally tongue-tied,” he says with a laugh. “He was just staring at me and then I just kind of cut it short and got out of there.”

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