Today was a long, slow day but in the end, it was all worth it!
After finishing work and rushing downtown, I met up with my friends and we went to the Princess of Wales Theatre to check out the premiere for The Place Beyond the Pines starring Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, Bradley Cooper, and Ray Liotta. It was absolute mayhem. There was a massive crowd of people in front of the theatre and across the street and it grew exponentially by the minute. The bad (annoying) thing with crowds is that when people see other people waiting outside of a venue, they will wait too, even though they probably have no idea what the f- is going on. This is bad for me because it's another body or 50 that is between me and the red carpet. Right when we arrived at the theatre, Bradley Cooper had just made his way onto the red carpet. People pushed. Fans screamed. The crowd got back under control. Close to 30 mins later, Eva Mendes finally arrived at the red carpet. People pushed. Fans screamed. The crowd got back under control. Then, Ryan Gosling arrived. People pushed. Fans screamed. The crowd waiting across the street from the theatre ran ONTO King Street and rushed the red carpet, with everyone trying to get a shot of Gosling with their cell phones. Crazy!
Crowd on King St.
After the film ended, we went to the cast after party at Ame on Mercer. Ryan Gosling arrived first and apologized that he couldn't take photos with fans outside, he had to get his mom into the venue. How sweet! It would've been sweeter if he had taken a photo with me. I do have 3 other photos with him so it's not a terrible loss. He did offer to sign the Drive soundtrack vinyl I was holding for my friend, which was nice.
Ryan Gosling at Ame
After I got the autograph, I spotted Bradley Cooper walking towards the door and got him to pose for a quick photo. It would've been a great photo had I not zoomed the camera in (I was taking a pic of Gosling posing on the red carpet). Note to self: always undo the zoom! The same thing happened to me years ago with Jude Law.
Bradley Cooper, zoomed (oops)
Next, Eva Mendes' car pulled up. She got out of the car and posed for a few fan photos, including one while holding a fan's baby. She signed some autographs too but she wouldn't do the sexy photos.
Eva Mendes
Celeb Spotting Tip: If you only want to catch a glimpse of a celeb, go to their film's premiere. If you want to meet a celeb and get an autograph or take a photo with them, try finding out where the film's after party is. There are usually less people and the celeb (and their security team) is generally more accommodating.
I left soon after that to meet up with my friend Al, who had given me a very important tip earlier.
As you may know, Johnny Depp was my #1 target this year, above every other celeb here for TIFF. He is also in my Top 5 list of celebs to meet in my lifetime. As much as I wanted to meet him, so does EVERYONE else. I had heard that Johnny is very nice, if you can get up to him. This was my chance to possibly get him in a low-key situation (i.e. not outside a film premiere, and with minimal other people) which would give me the greatest chance of getting a photo with him.
I had gotten a call with info that Johnny would be flying in on a private plane soon. One of the real pros in the autograph business, Bryan, had gotten this exclusive info and allowed me to tag along because he needed a girl in his crew to attract Johnny's attention. Johnny's SU drives out of the terminal and we are lined up along the side of the road holding huge movie posters and pink neon signs that say WM3, in reference to West of Memphis, the film Johnny has come to support at TIFF. As the car drives towards us, the window is rolled down and Johnny frickin Depp is sitting there smiling at us! The SUV stops and we all run over to the window. I am standing 2 cm from him and at that moment, I'm in complete disbelief that this massive celeb is gracious enough to stop his car for a few fans. Everyone gets their posters/photos signed and then we take turns taking a photo with him (I was the first!) All in all, we probably spent 5 mins with him, which was apparently a long time because his bodyguard usually cuts things off pretty quick. We were so lucky!
Johnny Depp!!!
Check out Bryan's website (
www.thesignaturelibrary.com) and you will see why all the autograph hounds refer to him as "The Captain." I definitely owe him big time!
- S
