Crossing paths with JLo and Renée-ssance
There is Chris Evans in a white polo shirt, flexing his arms, as he texts furiously in a corner.
There is Renée Zellweger giving the cold shoulder — literally — in a sexy askew jacket that is part Flashdance, part executive vice-president of a Russian bot operation.
There is Jennifer Lopez, a sea literally parting for her, as she arrives in a slinky, sequined, lipstick number, and then a whole new wave of people surges toward her and around her, like she’s one of those stars who actually causes weather.
Saturday night at the Toronto International Film Festival crested, unsurprisingly, with the annual Hollywood Foreign Press Association party, now in cahoots with the Hollywood Reporter magazine, and back this year at the Four Seasons with its usual uptown pizzazz. It was sponsored by Dior.
And talk about cross-currents. Case study: Dakota Johnson, who was not only seen catching up with her Shades- y co-star Jamie Dornan at the high-energy, post-10p.m. fete, but then was seen posing sweetly with her dad Don Johnson at one point during the night, and then again with her ex-stepdad Antonio Banderas. (Both men were once married to her mom, Melanie Griffith, and all three now — Dakota, Don, Antonio — had different premieres in Toronto.) Call it TIFF degrees of separation.
Check: Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort bopping along to the music, in another case of ex-co-stars being reunited. And in a whole other category, we clocked that both Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart were there, but did not appear to collide. (You try going to “work parties” with your ex.)
There was Adam Driver talking to Allison Janney. And Nicole Kidman talking to one of the hot directors of the moment: Bong Joon-ho from South Korea. And Eddie Murphy was in the house.
With the wick on the Fest candle still burning hard after a few days, this also proved to be a great place to catch the buzz. Both Hustlers and Knives Out, which had premiered that night, seemed to be earning goodwill, both for different reasons: the first, because it is a bawdy, witty, all-in ensemble with the best genuine character turn by JLo since Out of Sight (this I keep hearing over and over again), and the other for being a perfectly perverse, masterfully executed whodunnit, led by Daniel Craig. Ditto: the other premiere of the night, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, which has the kind of enthusiasm summed up by one L.A. agent-type who told me: “We knew Tom Hanks was going to be good as Mr. Rogers. But did we know he would be this good?”
Speaking of buzzzzzzzzz, my favourite moment at the party when came when I caught up with Zellweger, who has been getting all kinds of pre-TIFFpremiere praise for her turn as one of the most famous performers of all-time in Judy. Indeed, I had a chance to use the term “Renée-ssance” to her face — a term that, when one starts using it, one really cannot stop. The actress seemed to enjoy it. “I love it,” she laughed. Perched on her knees on a sofa in a corner of the room, as she turned around to talk me from the back, we went on to discuss the evolution of fandom — particularly gay fandom — when it comes to Judy Garland, and how the hope is that the biopic will help cause a whole new generation to rediscover her.
She was lovely. Just. And when the friend I was with interjected to say that he was turning 50 — much like Renée did recently — and how she was an inspiration to him, she fist-bumped him! Really. Renée-ssance. Renée-ssance. Renée-ssance. Meanwhile ... Doing just as well in the celebrity wattage department that same night? The second annual Chanel dinner, hosted in conjunction with Variety, and held in support of female filmmakers.
Positioned at the very continental La Banane, off the beaten path on Ossington — a whole restaurant takeover — it was a dinner that brought out Kerry Washington, Kidman, Priyanka Chopra, Cynthia Erivo, Janney, Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Stewart, Dornan, Woodley, Julie Delpy, etc., etc. When I walked in, I really did not quite know quite which direction to look.
The menu was tops, too. A flurry of mains like Eurobass En Croûte, dry-aged rib steak, charred broccolini, and shrimp cocktail, all paired with, among other offerings, a 2010 Chateau Rauzan-Ségla Margaux (the Bordeaux winery which happens to share the same owners as Chanel).