Ethan Hawke makes a quick appearance at the Woman in the Fifth party, but Dave Matthews sticks around

Ethan Hawke makes a quick appearance at the Woman in the Fifth party, but Dave Matthews sticks around

David Rocco and Ethan Hawke (Image: Oscar Mach/Photagonist.ca)

It’s day four of TIFF and events are slowing down (okay, maybe we’re just slowing down), but we managed to make it out to the Roosevelt Room to catch Ethan Hawke, Colin Farrell and director Pawel Pawlikowski at the party for The Woman in the Fifth. We were informed that the film’s other lead, Kristin Scott Thomas, wouldn’t be attending since she’s apparently in South America, but another unpredictable star sighting made up for her absence: festival socialite extraordinaire Dave Matthews stopped by the party, having attended the screening earlier in the day, and he had only good things to say about the film and his time at TIFF (he’s a producer for the film).

Hawke declined interviews, posing briefly for photos outside and seeming to leave as quickly as he came, but Matthews took a minute to praise the film to waiting press. Clearly a big fan of Pawlikowski’s work, Matthews said he’s seen the film several times but enjoyed viewing it on the big screen (again, he produced it), also mentioning The Ides of March as a festival favourite so far. Matthews made clear that he’s enjoying the festival but said he’s glad he’s “not involved in the economic side of the film business” (dear Dave, you co-founded a movie production company, and unless you’re financing that with college rock ballads, economics are at play). It seems Matthews may be enjoying the perks of festival going, since he scooted inside to get some “hair of the dog” as he described it and proceeded to take advantage of the open bar.

Roosevelt Room’s lounge ambiance may have been in contrast with the art-house sensibilities of the film the party was celebrating (so we’re told) but sponsors SmartWater and Virgin Mobile certainly threw a good fete. There were non-stop drinks and guilt-inducing trays of goodies circulating—on offer were to-die-for shrimp spring rolls, cod cakes, beef crostini and mouth-watering custard tarts that it took all our will power to stay away from. It seems everyone was having a good time, but once we noticed the dance floor starting to fill up with sequins and stilettos-in-hand over-indulgers, we knew it was time to bow out for the night.