Behind the barricade: meet eight TIFF celebrity hunters
Behind the barricade: meet eight TIFF celebrity hunters
Behind the barricades of the TIFF red carpets are hundreds of fans, autograph collectors and amateur photographers waiting—sometimes for hours—to see celebrities. A star’s arrival sets off a cacophony of screams and flashes. We’ve always wondered who these people are, so we chatted up a few of them to find out what gets them so riled up at the film festival. Meet eight TIFF celebrity hunters in our slide show below.
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- Fans get close to Eva Mendes and Sam Worthington at Sunday's premiere of <em>Last Night.</em>
- Behind the Barricades
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- My sister has always encouraged me to volunteer at TIFF, but my friend really wanted to see a movie, and I really wanted to see it, too. We saw a bunch of celebrities, and I’ve been doing it for eight days. I’ve waited 15 hours to see celebs this week; maybe more. I come to see the ones whose movies I really enjoy, but there’s just something about seeing them in person; it’s different.
- Shaunna McCarthy
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- Sarah: We came to see the celebrities, but we missed Ryan Reynolds.<br /> Erin: We've been waiting for six hours. Keira Knightley was supposed to be here, but she’s not coming tonight; she’s filming <em>Pirates of the Caribbean</em> or something.<br /> Sarah: Well, today has been a lot of fun. It’s nice because you just sit around with a bunch of people who are all here for the same reason.
- Sarah Gilbin, Erin Mcmanus and Basia lozowik
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Erin: We’ve been waiting for six hours. Keira Knightley was supposed to be here, but she’s not coming tonight; she’s filming Pirates of the Caribbean or something.
Sarah: Well, today has been a lot of fun. It’s nice because you just sit around with a bunch of people who are all here for the same reason.
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- I’ve been doing TIFF since 2002 to see the celebrities and meet my friend who comes from Japan. This year, I was waiting for Helen Mirren’s premiere at the Elgin Theatre and went to the washroom at St. Mike’s Hospital. The automatic door smacked me in the head, and my eyebrow ring got stuck in my face. They wanted to keep me for two hours in emergency, but I told them, “Sorry, you have to do this as soon as possible because I’m not missing Helen Mirren and Nicole Kidman for stitches.” They got me out in half an hour. I didn’t get any autographs that night.
- Johnny Guida
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- This is my first TIFF. I’m from Niagara Falls, and I left at five o’clock this morning to come here. I want to see James Franco, Robert De Niro, Elisabeth Shue and Eva Mendes. I collect pictures of celebrities, and then I scrapbook them. If I have an autograph with the picture, I put it beside it in the scrapbook.
- Veronica Jennings
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- Last year, I saw a bunch of good movies and had a really good time, so my dad brought me back this year. We’re from Atlanta. I’m looking forward to seeing Keira Knightley and Eva Mendes. My friends think it’s pretty cool when I come home with pictures and autographs of people they see in movies. I guess it’s kind of bragging rights.
- Parker Bergsagel
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- I was interested in doing some freelance work sometime in the future and wanted to have pictures of the famous for my portfolio. I don’t even know why I come down here. At the very basic level, I just want to see some people: Megan Fox, Blake Lively, Michael C. Hall and Rachel Blanchard, because I met her when she was young.
- Steve Murakami
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Behind the barricades of the TIFF red carpets are hundreds of fans, autograph collectors and amateur photographers waiting—sometimes for hours—to see celebrities. A star’s arrival sets off a cacophony of screams and flashes. We’ve always wondered who these people are, so we chatted up a few of them to find out what gets them so riled up at the film festival. Meet eight TIFF celebrity hunters in our slide show below.
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