Canada overload at the TIFF official opening party
Remember the Canadian content of the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Olympics? That was nothing compared to the scene at the Liberty Grand last night as a who’s who of this country’s power Gentiles (it was Rosh Hashanah) met to rub elbows and try to come up with something nice to say about Score: A Hockey Musical.
Think of a Canadian television show and, chances are, the cast was there. Come to think of it, the whole shebang was like a CBC cocktail party: Erin Karpluk and Adam Fergus from Being Erica, contestants from the upcoming season of Battle of the Blades, Ron MacLean from Hockey Night in Canada, the fire-breathing entrepreneurs from Dragons’ Den, and Strombo. Supermodel Monica Schnarre, as Citytv’s TIFF correspondent, distracted many people from those actually walking the red carpet, including, we hear, David Schwimmer, Morgan Spurlock and Emily Haines.
Of course, this being the official party right after Score: A Hockey Musical, the entire cast was there. They were whisked directly from the red carpet to a private second-floor VIP suite, although we did get a good look at Allie MacDonald in her blue Greta Constantine dress paired with the million-dollar 75-carat necklace of rough-cut Ontario diamonds (a Birks rep shadowed her every move).
The Canadianness was almost too much to handle. The main reception room contained a giant ice sculpture of a hockey rink, and the food included miniature smoked-meat sandwiches and tiny boxes of poutine. On the red carpet out front, almost everyone affiliated with the CBC shook photographers’ hands and asked if they were OK, because it was a chilly night that was compounded by a misty rain shower. Only in Canada would stars be concerned with the welfare of the paps.
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