Jon Hamm, Paul Haggis, Morgan Spurlock and more came out to George Strombo’s Hazelton Hotel fete

Jon Hamm, Paul Haggis, Morgan Spurlock and more came out to George Strombo’s Hazelton Hotel fete

Strombo and Hamm are the best of friends (Image: J.J. Thompson)

The CBC George Stroumboulopoulos Takeover at the Hazelton Hotel is always a mixed bag: big-name celebs mingle with more commonplace TIFF partygoers, like the stars of CBC programming (duh), television hosts and countless gawkers. Last night was more of the same, with Jon Hamm (yes, he’s just as dreamy in real life), Gerard Butler (also hot), directors Paul Haggis and Jason Reitman, Kiefer Sutherland, Rob Lowe, Sloan’s Chris Murphy, director Morgan Spurlock, Traci Melchor, Sarah Slean, Being Erica stars Erin Karpluk and Adam Fergus and Little Mosque on the Prairie’s Zaib Shaikh all stopping in to enjoy the free booze and pre–after party snacks.

The scene was absolute chaos, as looky-loos mobbed the red carpet hoping to get a glimpse of someone—anyone—which led some guests to force their way through the crowd. One guest was pushed among the many gawkers inside, leading him to trip and fall on his face onto a freshly smashed wine glass (yes, blood was everywhere, and no, neither nearby Hamm nor Slean came to his aid). Spurlock hung out on the patio, taking drags from a friend’s second or third bummed cigarette (hey, the dude directed and starred in Super Size Me, so he’s obviously not overly health-conscious), while Hamm held court inside. As Hamm passed us on the patio, the sea of dudes who looked like Entourage extras gave him a round of high-fives. Haggis was cordial, even asking us how we were doing and posing for many rounds of camera-phone pictures. We didn’t pay too much attention to the CanCon types, because we can see them any old time, but as you might expect, Gabrielle Miller from Corner Gas was there, and really, who hasn’t had a Chris Murphy sighting on Queen Street at some point?