TIFF Red Carpet: Brad Pitt heads a parade of hunks at the 12 Years a Slave presentation

TIFF Red Carpet: Brad Pitt heads a parade of hunks at the 12 Years a Slave presentation

TIFF Red Carpet: 12 Years A SlaveLast night, Brad Pitt made up for keeping fans guessing whether he’d show at the TIFF red carpet for 12 Years a Slave. When the actor emerged from his car, shorn clean of the grizzly, silvering beard he sports in the film, he walked the entire block opposite the Princess of Wales Theatre, signing autographs and taking pictures before his handlers finally had to peel him away. (Fellow castmember Michael Fassbender shot down the carpet—perhaps hoping to avoid teasing about his bump-and-grind dance moves at Soho House the night before?)

Director Steve McQueen, leading man Chiwetel Ejiofor and actors Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Sarah Paulson, Paul Giamatti and Lupita Nyong’o were all also on hand to bask in the Oscar speculation surrounding the film, which is based on the true story of a free-born black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Cumberbatch—an early contender for this year’s man-about-TIFF—raved about the reception the movie and he himself have received in Toronto. A return visit, the charmer suggested, would suit him just fine. Us, too.