What went down at TIFF’s Variety cover party with Channing Tatum

Variety throws film festivals’ most exclusive parties with the biggest names, and Friday’s Toronto edition made good on the tradition, with A-listers including the magazine’s guests of honour and cover stars Channing Tatum and director Derek Cianfrance as well as Barbie Ferreira, Arian Moayed and Lena Góra in attendance.

Held at Petros82, an upscale Greek restaurant that has been rebranded as RBC House for the duration of the festival, the two-hour event felt like a TGIF cocktail-hour prelude to the big dinners and after-hours ragers of the festival’s first Friday. Channing Tatum, who has had a streak of monochrome brown ’fits during the fest, rolled in sporting a chocolate turtleneck and matching hazel pleated pants alongside Roofman director and screenwriter Derek Cianfrance. They were chaperoned through the loungey space full of stargazers and taken swiftly to a roped-off VIP zone with ice buckets, flutes and bottle service accoutrements laid out in abundance.

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Later, Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh gave brief remarks about the magazine—the only formal moment of the evening—calling its TIFF issue and cover one of the year’s most coveted. Then Cianfrance and Tatum took turns giving brief remarks about Toronto and the world premiere of Roofman, which stars Tatum as the lovable real-life robber Jeffrey Manchester, who secretly lived in the walls of a Toys “R” Us. It’s there that he falls for Leigh (played by Kirsten Dunst), an employee who doesn’t know he’s hiding out in her workplace.

From the trailer, the film reads like a breezy rom-com. But Cianfrance may have given us a bait and switch. His cinematic gift is capturing candid intimacy pitted against the stark real-world pressures of class and fatherhood (see: Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines), so while giggles are guaranteed, they’ll probably come with a sobering tear. With the gravitas Tatum displayed in his role, his recent TIFF Tribute Performer Award and the strong premiere reaction, the Magic Mike hunk can just about smell an Oscar nomination for best actor. Plus, Roofman looks like a strong contender for TIFF’s People’s Choice Award, which historically has led to a best picture nomination at the Oscars.

In his short speech, Cianfrance joked about how hard it was working with Tatum but ended on a high note, saying he finds the warmest audiences in Toronto. This is his fourth visit to TIFF; his first was for the Canadian premiere of Blue Valentine, which screened 15 years ago. Afterward, Tatum spoke about how shooting Roofman transformed him spiritually and how happy he is being back in the city—one of his last professional visits to Toronto was over a decade ago for the premiere of Foxcatcher. Inka Williams, Tatum’s girlfriend, led him by the hand back to their security-detailed area shortly after.

Mingling was back on for the rest of us. Mile End Kicks stars Barbie Ferreira and Devon Bostick popped in for a quick look, Succession’s Arian Moayed came by touting a bright-yellow tote reading Martyr! (the name of the novel whose audiobook he narrated) and Lena Góra—the up-and-coming co-star to Charli XCX in Erupcja—bounced around the room playing social butterfly. Surprisingly, no one from Roofman’s core cast—Kirsten Dunst, Peter Dinklage, LaKeith Stanfield and Ben Mendelsohn—attended, even though Dunst has been spotted around town.

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At the end of the event, RBC House emptied on cue and guests dispersed into the night like a puff of glitter, heading toward the next starry party, luxe dinner, deal-making meeting or late-night screening.