Where There's a Fest There's a Party … and Lookalikes

The operators of a Toronto website that create spoof movie trailers arranged a major hoax at the gala Opening Night of the Toronto Film Festival for the screening of Denys Arcand's crowd pleaser Stardom. The company filled the crowd with fake movie stars, clad them in black suits and dark sunglasses, and had them crash the red carpet amidst the shouts of "fans" planted in the audience. The "stars" waved at the crowd, signed autographs and were even interviewed on camera. When it was discovered that the "stars" did not have tickets, they reacted the way a real star would, by throwing a temper tantrum and shouting at underlings who were apparently not aware of how important the "stars" were.

The scheme was the brainchild of Albert Nerenberg, vice president of trailervision.com. Nerenberg explained the prank to Reuters News Agency, explaining that "we wanted to make a statement about celebrity and stardom, and make fun of the puffery of the whole Festival scene". From the amount of publicity the elaborate prank generated in the local and international press, Nerenberg and his "stars" got their fifteen minutes of fame and then some. In a smiliar spirit, at the VIP press screening for Best in Show dogs (like the ones in the movie) were in attendance to dazzle the TV press, but later it was revealed that they were not the critters from the film but just some lookalikes.

This afternoon, thousands of fest-goers gathered at the 13th annual barbecue held at the Canadian Film Center, which is held every year by Norman Jewison. This year's event was well-worth the 20 minute taxi trek. Food tents were everywhere, and despite the event's popularity, food was plentiful. Models covered in gold lamme with angel wings (essentially golden Cupids) sashayed before the crowd sporting thousands of dollars worth of fashion. In the patrons' tent, guests were treated to Calvin Klein perfume and free-flowing Veuve Cliquot champagne. Festival director Piers Handling was on hand to discuss a proposal to combine the arts in Toronto into one collaborative.

As for the festival, the scene is unfolding at the Four Seasons Hotel and The Park Hyatt - two hotels across the street from each other. Pity the poor journalists who forget a badge but hope to enter one of these festival fiefdoms -security has been apt to pounce on anyone without a badge. Today was a madhouse, with journalists clamoring to get last-minute interviews before the stars leave, which for many is early this week, as press junkets finished this weekend.

Tonight the party season continues in earnest, with a cocktail for Greenfingers and the Trimark party for Attraction on many agendas. Greenfingers is getting extra buzz thanks to lead actor Clive Owen, whose performance is supposedly so good that press are begging to interview him without ever seeing the film. Premiering tonight is Francois Ozon's new film Under the Sand. The cast are in town, although Ozon is back in France making another movie. The infamous Jeff Dowd - the inspiration for the title character in The Big Lebowski is in Toronto repping The Truth about Telly, which played at LA and has good word of mouth so far. Dowd has yet another role in Toronto: he is the subject of a forthcoming documentary -- proving once again that you never know who is a star and who just looks like one at festivals like Toronto.

Sandy Mandelberger and Kathleen McInnis