THE PUBLICISTS VIEW OF TIFF

Here's an interesting article about what really goes down at events such as the TIFF... and all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes. It's well worth a read, and one publicist recollects what happened when Cassandra's Dream team rolled into town...

Amid the chaos of budding filmmakers, fussy celebrities and demanding journalists at the Toronto International Film Festival are the publicists: those people who must be able to stand in the storm and make sure that events unfold as they're supposed to. Despite their calm facades, we suspect a few of them might be weeping behind their clipboards.

Ingrid Hamilton got a reminder when she took it upon herself to collect Woody Allen and his entourage from the airport when they presented Cassandra's Dream in 2007.

"He needed a private jet because that was the only way he was going to come in," says Hamilton. "There we were with two cars instead of the three they requested and nobody was coming off the private plane. I'm standing there and waiting and waiting and finally Soon-Yi (Previn, Allen's wife) comes running out and says, `Where is the other car?' I had to explain to her that there was a mix-up and we couldn't get it. She huffed and puffed and went back into the plane."

Eventually, Allen's people did get into the two vehicles. "I thought I'd better not get into one of these cars because I didn't want to offend or upset them,'" says Hamilton. "Then as the cars starting taking off, I realized I didn't want to be stuck at the airport because I had too much to do. Then I ran after the van with the kids and the nannies and jumped in!"

Thankfully, the passengers turned out to be sweet about it. Hamilton was also relieved that Colin Farrell was on his best behaviour when he visited TIFF the same year. Indeed, she was thrilled to break the story of how the Irish actor went on a shopping spree with a local homeless man. "That's the exciting part of the job," she says. "Within 15 minutes, that story went around the world."

To read the full article please click the link below:
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/tiff/article/693028#