Gabrille LaBelle, who plays a frantic, very young Lorne Michaels in the SNL ode Saturday Night, told me at the party that he was looking forward to seeing his movie with an audience. “I’m really grateful to be here. I want to see Anora, and I’m excited for Nosferatu,” he said. He’ll have to wait for the latter, which will premiere in December.
Many other stars mingled throughout the evening. Pharrell Williams, Dylan O’Brien, Tony Hale, Anthony Mackie, Dacre Montgomery, Alicia Vikander, Jharrel Jerome, Nathalie Emmanuel, Brett Goldstein, and Gabrielle LaBelle partied alongside Netflix Chairman of Film, Dan Lin and directors Jason Reitman (Saturday Night) and Marie Heller (Nightbitch).
Shahid Khan, the owner of the Four Seasons Toronto, described their relationship to the festival as a “marriage made in heaven”: “Here you have the iconic Canadian brand and TIFF showing Toronto at its finest.” Guests enjoyed the “Rising Star” custom mezcal cocktail as they danced to the beats provided by DJ Natalie Rivera.
The vibe at the party was joyous, as festival attendees compared notes on the films they had seen and the ones they were still to come later in awards. Cameron Bailey, Toronto International Film Festival CEO, stopped by between the Tribute Awards and other premieres at the festival. The event raged past 1 AM, at which time some stars were worrying about their early call times the next day to promote their films.
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