The Jesus in the City Parade was mentioned at a TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) Press Conference in Downtown Toronto on Saturday, September 8, 2012 (in NOW Toronto Report)
Complete Story here: http://www.nowtoronto.com/guides/tiff/2012/story.cfm?content=188501
TIFF INTERVIEW: SUBMITTING TO THE MASTER
By Radheyan Simonpillai (NOW Toronto)
Paul Thomas Anderson's epic new film touches down at TIFF - but Joaquin Phoenix is a no-show at press conference.
While waiting for the talent to arrive at the TIFF press conference for The Master, the room full of journalists is buzzing about what was going on at the Venice Film Festival. Just two hours before, conflicting reports were announcing that Paul Thomas Anderson's masterful follow-up to There Will Be Blood was winning every award and none at the Lido.
Apparently the Venice jury headed by Michael Mann wanted to award The Master the Golden Lion (their best film prize); the Silver Lion (best director), and the Volpi Cups (Best Actor) for both Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix.
Hoffman plays a 50s-era religious cult leader who preaches about time-travel, and Phoenix his unstable pupil. Since festival rules limit the amount of major awards one film can win, the Golden Lion (Best Picture, remember) was instead awarded to Kim-Ki Duk's Pieta.
Why the Venice jury would re-assign their top prize from their clear favourite as opposed to one of the secondary prizes was wrangling the press. We can only imagine that it was perplexing the talent behind The Master as well. Maybe that's why the conference was delayed half an hour, so that Paul Thomas Anderson could take a moment to figure out exactly what trophies would decorate his mantle.
Oscar charmer Harvey Weinstein himself finally appeared onstage to our surprise, apologizing for the delay and blaming it on traffic caused by the "Jesus in the City parade."
He may have been joking but there was something quite fitting about the idea that the promotion of his company's movie about a rabid religion was hampered by Christians bent on "shutting down the city" (their words not mine, jesusinthecity.com).
When Anderson finally appeared onstage alongside Amy Adams and producer JoAnne Sellar, he didn't seem to mind at all about the short-change at that other festival.
Complete Story here: http://www.nowtoronto.com/guides/tiff/2012/story.cfm?content=188501
