Entertainment

Toronto: Films, Buzz, Stars

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

September 15, 2000 / 11:12 AM EDT / CBS

Some of Hollywood's biggest stars headed north of the border this week for the 25th anniversary of the Toronto Film Festival, the largest of its kind in North America.

In the past, films such as Chariots of Fire, American Beauty and The Princess Bride were launched at the Toronto Film Festival and went on to huge critical and commercial success. This year, reports CBS News Early Show Contributor Laurie Hibberd, everyone from Richard Gere to Gwyneth Paltrow brought their films to Canada, hoping for similar results.

Sarah Jessica Parker was there to support the premiere of State and Main, which will open in theaters at the end of the year. (The star of Sex and the City claimed that she'll "never feel like a movie star" but at the Toronto Film Festival, she was treated like a movie czar.)

Some of the films generating a lot of "buzz" were:

Billy Elliot -- the festival's hottest ticket; more than 100 people were turned away from one of its screenings.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, directed by Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility and The Ice Storm.) Many people predict it'll get a Best Picture nomination, even though it's a Chinese film.
Princess and the Warrior by the director of Run Lola, Run
Before Night Falls directed by Julian Schnabel.

Thirteen-year-old Jamie Bell, who makes his film debut in Billy Elliot, said when he was making the film he didn't think it would be any good.

"I thought it's OK. It's just another British film that won't do very well." But to Bell's surprise, "Everyone seems to like it. And we're all really pleased."

People also had good things to say about director Stephen Frears, who was honored with a tribute at the festival for a career that includes such films as My Beautiful Laundrette and The Grifters.

Actor John Cusack praised Frears, saying, "A lot of people think they are 'actor's directors.' And they are really not. Stephen actually really is."

But Frears joked self-deprecatingly about the tribute: "It means I'm very old. After this, I go straight to the grave."

Another well-respected director, Robert Altman, was at the festival for his new film, Dr. T And The Women. Farrah Fawcett said she was "blessed" to work on the film, calling it "one of the best experiences of my life."