Made In Hollywood

The Toronto International Film Festival was established in 1976, and after twenty years of effort, it has developed into an annual event with a participation of 400,000 people.

In recent years, the transaction volume of the Toronto Film Festival has almost caught up with Cannes, and the number of moviegoers is nearly comparable to the Berlin Film Festival. Especially in the minds of North American audiences, it is considered the world's number one international film festival—while the Oscars are recognized as the Hollywood event—Cannes and other festivals are left behind. Films that are popular at the festival always attract the attention of the entire North American market.

At the same time, it is widely recognized as the most useful and active film festival in the industry.

"Useful and active" refers not only to its market vibrancy, being a huge marketplace with massive film transactions, but also to its organizational approach and positioning. It doesn't have a jury but instead relies on the audience's votes to select the "People's Choice Award."

Thus, the most important part of the Toronto Film Festival is the screening. Over ten days, more than 300 films will be shown. Just printing out the schedule requires 200 pages, which can be overwhelming for anyone attending the festival. Even if they stay up late and wake up early, they can only watch about one-tenth of the films, making it necessary to plan and make choices carefully.

The screenings are divided into two categories: one for the media and industry professionals, who can attend with credentials and usually have seats available, primarily focused on how to sell film rights; and the other for the public, where audiences buy tickets to attend, with media and industry professionals also participating but having to queue like everyone else.

Since Chicago will not sell its rights, it is shown only in the public screenings.

At this festival, while it seems that all films have equal opportunity to be shown, the reality is different.

There is no main competition, so there are no star-studded red carpets, and the media's promotional role is significantly reduced. With so many films participating, and limited energy, how do audiences choose which film to watch?

Therefore, among the long list of films being shown, movies by famous directors and starring popular actors are the most attractive to the audience.

Undoubtedly, the names "Duke" and "Tom Cruise" are irresistible draws.

The first screening of Chicago was scheduled for the second night of the festival, at 7 PM. Around 6:30 PM, Tom Cruise had his assistant check the theater, and they found hundreds of people waiting outside, including spectators and journalists from all over the world. Despite their eager anticipation, they ultimately couldn't get in because the theater was already full by just after 6 PM.

Never doubt the passion of the film festival audience—Duke and Tom Cruise's first collaboration was enough to create a sensational impact.

At the Toronto Film Festival, there is a somewhat bad habit among the audience. In past festivals, there have been many debut films and experimental works from certain directors, and regardless of whether the film is exciting or not, the audience will give it extremely enthusiastic applause, often lasting for several tens of seconds.

So, when Chicago finished its screening, over a thousand people stood and applauded in the second-largest cinema in Toronto. Duke and the other members of the crew weren't too concerned, even though similar applause was given to experimental films from Iran or South Korea.

Duke stood up to applaud as well. Looking around, the audience was mostly middle-aged and elderly people, which is a hallmark of the Toronto Film Festival, earning it the nickname "the festival for middle-aged and elderly people."

Why is it that the film chosen by the audience at the Toronto Film Festival often aligns with the taste of the Oscars? This could be one reason.

The participation of Chicago in the Toronto Film Festival was very targeted.

During the following interaction session, something interesting happened. Several rows of middle-aged women formed an alliance and enthusiastically praised Tom Cruise's performance and singing and dancing in the film. Their excitement and openness made it seem as though Tom was about to become an idol for middle-aged women.

Honestly, Duke believed that Tom Cruise's performance in Chicago showed significant improvement, moving beyond the stage of acting cool and charming. After all, even if you were a pig, spending more than six months preparing for a film and enduring months of repeated NGs would lead to some breakthroughs.

After the lively audience interaction, the reporters arranged by Warner Brothers asked Duke and other members of the crew some questions, purely for promotional purposes.

"Director Rosenberg, how do you feel about working with Mr. Cruise?"

After the reporter's question, the microphone passed to Duke, who said, "I want to clarify that Tom took over six months of dance and vocal lessons for this film. His dedication is admirable, and the level of performance is clear for all to see."

Duke continued, "Tom is an actor I've always wanted to collaborate with. Any director working with Tom will feel at ease. I don't know why there's always criticism of Tom in the media, but I believe it's all slander. What I see in Tom is a serious, hardworking, humble, and incredibly talented actor."

The reporter then asked Tom Cruise, who, despite his awkwardness, knew exactly what to say at this moment, continuously praising Duke and the whole crew.

After asking a few more questions to Catherine Zeta-Jones and Naomi Watts, a gossip reporter from a Warner subsidiary stood up.

"Duke, based on recent media reports, it seems you are very close to Miss Catherine Zeta-Jones. Are you two dating?"

This was a pre-arranged question, and Panny Kallis had already prepared an answer. Duke turned to Catherine Zeta-Jones, exchanged a meaningful glance with her, and then said, "Catherine is incredibly beautiful and charming. She's been a great help during the production of the film and has provided me with a lot of inspiration. It's lucky that I met her. We are very good friends now."

Before the reporter could ask another question, Robin Grand, the host of the interaction, announced the end of the session, and the crew quickly exited.

The Toronto Film Festival doesn't have an official opening or closing ceremony. After participating in one screening, many crews leave the festival quickly. The Chicago crew, however, would stay for two more days. Now, this area is filled with media reporters, and whether it's Duke and Zeta-Jones or Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, they can all generate some buzz.

The next day, Duke and Catherine Zeta-Jones walked together down the streets of Toronto. Behind them were not only reporters from Warner Brothers but also many other journalists from Europe and the United States. Particularly those from Fleet Street, when they saw the two holding hands on the street, they almost rushed forward to take their photos.

Duke ignored them, occasionally whispering something to Zeta-Jones, appearing extremely intimate. When they turned into a cinema, they bought two tickets and entered to watch a South Korean film with no English translation. After the movie, the reporters scattered. They casually found a street café, sat down, and chatted over coffee.

In Toronto, there were almost no other forms of entertainment. Apart from watching films, the only option was to visit bars.

"Did you understand it?"

Drinking coffee, Zeta-Jones talked about the film they had just watched. "I couldn't understand the dialogue, and the plot was confusing. I really don't get what the director was trying to say."

"I didn't understand it either," Duke shrugged.

Zeta-Jones put down her coffee cup. "It was a bit boring. We should have left early."

Duke smiled and said, "Most of the films we see in theaters are commercial films, aimed at entertaining the audience. This is the case everywhere in the world. Even in France, where they pride themselves on artistic cinema, the top films at the box office are pure commercial films."

"Film is always diverse," he continued. "We need to give space for niche art films and experimental films to exist. Film festivals are often the only place where these kinds of films can gain visibility. These are films we might never see in regular theaters but can only watch at a film festival."

"You always make sense."

Outside the window, the flash of cameras seemed to go off again. Zeta-Jones, in perfect sync, took Duke's hand, making them appear particularly intimate as they continued the conversation. "Actually, I understand. The audience comes here to watch films, right? At the Toronto Film Festival, there are hundreds of films, all types, so we can pick whatever we want to watch."

"So, the only important thing for the audience here is to watch the films," Duke lightly scratched Zeta-Jones's palm, and as she smiled, he added, "The function of a film festival is to show films, to watch films, isn't it?"

At this point, Duke suddenly remembered a rare experience he had at a film festival in his past life, at the second annual capital film festival of a certain country. It was a large-scale national event with significant political and cultural meaning. The event was held at the famous Qinian Temple Plaza, and it was raining heavily and very cold. The filmmakers who attended had to endure standing in the cold rain for hours, waiting for the delayed opening.

They were considered lucky, though, as many spectators and reporters had to wait three to four hours in the cold rain just for the event to begin.

The most absurd thing was that no bathrooms were provided for the audience, reporters, or filmmakers. Many people were desperate to relieve themselves, but unless they were well-known celebrities, they would be stopped at the door and not allowed back in. The experience of holding in your urine was truly remarkable.

Many people across the sea fantasized about their country's films breaking into the global market ahead of Hollywood, but the backwardness of the film industry cannot be solved by the industry alone. It involves industrial infrastructure, social environment, and many other factors.

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