I had an interesting experience this afternoon as I went to see The Grey. I went to my regular cinema the Cineplex Queensway and, as I always do, I motioned towards the ticket kiosks.
I chose the second kiosk, which only had one person in front of me. When the guy in front of me turned around to leave, I immediately recognized him – I was standing behind Guillermo del Toro!
Since del Toro is in Toronto shooting his new movie Pacific Rim, it wasn’t a HUGE surprise to see him, but I still couldn’t believe it. The whole thing happened so fast that he was gone before I could react, however I did notice that the machine refused his payment, so I’m sure he might have been slightly peeved at that moment (I saw him again a couple minutes later in the normal box office line – I wonder what movie he saw).
This wasn’t the first time I have this type of experience at the Queensway. In 2005, I went to an advance screening of Red Eye at the theatre, which was followed by an autograph session with Wes Craven. Then in 2007, I had the unique experience of watching American Gangster two seats away from Forest Whitaker.
It’s amazing who you could run into in Toronto cinemas.