National Post (Canada)
May 12, 2005 Thursday
Toronto Edition

Is Egoyan to win this time?: Canada’s artsy auteur tempts fate with a
Cannes premiere on Friday the 13th

by Shinan Govani, National Post

Are Armenians very superstitious? We couldn’t help but ask when it
came to our attention that Toronto’s bespectacled auteur Atom Egoyan
is premiering his newest movie under the auspiciously azure skies of
the Cannes Film Festival tomorrow. Tomorrow, which just happens to be
a Friday. Tomorrow, which happens to come with a date numbered 13.

While we couldn’t reach Egoyan for a precise comment, a spy in Cannes
who knows him well told me yesterday, “I don’t even think he realizes
it’s Friday the 13th.”

And while we’re certainly not wishing any bad omens on the nebbishly
adorable director, my suspicious mind does wonder if some Cannes
festival scheduler isn’t playing tricks with our beloved Canadian. We
smell a rat. An ara-rat.

Egoyan’s latest film, Where the Truth Lies (ThinkFilm), is widely
thought to be his film-noir reach for a more commercial audience.
Based on Rupert Holme’s novel about the breakup of a ’50s comedy team
and the grisly murder that follows, it stars Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth
and Alison Lohan. A cast that’s nothing to sneeze at, and about as
lucky to get as a four-leaf clover.

And now this Friday the 13th business. Whatever will Egoyan and his
starry cast be thinking when they march up the steps of the famed
Palais cinema tomorrow evening amid all the glamour and endless
hoopla?

Well, maybe it’s not so bad. As it came to my attention yesterday,
Egoyan, amazingly, actually directed an episode of Friday the 13th,
the TV series, back in the ’80s.

And Bacon? Well, in true six-degrees form, it turns out he indeed
appeared in the original 1980 feature flick Friday the 13th! Back in
his pre-Footloose days!

So, yeah, maybe it’s not bad as it looks. Some of these guys have
experience.

I SEE, I HEAR…

– That Alie Christensen — that’s Hayden’s marvellous mom! — dropped
into a press screening last Thursday at the Varsity for a little film
called Star Wars: Episode III. Perhaps to see for herself what
trouble her son’s been up to lately! Darth Vader’s real-life mother,
we hear, will also be off to the London premiere of the movie soon
…

– That all those London luvvies from Coldplay, who’ve been doing the
town all week, took in Sunday dinner at Yorkville’s Flow restaurant
— the same night actress Vivica A. Fox was there munching away at
another table …

– That Maxim’s Number One Hottie has landed in town! Eva Longoria,
who’s been on a desperate ride to fame and currently graces the cover
of the mag’s annual Hot 100 issue, has arrived in T.O. to work on a
movie. On Tuesday night, she hit Sotto Sotto with a group that
included such co-stars as Kiefer Sutherland and Michael Douglas …

– That David Davidar has gone from India to Yonge and Eligible. The
book bigwig, who moved to Toronto last year from the subcontinent to
run Penguin Books Canada, just moved the publishing company’s digs
from its old haunt near Summerhill to the Yonge/Eglinton corridor.
Question is, will Davidar’s next move be New York? The buzz continues
in local publishing circles that he’s actually just passing through
Toronto en route to the big cheese job at Penguin USA …

– That hometown fashion supercouple Joe Mimran and Kim Newport-Mimran
enjoyed dinner at The Spoke last Friday …

– That we saw powerful Paul Godfrey on his cellphone at a table by
himself while a formal tango dance was ongoing in a Royal York
ballroom, where all kinds of important people had gathered last
Saturday for the fandango-themed ball for Bridgepoint Health …

– That the folks behind Air Canada’s enRoute magazine, which has
undergone a major redesign (including regular, monthly scribblings
from yours truly!), were thoughtful enough to throw a big,
overflowin’ party at Brassaii last week. 660 people showed up,
including such beautiful font appreciators as Dan Menchions from
local interior-design faves II by IV, trend-tracking hound Karen von
Hahn, David Clemmer from hair-make-up-stylists agency Judy Inc. and
George Stromboulopoulos from TV-land.

AND FINALLY, FOR THE RECORD…

– Michael Cohl, the genius Toronto-based tour manager for the Rolling
Stones, took exception to comments I ran in this space on Tuesday.
Contrary to scuttlebutt I’ve been hearing, he says he’s not advising
the Stones to make their recently-announced world tour their last.
Instead, Cohl sent along this emphatic e-mail message to me the other
day: “I see no reason why the Rolling Stones should ever retire.”

GRAPHIC:
Colour Photo: Donald Weber, Getty Images; Atom Egoyan and wife
Arsinee Khanjian may not feel out of place in the ghoulish atmosphere
of a Friday the 13th premiere.;
Colour Photo: Lee Celano, Reuters; Longoria: Maxim-um hotness.

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