If you’re famous and visiting Toronto, odds are you’ll be asked what you love about us.
Like the toll on the 407, telling us how great we are seems to be the unofficial surcharge we extract from well-known faces who pass through our town. (If they’re especially unlucky, the next question is whether they’ve tried Tim Horton’s yet.)
Case in point: This week at TIFF, clips of celebrities being gently (or not-so-gently) strong-armed into naming their favourite Toronto spots have gone viral.
Working the red carpet for “Black Rabbit,” Jason Bateman and Jude Law were asked about where they “frequent” in the city by iHeart Radio. Bateman picked Sotto Sotto (“a great staple”) while Law fished around in his memory for the name of “this incredible Croatian restaurant” he went to when he first started visiting 35 years ago. (The internet has concluded that it’s Joso’s in Yorkville.)
At the premier for “Roofman,” a Dished Toronto correspondent got Lakeith Stanfield singing the praises of a local spot whose name also escaped him (Bar Raval seems to have confirmed it’s them), where he loved the tuna and peppers on a stick and the ambience. “We danced in there, and they didn’t care. They let us be wild and free, and I love this place for that,” the actor said.
On that same carpet, Kirsten Dunst, asked by Toronto Life for her favourite thing about Toronto, replied that she’s a fan of the shopping in the “vintage area,” specifically (maybe, she can’t be sure) the Black Market on Queen Street West.
Some celebs kept things vague or sentimental: Matt Dillon praised the festival itself and its “great audiences,” while local lad Keanu Reeves told Toronto Life his favourite thing about the city was “my childhood here.”
This phenomenon makes for extremely popular content, and there seems to be a direct correlation between the vagueness of the celebrity recollection and our collective willingness to engage. (See: the dozens of comments on that Lakeith Stanfield Instagram post repeating some version of “It’s Bar Raval!”)
While it’s not unheard of for celebrities visiting other places to be asked for their favourite local spots — you see it occasionally when American stars have been filming in Australia, for example — Toronto is unique among the major film festivals in our desire to be told what the visiting celebs love about our city.
Some of this is down to the fact that most of the other big ones — Venice, Cannes, Sundance — are held in places where most media are flying in and don’t have a hometown stake in what the celebrities are up to there. Nor would their audiences, thousands of miles away, really be bothered by which hole-in-the-wall bistro off the Croisette Angelina Jolie simply must visit when she’s there. (A question we don’t know the answer to, because it appears no one’s ever asked her.)
There’s a local usefulness here: A shout-out from a celebrity can be a boon to both the business they mention and the Torontonians who plan the first two weeks of September around where they might spot a celebrity during TIFF.
But does it say something deeper about the city’s psyche that we like to have our collective ego massaged in this way? “It is true that for much of Toronto’s long history, going back more than 200 years since it was first settled by Europeans, and certainly since 1834 when Toronto was incorporated, its leaders and citizens have expended much energy trying to validate the city’s stature and greatness,” said Allan Levine, historian and author of “Toronto: Biography of a City.” He added that up until relatively recently, Montreal was bigger in both population and influence.
“On the positive side, this perpetual inferiority complex (and desire) to prove to itself and outsiders that Toronto is indeed a ‘world class city’ has propelled the city forward. Yet at the same time, it is a quest that never truly ends,” Levine said. “There is a craving for validation that never can be fulfilled.”
He noted that this continues now, even in our “elbows up” era. “Canadians, it seems, still want to be liked and admired by Americans, especially celebrities. Canadians can deny it all they want, but when a Canadian author, actor, academic or entrepreneur receives attention in the American media or is bestowed with an award or honour, we pay attention and are impressed,” Levine said. “Like it or not, it has been this way for a long time and this mindset isn’t about to vanish anytime soon. Toronto and TIFF cannot escape it.”
In that spirit of self-aware capitulation, let’s take a moment to recount where celebrities have been spotted this year at TIFF.
Upscale diner Vinny hosted Angelina Jolie and Sydney Sweeney for their film’s post-premiere parties, while Daphne was where Andrew Scott and Charli XCX toasted “Sacrifice.” As noted by Star contributor Shinan Govani, Jacob Elordi, Oscar Isaac, Mia Goth and Guillermo del Toro were seen at Nobu for Netflix’s “Frankenstein” party, while America Ferrera was spotted strolling Kensington Market.
Whether they had a good time or not may only be revealed the next time they’re asked — once again — what they love about Toronto. And we’ll be listening.
