Alright, so let me start off by saying this was a totally new experience for me as I had never traveled outside of the US before this, let alone been on a long trip by myself, but it was probably one of the greatest experiences of my life and I will never forget it! And I'm sorry again for not posting this sooner!
When I first heard that The Love Punch was going to be shown at TIFF as a Gala Presentation, I decided right then and there I was going to go to it no matter what. I wanted to go to TIFF last year, when Pierce was there for Love is All You Need, but I didn't have a passport at the time (I live in the States). But this time, I had a passport and nothing was going to stop me. Now, I live in the southwest region of Ohio, so Toronto is about 400 some miles northeast of here. I'm 19 and I still live at home with my parents, so naturally, my mom was completely against me going. My step sister was originally supposed to come along with me but she bailed on me at the last minute (I don't know anyone else that has a passport) and I was dead set on going especially since I had already gotten my hopes up about it. Plus, I hardly ever get the chance to see Pierce in person since I live in boring Ohio
I had work the morning the single tickets for TIFF went on sale so I somehow convinced my mom to get online and get me a ticket, to her dismay. I was actually very surprised I even managed to get a ticket since the Galas supposedly sell out quick, but I guess I got lucky! I can't even tell you how excited I was knowing I was going to be in the same room as Pierce, I've been such a huge fan of his for years now.
The next challenge was getting to Toronto, all the way from Ohio. It's not really that far away if you think about it, I think a flight would probably have taken two hours max, but plane tickets were something like $600, so driving was the next best option. The morning of the premiere, I left my house in my tiny fuel efficient car at around 5am and headed for Toronto. I would have liked to have gotten there the day before the premiere, but hotels in Toronto are not cheap!
It took me about three hours to get to the Ambassador Bridge, the US-Canadian border entrance near Detroit. I'd say the first half of the trip was definitely the shortest. After I made it across the border, I had a long 4 hours of driving through nothing but farmland ahead of me. There was absolutely nothing to look at in that area of Ontario, it was dreadful. That, and their highway speed limit is 100 kilometers per hour, translating to 62 miles per hour for those of you that live in the US. Let's just say, I was speeding like crazy and I'm sure the Canadian drivers could tell just by my speeding that I was an American lol
So after a long 4 and half hours, I finally reached Toronto around noon time.
Once I actually got downtown, it was nearly impossible for me to drive anywhere. It's a big city so traffic is pretty much like that of NYC's lol. First I went to the TIFF Bell Lightbox to pick up my ticket and scope the area out to find where Roy Thomson Hall was (that's where the premiere was held), then I headed to my hotel to get checked in. I was exhausted so I pretty much passed out on my bed for a few hours. The movie was to start at 9:30PM that night and my original plan was to get to the red carpet fairly early for a chance to meet Pierce beforehand. Thanks to my nap and traffic (it took me 45 minutes to drive half a mile to Roy Thomson Hall), I got to the red carpet around 6PMish. There were already a ton of people there waiting at the barricades (apparently some of them started lining up at 3PM), so I wasn't able to get into a spot where Pierce went to sign autographs. I blame my inexperience, now I know for next time to get there much much earlier! But I stood at the barricades for about 3 hours and finally the director and cast began to arrive a little before 9PM (I guess they were running a bit late). One by one, black Audi's drove past me, dropping off some people I had never even seen in my life. Then, Joel Hopkins, the director, got out of one, followed by another car with Emma Thompson. The crowd went wild as soon as she stepped out of the car. She was great, she played up to the cameras and signed as many autographs as she could, I could tell she really cares about her fans (there was a group of Emma fans behind the barricades across from me and she went straight to them!).
It was nearing 9PM and I was afraid Pierce wouldn't arrive in time before I had to run across the street to Roy Thomson Hall. I saw a last car making it's way over, and when it stopped, Bron got out of the left side and I knew Pierce had arrived. I couldn't believe my eyes as he stepped out of the car and started waving to everyone. He looked so gorgeous, as you all know already from the pictures. It's true what people say, he looks even more handsome in person, I didn't think it was possible! He started signing autographs for the people that had been there since 3, and he went over to the group across from me. At one point he was about 15 to 20 feet away from me on my left side and I was seriously freaking out. I managed to snap a few pics. The crowd was going wild from the moment he stepped out of his car. After he signed some autographs, he went to embrace Emma and they posed for the cameras together. He then took Emma by the hand and started walking her over to the group of fans again, and they were making their way down the line of fans when they were rushed onto the carpet because they were running late. Pierce apologized to everyone and they got on the carpet to do their interviews and all of that. In the meantime, I made a run for it to Roy Thomson Hall, afraid I was going to be late (they don't let anyone in late). Luckily I made it with a few minutes to spare.
Once I got inside the venue, I made my way up to the balcony section and managed to get a seat in a section slightly to the left of the middle of the theater and right at the front edge of the balcony, so I could lean over the railing and see everyone below me and I had a great view of the stage and the screen. I made small talk with the people next to me, a nice couple (fellow Americans, yes!), a Canadian woman and another couple. One guy leaned over the balcony and pointed out to us where Pierce and Emma would be sitting, right below us and slightly to the right. Needless to say, we were freaking out. After a few minutes, Joel Hopkins came on stage and said a few words about the movie, and then came Pierce and Emma. I'm sure you've all seen videos of them by now, they were hilarious and I don't even think they were trying to be! Emma immediately started taking off her high heel, put it in Pierce's hand, and strutted her stuff over to the podium. That's when Pierce got up to the microphone, Emma's shoe in hand, and simply said "And the award goes to...". He had the whole room in stitches. They said a few things about hoping we all like the movie, and Emma told the people of Toronto that she likes their cranes (which was very funny since they are practically littered all over the city). Emma said "Let's watch the movie already!" and walked confidently off the stage, wearing just one heel, with Pierce following behind her looking slightly confused lol! The lights dimmed and a TIFF ad began showing on the screen.
A few minutes later, me and the people next to me were leaning over the balcony to see if Pierce and Emma were in their seats yet, and they were! They were literally right below us and to the right, I bet if I threw something it could have landed in one of their laps. My whole row was giggling and whispering to one another about the fact that Pierce Brosnan was sat right where we could see him and not that far away. I couldn't help but peek down at him every chance I got. I couldn't believe I was sitting in the same room as him, watching a movie with him. It was so crazy, I never thought I'd get a chance like that in my life. The movie itself was fantastic. It's a silly movie, not meant to be serious so don't listen to some of the negative reviews I've seen going around. It was a breath of fresh air in a world where everything is so dark and serious, a silly caper movie like that of the Pink Panther. There wasn't a moment the audience wasn't bursting with laughter. My abs were hurting from laughing so hard. I think one of the things that made it so funny was the fact that it was Pierce and Emma doing all of these silly things that you don't normally see them doing, it was fantastic. I even saw Pierce and Emma laughing at themselves as they watched it. When the movie ended, everyone was cheering and clapping. The lights shone on Pierce and Emma's section and they stood up to take a bow. I was practically hanging over the balcony watching them. Emma draped her leg over the railing which made the room erupt into laughter once more, followed by Pierce who placed his hand on Emma's leg, pulled up the leg of his pants and did the same
They were so adorable and funny together! Pierce had a little trouble and almost fell over getting his leg off the railing (poor guy!). The section above him screamed out his name and he waved up at them, and then he waved over to my section before following Emma out of the theater.
By that point, I had been awake for nearly 21 hours, running on little to no food, so I hurried out of Roy Thomson Hall and to my car to get to my hotel and crash. It didn't help that I was an emotional wreck at that point either, I still couldn't believe everything that had just happened. I slept for about 7 hours before I had to get up and head home. I really wish I could have stayed in Toronto for longer than a day, it's a beautiful city. But unfortunately I had work the next day, and I had already missed a day of class (that and it cost me about $200 to stay at my hotel for one night, yikes). It took me about 8 or 9 hours to drive back home, and I got stopped at the border for a car inspection which was an unpleasant surprise. Those border security guys are pretty harsh, I was afraid I had done something wrong lol. I was also an emotional wreck still and I was tired beyond belief, I just wanted to get home. I think I was driving on the Canadian highway at like 90mph, I was that desperate to get out of there (Pierce, I hope you're happy, I went through hell for you lol
) I finally made it home and I got some fairly decent pictures and kept my ticket for a souvenir, so I'd say it was a pretty successful trip even if I didn't get to meet Pierce personally. I'm not gonna give up trying yet!
Now I kind of know how the whole things works if Pierce has another Gala there in the future.
So there's my story! Hope you all enjoyed it and I hope I posted this in the right place! As soon as I figure out how to upload pictures on here, I'll share some of the ones I got that turned out alright!