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If you’re looking for the stars on opening night of the Toronto Film Festival when there aren’t many, they were at the world premiere of gonzo girl, With four-time Academy Award nominee Willem Dafoe and superstar director Patricia Arquette, they received a standing ovation on Thursday at the Alexandria Royal Theatre.
Arquette was drawn to Cheryl Della Pietra’s novel about the author’s tortured and creative time as Hunter S. Thompson’s assistant because she was a huge fan of the journalist Gonzo. But it was more than that.
Arquette was also fascinated by the 1990s backdrop and the idea of a person getting lost among celebrities. And also the topics of “What is the commodity of beauty?” “It was a look at the mysterious nature of addiction and codependency and how you move across your boundaries,” she said in introducing the film.
“This is what my life is about. Tada!” shouted Arquette.
“I thought it was interesting to be an artist and to be confined to your own fame,” Arquette said. “The world wants to keep you in this box and doesn’t want you to get out of it.”
“When does co-dependence reach its limit?…When have you had all these years of self-abandonment? I think it’s interesting to see this maneuver,” she said.
The picture marks Arquette’s directorial debut. Originally, she was asked to play the role of Claudia when it was under a different director. It worked at first, as this didn’t seem like the right time to play this role. Her agent then told producers Tom Heller and Frank Green that Arquette wanted to direct. When the original director of the pic fell through, Arquette stepped in. New face Camila Morrone is set to play the main protagonist in Alley Russo, aka Pietra’s doppelganger.
Morrone auditioned by tape and received no response for two months, thinking the role was over – until it was offered to her on her birthday. Meanwhile, Arquette shot the film in 21 days.
Gonzo girl is one of several addresses here at TIFF to secure an interim agreement between SAG-AFTRA, hence the presence of Arquette and the cast tonight.
Interesting to note: At the start of tonight’s Q&A, the moderator provided a specific question for audience members asking questions of the cast: Please refrain from referring to broken work or striking companies.
sales agents on Gonzo girl They are WME and Gersh.
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