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September 18, 2004

Upon Return from the Toronto Film Festival

Is it egocentric to brag about a film based on one's own novel?

After all, it's not really my work anymore-- it's more Gregg Araki's. Right?

Well, I've seen the film three times now, and I still love, love, love it.

I just got back from the TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL, where Michael and I had an amazing, blissful time. Our hotel wasn't exactly in the swankiest part of the city--the Salvation Army soup kitchen and "havin'-a-conversation-with-myself-'cause-the-crack's-so-good" streetwalkers pretty much proved that--but we really didn't spend too much time there. We were primarily at the premiere, at the parties, at press conferences and photo shoots, and so on. And best of all, we were helping to generate buzz about the movie, which, as I've said before, is (a) terrrrrific, (b) faithful to my novel, (c) emotionally devastating, and (d) hauntingly gorgeous to watch. So, yeah, I'm bragging.

Monday, September 13 was the official North American premiere (one week after the world premiere in Venice). Fortissimo Films threw us a dinner party beforehand. Some of the folks in attendance: Gregg, of course; me & Michael; castmembers Brady Corbet, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Jeff Licon; producers Mary Jane Skalski and Jeffrey Levy-Hinte; crew / production people like Beau Genot, Josh Zeman, Wouter Barendrecht, and others; peoples' agents, managers, friends, boyfriends (ie Michelle's man Shawn Ashmore of X-Men / X2 fame) and even family (ie, Brady's wondrous mom, Mary Corbet, and his great-aunt).

Here's the main group of us (Jeff, Gregg, Brady, Michelle, me, Joe, Mary Jane, and Jeff) at our pre-premiere dinner:

The premiere went over really well. People had strong, emotional reactions. I got to meet Gus Van Sant, who was in the audience. Gregg introduced us (me, Mary Jane, and the cast) beforehand, and we gave a Q&A afterward. I was overwhelmed-- it was odd seeing it with such a huge crowd, and also with Michael beside me; also, Gregg really made gracious, unbelievably sweet recommendation of the book itself, which seems a pretty rare thing for a filmmaker to do.

The following day was the screening for critics and press. Wednesday, the 15th, was another screening, this one to an even larger audience. Surprisingly, the crowd consisted of a lot of "older" people-- it was strange to see the "little old lady" type watching the film-- but they also seemed to respond well. Afterward, we gave another Q&A, with Gregg eloquently leading.

Parties-- we usually went as a "Mysterious Skin" group. Free drinks all around! Free food! Free glimpses of (occasional) stars and (many) wannabes! We went to the Motorola party, the Premiere party, the ICM party, the "Stage Beauty" party (where me, Michael, Joe, Brady, and the film publicist Craig Bankey were crowding ONto the elevator just as Claire Danes and Billy Crudup were getting off) and, on the final night, the "Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things" party, where Asia Argento and J.T. Leroy were the DJs and played a lot of glam rock.

I could report a lot more, but I'll let the press fill in the gaps.

First off, here's the page on Mysterious Skin from the Toronto Film Festival catalog and website: SKIN

Here's a nice article about the film from indiewire.com, where the writer discusses Gregg as well as directors Todd Solondz ("Palindromes") and Lodge Kerrigan ("Keane"): Araki/Kerrigan/Solondz

Here's one that's made us all really excited, a from heavyweight A.O. Scott at the New York Times, that used MSKIN as a touchstone for his Toronto overview (may need signing in to view): A.O. Scott

And finally, here's some wireimage.com photos of the cast and Gregg, in posed portraits, at the pre-premiere dinner, and at the premiere (I'm even a couple of these) or press conference:

• Portraits
• Conference
• Premiere
• Dinner

MORE SOON....