Publicists Brainstorming Ways To Work Toronto Triple-Slaying Into Their Festival Campaigns
When we guessed that Sacha Baron Cohen's grand entrance to the aborted Borat premiere on a wench-drawn carriage would "probably prove to be the only truly interesting thing that will emerge from the Toronto Film Festival," we obviously had no idea that a triple murder would eventually spice up the event:
And while industry gossip spreads like wildfire via BlackBerry, other events can go unnoticed. Early on Monday, a triple homicide was discovered on the 19th floor of the Delta Chelsea, a downtown hotel favored by festivalgoers and which once served as the fest's press center.
Three people were found dead with stab wounds, though it wasn't clear if they are connected to the fest.
There were only 658 homicides in all of Canada last year — there can be that many homicides in a single year in Los Angeles alone. So the triple slaying was big news in town. Still, it was slow to penetrate the fest-bubble that attendees sometimes find themselves in.
"I hope you're talking about the name of a film," said one publicist when told of the news.
As it turns out, the victims were probably not festivalgoers, nor were the killings some kind of shocking, tasteless publicity stunt that Harvey Weinstein was using to promote a film acquisition he made in Toronto and which the stunned flack wishes she thought of first.
