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A beefy looking man outside the toilet whispered: "You will have to wait for a few minutes."
As the minutes passed, at least six other journalists lined up.
The photographer wanted to visit the loo urgently, but the beefy man stood his ground.
"There is someone there
you will have to wait," he said.
Who is that? chorused the reporters who knew they were talking to a security man.
Several started grumbling that whoever was in could not hold up the traffic.
"Six people can use that toilet," said one reporter.
Just then Orlando Bloom, who looks puny in the company of his security man, emerged from the toilet after hijacking it for over five minutes.
The star of such hits as Troy and Pirates Of The Caribbean, Bloom breezed through the corridor without looking at the small crowd.
Outside the hotel entrance, he was all charm, signed several autographs and waved at many giddy fans, some of them throwing kisses at him.
Bloom was in town to attend the premiere of Haven. He plays a Brit who gets involved in a dangerous drama resulting from the actions of two shady businessmen who flee America to the Cayman Islands to avoid federal prosecution.
A few days after he spoke against instant gratification, Oscar winner Nick Nolte, 63, was seen walking unsteadily on Bloor Street, Toronto.
Cars on both sides of the avenue stopped, as Nolte continued to crawl across the avenue, away from the designated crossing. Not that the drivers wanted to take a good look at the actor. On the other hand, they seemed to be scared that they might hit the star.
The Toronto media would not let the story go away for several days.
The incident took place just a few days after Clean was screened in Toronto.
Nolte is seen as a bereaved father who leads the mother of his grandchild to sobriety in the film.
One Toronto publication reported how during the interview, Nolte, whose abuse of alcohol and other drugs have led to several arrests, drank plenty of vodka neat during the interview.
Another publication, playing up the picture of a disheveled Nolte wading through the traffic, wondered if he had slept in the same clothes for three days.
Yet, Nolte left Toronto without major disasters.
Two years ago, he created a bit of scandal as he gave interviews in his pajamas. And his lap dancing expeditions caused quite a stir too.
His problems with drugs are his personal problems, he told reporters in Toronto this time, adding that he is still learning how to handle the pains of life. "I don't use sex as a way (out)," he confessed, "and I don't create wars."
Never mind his aberrations, watch him in Clean, and admire his still sharp acting talent especially when he talks about his belief in forgiveness, and why he reaches out to the estranged girlfriend of his deceased son.
Jamie Foxx, the talk of the town for his singular performance in Ray as the blind musical legend Ray Charles, walks around the town surrounded by half a dozen amiable-looking bodyguards. But Sean Penn, the self-proclaimed leftist, walks around with just two stern looking security men. Maybe with his don't-you-ever-come-near-me hard stares, he doesn't even need a bodyguard!
The Toronto Star ran a big picture of a disgruntled Penn on a street, near to the film festival venue. The caption read: A cranky Sean Penn lights a cigarette as a buffer between fans. Don't take it out on them. Take it out on your barber.
Penn was at Toronto to promote The Assassination Of Richard Nixon.
The gossip columnist for the Star, Rita Zekas, had a piece of advice for Penn. 'Oh, behave Sean,' she wrote, 'Or we'll make you watch Shanghai Surprise on your return flight home.'
The Oscar winner may have nightmares thinking of the 1986 film that starred him with his former wife Madonna. It was one of the most embarrassing flops of his career. Reviewers hated it, audiences stayed away, and Handmade Films, a company founded by Beatle George Harrison went into further financial trouble and shut down within a few years.
Photographs: Getty Images
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