Is he the next Timothée Chalamet? The ‘new internet boyfriend’ gets a delirious welcome at TIFF

“This feels like ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show.’”
Out of the mouths of babes! In this case, TIFF breakout hunk Drew Starkey, who plays the object of Daniel Craig’s desire in Luca Guadagnino’s new one, “Queer,” and who was looking out to the delirium sometime past midnight on Tuesday at the Princess of Wales Theatre. A textbook case of how some of the screenings can feel more like a party than some of the actual parties — the thousand-plus scene was like some combination of a Pride party at Woody’s meets a convention of film nerds — it was also an opportunity to see in the flesh the dude who’s been dubbed the “new internet boyfriend.”
Gamely speaking about his experience onstage, after the North American premiere here, next to Luca, it was hard not to think that he might be on the Timothée Chalamet track after this festival wraps. That director did, after all, give the latter his rocket ship when he brought “Call Me by Your Name” to T.O. years back. And now look at him! (A biopsy of Toronto International Film Festivals past reminds me how almost no one was bothering Chalamet at a party here that one year because he was only becoming famous at that point, and how it can be interesting to track the star-making machinery of this fest.)
Playing the emotionally detached sailor, extra lean and owlish spec-ed, in the largely Mexico City-set “Queer” — “the world’s most intellectual Calvin Klein model,” as Variety writes — in a take on a William S. Burroughs novel, Starkey gives both dreamboat and chops. Craig was not in Toronto for the film, but his co-star gave him all the praise, calling him one of the best “character actors.” Indeed, this movie is so vulnerable, and so bonkers, it hit me that Craig is having the most interesting post-Bond career of any Bond.
“Of course, I was terrified on the first day,” the North Carolina-born Starkey side-barred, talking about working with Craig. But they soon developed a real rapport. “Driven” and “meticulous”: some of his choice descriptions for the star.
Literalists, of course, need not apply when it comes to this expat romance about thwarted desire. It is maddening and haunting and utterly debauched and tender all at once. A phantasmagoric vision, with a killer soundtrack, including a key scene set to Nirvana’s “Come as You Are.”
En route, too, of course: the birthing of a new movie crush. Or, as the Evening Standard quipped recently about the 30-year-old Starkey: “Can you feel that? A low rumbling sensation has been reported worldwide. Water glasses are quivering like that scene in Jurassic Park … Something’s coming.” Starkey, man!
“Queer,” by the way, was not the only surreal scene happening in the hood that night. Oh no. Bill Murray being Bill Murray, he put on quite the show at a party held just down the road at RBC House. Got behind the DJ booth at one point; started playing waiter at another, handing out fries et al! Serving tunes and food. It was the party for his new one, “Riff Raff” — a party that drew other cast members, including Jennifer Coolidge, Gabrielle Union and Ed Harris.
There were jokes, there were tears and there was one hot after-party. Talking about the TIFF Tribute Awards gala, at the Fairmont Royal York the other night — a spiffy, pink-flowers-decked dinner that seemed like a mutual admiration society and like a scene in the Sunset Tower during Oscars week in terms of pure star wattage. Salma Hayek gushing about Angelina Jolie, there to accept one award. Lupita Nyong’o paying homage to Cate Blanchett, who was doing likewise. Director Denis Villeneuve there to sing praises about Amy Adams, who was at a table next to me. And that just a small sampling of the best gala of this kind since TIFF starting doing it a few years ago.
David Cronenberg — introduced by his bestie, Viggo Mortensen — probably got the line of the night when, upon accepting the inaugural Norman Jewison Career Achievement Award — he quipped: “Just letting you know … I am exactly the same age as Joe Biden.”
After the event — making a quick exit, just after the great Mike Leigh had accepted the Ebert Director Award — I beelined north for a party hosted jointly by Vanity Fair and Netflix at dbar inside the Four Seasons. Predictably, it was a hot one, drawing boldface who had been at the gala earlier, too, including all three actresses from the sensational “Emilia Pérez”: Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez. Passing the later — who also appears on the new cover of Vanity Fair — my plus-one sotto voce’ed, “She just became a billionaire this week.” It’s true — from Disney Channel star to a net worth of $1.3 billion, according to Bloomberg (spurred, in particular, by her business ventures, like cosmetics brand Rare Beauty). One of the youngest self-made billionaires in the world.
Pharrell was there, too, by the way. He gave me a real-life prayer emoji. Others spotted: Danielle Deadwyler, Rebel Wilson, Tony Hale, Jharrel Jerome, Christopher Abbott and Kyle MacLachlan. The best part about the party was how much movie talk there was (amazingly, not a given at TIFF parties!). “Anora”! “Hard Truths”! “The Wild Robot”! How about the “gender divide” when it comes to the response to Marielle Heller’s “Nightbitch”? And exactly how much did you cry watching “We Live in Time”? That was just some of the chatter in the air. A party with a palpable pulse.