The Toronto International Film Festival chugs along with more film gems and movie stars than it has a right to. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith showed their glitter on Sunday at an event for an Angela Davis documentary they produced a day after Johnny Depp showed up for his pal, Damien Echols, out of prison after 18 wrongful years.

Paul Haggis (pictured with me) hung out at Soho House with Trudie Styler – where Madonna had a reservation -- and implored the glitterati to attend his Haiti fundraiser. (He’ll shortly go back to Rome, where he’s shooting a love story with an all-star cast.) Jason Reitman seems ubiquitous.

There are endless cocktail parties and elbow-rubbing soirees,...

President Barack Obama tweeted a cheeky response to actor-director Clint Eastwood, who mocked the president’s record in the form of a debate with an empty chair at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night.

“This seat's taken,” the president -- or someone in charge of his Twitter account -- tweeted, attaching a picture of himself in a chair. The president's Twitter account, used to press his reelection message, has 19 million followers.

Also read: Clint Eastwood Holds Weird One-Sided Debate With Obama's Empty Chair (Video)

Eastwood...

With the departure of Patrick Goldstein, the Los Angeles Times loses an authoritative, insider’s voice covering the entertainment industry, diminishing its relevancy in a brutally competitive news space.

Curious choice for a paper that spends a good deal of energy selling itself to Hollywood advertisers as a trade. Curious for a paper whose editorial ambition has long been to “own Hollywood.”

Why would they do that?

I’ve no doubt that Goldstein -- a friend and colleague for many years but who declined to be interviewed for this piece -- may not be the easiest customer in a newsroom. He likes to work from home. He is not...

Tony Scott went to work at Scott Free Productions last Thursday and ran a staff meeting without giving the slightest hint that three days later he would drive to the Vincent Thomas Bridge in the Los Angeles Harbor, park his car, climb the fence and leap 180 feet to his death in the sparkling waters below.

So it’s little wonder that shock from the director’s dramatic death on Sunday spread Monday through the entertainment industry, throwing projects into question and leaving people shocked, saddened and reflective.

Those who knew Scott -- those who worked closely with him -- were especially stunned.

“There was a life force pulsating through his movies, and suddenly he’s ripped away – how could that be?” asked producer Paula Wagner, who was Tom Cruise’s agent during both “Top Gun” and “Days of Thunder....