A hot and steamy night for a hot and steamy movie. The fans screaming "Col-IN! Col-IN!" and singing "Happy Birthday" as the stars of Atom Egoyan's Where the Truth Lies worked the crowd and media on the red carpet at the Roy Thomson Hall. Colin, sporting an arid Tunisian tan, light stubble and long, dense, curly locks, pushing his weariness aside, so as not to disappoint the multitudes of fans crowded behind the barricades. Fans staking out their few precious inches of prime real estate on the street and sidewalk. Those are among the more vivid images witnessed by Firth.com and the impressive, not last, legion of Drool ladies attending the gala screening of Where the Truth Lies on Tuesday, September 13.

Because of filming commitments, Colin missed the press conference earlier in the day, and his absence caused considerable concern among fans until they heard it announced on Rogers TV's continuous TIFF coverage that Colin was, indeed, enroute to Toronto. Great sighs of relief could be heard in hotels across the city.

With catastrophe thus averted, the gala screening lived up to any Firth fan's realistic expectations. (Firth.com overheard quite a few unrealistic ones in the crowd.) Colin spent far longer at the barricades than Kevin, autographing anything shoved in his direction, posing for pics with fans and even talking on several cellphones.

Did I mention the curls?