Toronto double-dipper Gerard Butler joined his director and co-star, a rather hirsute Ralph Fiennes, along with Jessica Chastain and Brian Cox for the Coriolanus leg of his personal TIFF-apalooza yesterday September 12. Butler, exhausted, but still gregarious, charming and gorgeous and company did a press conference in the morning (mere hours, possibly even minutes, after he closed his eyes after the festivities surrounding Machine Gun Preacher the night before, then it was a day of non-stop interviews before the Coriolanus premiere at the Elgin Theater’s Visa Screening Room.

Following the premiere it was off to Toronto’s SoHo House for the after party where the cast was joined by other TIFF attendees like Abbie Cornish, Tahar Rahim and various industry types.

Coriolanus is based on the Shakespeare play of the same name in which a banished hero of Rome, Caius Martius Coriolanus (Fiennes) allies with a sworn enemy, Tullus Aufidius (Butler) to take his revenge on the city. The film stars, along with Cox and Chastain, the ethereal Vanessa Redgrave who has already been tipped for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as Coriolanus’ mother, Volumnia.Coriolanus will get an awards qualifying run in December before opening wide in January.  Enjoy the pics!

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I know it was only a couple of days ago that we gave you all of those fantastic stills and new clips for Marc Forster’s Machine Gun Preacher, but they’ve released yet another one. I’m gonna be a blubbering mess when it’s over I just know it. *shakes fist at Gerard Butler*.

This one is called “Bug You There?” and features Madeline Carroll as Sam and Lynne Childers’ (Butler, Michelle Monaghan) daughter Sara.

Last night in Toronto, Butler and Monaghan attended the Creative Coalition Awards where Monaghan was honored with the “Spotlight” Award. Today, fearless leader gets to go to the TIFF premiere of Machine Gun Preacher. I tried to overnight myself to her house up in the Great White North, but FedEx wouldn’t ship live cargo and I needed the airholes in the box.

(BTW, anyone notice anything familiar about these pics? Why aren’t there rumors swirling around Butler and Monaghan? Probably because she’s happily married with baby. But there is nothing different about the way these two people appear in these pics. People are so silly).

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Photo: Dominic Chan/WENN

Gerard Butler is in Toronto and seems to be everywhere. It’s making stalking extremely difficult but never impossible. He, along with Rhys Ilfan, Juliette Lewis, Anna Kendrick and the biotch whose tummy he’s touching Michelle Monaghan are all at The Creative Coalition’s 2011 Spotlight Initiative Awards at the 26th Annual Toronto International Film Festival at The Roosevelt Room. This all went down last night while I was peeing myself for being so close to George Clooney. These two should just get a room and get it over with.

Tonight Gerard premieres Machine Gun Preacher at Roy Thomson Hall. I’ll be there, but like Killer Elite I’ll be the biotch in the balcony angry-like because I can’t get closer to him. Unless of course I hang outside beforehand to catch him on the red carpet which means I risk losing my seat and missing the movie altogether. Decisions, decisions.

Enjoy the pictures. Gerard is looking mighty fine these days.

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Photos: Dominic Chan/WENN

Artists for Peace and Justice is a fundraising organization founded in 2009 by director Paul Haggis (Crash, Million Dollar Baby, The Next Three Days) to encourage peace and social justice by addressing issues of poverty, independence and autonomy around the world. Their immediate goal has been to build schools serving the poorest areas of Haiti and those hardest hit by the earthquake, and providing not only an education but hot meals, potable water and regular medical care to the children living in those areas. To that end, they’ve already established the Academy for Peace and Justice, the first free secondary school in Port-au-Prince. This year, the Academy marked the end of their first year with a graduation ceremony for its 7th grade students.

Since the word “artists” is right there in the title, it should come as no surprise that a lot of APJ’s board members are in the entertainment industry. They know something about a good party and APJ throws some of the best. Their event at Cannes, held for the third year in a row during the annual film festival, already rivals the big AMFAR event held every year for glitz and glamour.  For the second year, they’ve added a big blow-out in Toronto during its film festival. Last year, APJ has raised over $300,000 at TIFF.

Last night, Haggis along with APJ Board of Directors member Gerard Butler (also in town to promote Machine Gun Preacher and Coriolanus - had to get that in there) and popular CBC television personality George Stroumboulopoulos (great video found here)  hosted the event at Toronto’s AME restaurant/night club. Also in attendance was APJ Board of Directors member David Belle. All proceeds from the $150 (Canadian) entrance fee will go to APJ’s health, education and dignity initiatives.

There’s another big “do” today so maybe we’ll get pics of that as well!

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Toronto is buzzing with celebrities for the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and the most important ones (in my horny estimation) are Kiefer Sutherland and Gerard Butler. Of course people are going crazy because Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are also here (although they do nothing for my loins).

Brad and Angelina were here for Brad’s film Moneyball, a film about baseball and it’s getting a lot of positive buzz at TIFF.

Gerard Butler is doing double duty at TIFF this year premiering two films: Machine Gun Preacher and Corolianus. The pictures of him exiting his limo are hysterical. I would love to see what’s on the other side of the camera greeting him.

Kiefer Sutherland is here for his movie Melancholia but I’m personally hoping to get a whiff of him as I hear from several very reliable sources that he smells mighty fine.

I’ll be at Machine Gun Preacher this weekend and down in the heart of the buzz today. Check back here for (hopefully) lots of great pictures.

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Photos: Dominic Chan/WENN

Chris Cornell has debuted his new single, which happens to be an excerpt from the soundtrack for Marc Forster’s Machine Gun Preacher due out in limited release on September 23.

Starring Gerard Butler as the Rev. Sam Childers, Machine Gun Preacher tells the story of Sam’s redemption from a life of crime and drugs to become an ordained minister who feels called to help the children of Sudan escape the tyranny of rebel forces who seek to turn them into child soldiers. His Angels of East Africa ministry is still operating in the area.

The song, called “The Keeper” can be heard at Cornell’s website and is available for the next 24 hours for download with a donation to the Angels of East Africa. 100% of the proceeds will go to Sam’s charity.  Starting Tuesday August 30, you can purchase the song on iTunes.

The whole soundtrack will be available on September 20 and will include music by Australian singer/songwriter Aaron Hendra, including “One Man’s War”. I confess to being very partial to this one. (The voices of the children give me goosebumps.)

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At long lost we have a trailer for Marc Forster’s TIFF entry, Machine Gun Preacher starring Gerard Butler as Sam Childers. MGP is based on the memoir, “Another Man’s War”, the true story of an ex-drug dealing biker-riding criminal who has a religious conversion and becomes an ordained minister who travels to the Sudan, initially to help missionaries build houses and becomes involved with the freedom fighters and their efforts to save the children forced to serve as soldiers by rebel forces.

This initial trailer, much like the first poster, puts the focus squarely on Butler. Whether this film works or it doesn’t will be all up to him. From the two and a half minutes we see here, it’s clear Butler’s Childers is on one hell of a journey. We have to buy the man he was in order to believe the man he will become. I know you’ll be shocked when I tell you I want this to succeed. Butler is joined by Michelle Monaghan as Childers’ wife Lynn, who isn’t given a lot to do in the trailer other than appear supportive. Given what little I know of her, even the brief glimpses we get here, I’m sure their life together hasn’t all been tied with so neat a bow . The rest of the cast includes Kathy Baker, Michael Shannon and Soulemayne Sy Suvane.

Following it’s world premiere gala at the Toronto International Film Festival, Machine Gun Preacher will open in NY and LA on September 23 and then expand to other markets, including the UK on 18 November.

The official poster for Ralph Fiennes’ directorial debut, Coriolanus, has at last been revealed. (There had been early versions all the way back to May of 2010.) This one comes from The Weinstein Company. Now that’s a freakin’ poster! Fiennes as Coriolanus in a face off with arch enemy Tullus Aufidius played by Gerard Butler.

The full synopsis (taken from the play): The people of Rome are hungry-they can’t afford to eat and there is widespread rioting. Their anger and resentment turns on Caius Martius, Rome’s most powerful general, who despises the people he serves.

At the same time, Rome is at war with Volsces, a neighboring state, and led by Caius Martius’ sworn enemy, Tullus Aufidius. When Caius captures the Volscian city of Corioles  and the Volscian army is defeated, he is named Coriolanus in honor of his victory and given a hero’s welcome back in Rome.

Coriolanus’ mother Volumnia, who has instilled in him a strict martial code of honor wants him to become a Consul of Rome-an elected post in the Senate. In order to secure the election, Coriolanus must win the support of the people. Though a great warrior, he is loathe to engage in the politicking and currying of favor that he sees as artificial and a complete contradiction of his personal code. The Tribunes, the elected representatives of the people, persuade the masses that they should renege on their votes and refuse Coriolanus the office of Consul. Coriolanus is enraged and his vocal aggression leads to a major riot after which he is banished from Rome.

He ends up in the Volscian capital, Antium and seeks out Aufidius and offers either his life or his services against Rome. Aufidius must choose between the chance to use Coriolanus and become his comrade-in-arms to defeat Rome or kill his life-long rival .

Written by John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator, The Last Samurai, Rango, Hugo and Bond 23) Coriolanus boasts, in addition to Fiennes and Butler, the uber-talented Vanessa Redgrave as Volumni, Jessica Chastain as Coriolanus’ wife Virgilia, Brian Cox as Menenius and James Nesbitt as Sicinius.

Coriolanus will get an awards hungry  limited U.S. release on December 2nd. the U.K. release is set for 20 January, 2012.