Rourke makes comeback in 'Wrestler'

Looking all grown up in a strapless black cocktail dress, Evan Rachel Wood told a Toronto International Film Festival audience that it was her 21st birthday. The crowd burst into a round of "Happy Birthday."

The best present she could have received had come over the weekend when "The Wrestler" - a gritty movie about an aging wrestler in which she plays his neglected daughter - was awarded the Venice Film Festival's highest honor, the Golden Lion. As hard as it is to imagine Mickey Rourke as fathering the delicately lovely Wood, the two pull it off.

"The Wrestler" is a comeback for Rourke, who took a bow at the Toronto screening. Director Darren Aronofsky told the audience that before hiring him he heard "a lot of baloney" about how problematic Rourke was to work with. There's Oscar buzz about his unsparing performance. Before Aronofsky learned that Fox Searchlight had bought the American rights for the film (news that came later that day), he joked that if anyone wished to talk to him, he would be available after the screening.

-- As Bill Maher strode down the red carpet, he could hear chants of "Pray for Bill" emanating from protesters gathered nearby. They were demonstrating against his documentary "Religulous" - his first foray into filmmaking - in which he takes on organized religion, comparing it to a comedy routine with its tall tales of talking snakes and Jonah living in the belly of a whale. Demonstrators carried placards saying things like "Don't mock my religion." Instead of hurting the film, their presence only drew more publicity for it.

Onstage before a screening, Maher asked how many in the audience were praying for him. He indicated that his own prayers were answered by the selection of Sarah Palin as the Republican candidate for vice president. "When I saw they had nominated a full-fledged Jesus freak, I knew it was going to be good for my movie," Maher laughingly told the crowd.

-- Talking about politics, Spike Lee was as omnipresent at the festival - dashing from bookstores to interviews to news conferences for his new movie, "Miracle at St. Anna," based on the novel of the same name - as he had been at the Democratic Convention a few weeks back. He was pictured on TV wearing a T-shirt showing Barack Obamadunking a basketball over John McCain's head. "Everybody called me afterwards to find out how to get a T-shirt like that," said Lee, who said he plans to do as much campaigning for the Democratic candidate as he can.

"Miracle at St. Anna" is the filmmaker's first World War II movie. It tells the story of the nation's first African American infantry division. The Buffalo Soldiers, as they were called, served in Italy.

-- It was somehow fitting that "Flash of Genius" should premiere on a rainy day in Toronto. The deeply affecting movie tells the story of Robert Kearns, inventor of what is known as the "intermittent windshield wiper," the device that stops and starts your wiper so it doesn't run continuously.

At a news conference, Greg Kinnear, who gives the performance of his career as Kearns, suggested everybody turn on their wipers in tribute to him. Kinnear said he wasn't concerned about mimicking Kearns' gestures and voice. "This wasn't like playing Nixon. Nobody has got an idea of what the guy who invented the intermittent windshield wiper looks like."

-- On the other hand, many people know what Orson Welles looked like, even if it was just from his wine commercial. Director Richard Linklater considers himself fortunate to have found someone who looks uncannily like Welles to play the maddening genius in "Me and Orson Welles" - a movie about Welles' early years on the Broadway stage. When Christian McKay came onstage before a festival screening, the audience gasped at the resemblance.

The film also stars Zac Efron as a young actor beguiled by Welles. Efron is a celebrity among teens for his role in "High School Musical." When Linklater tapped him to be in "Me and Orson Welles, "I was like 'thank you, somebody, for offering me a serious role,' " Efron told the audience.