Not your typical TIFF thank-you speech.

In 20 years of coming to the Toronto Film Festival I’ve never released a statement for a film, but I would like to take this moment to formally invite Republican congresswoman from Minnesota and Republican presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann to co-host with me the big premiere of Butter in Iowa a few months from now. [Laughter]

I know Michelle will already be in Iowa for the caucus so we can save some money on airfare and travel. I would of course be more than happy to fly any other leading members of the Tea Party movement to make an entire day of it. We can take some math classes in the morning to help out with the budget, brush up on the Constitution in the afternoon, play some ping-pong—and then maybe some verbal ping-pong—on gay rights, and women’s rights, and especially the right to choose. [Much whooping, and gasps from the press.] But at night—at night we can all go hand-in-hand to the premiere of Butter, a fun and important film where we’ll share some popcorn and laughs. These are the kind of bi-partisan efforts that make America great.

I look forward to hearing from Michelle, and I’m particularly looking forward to those classes on the Constitution.

All my best,

Harvey