Inside the TIFF Premiere of ‘Maddie’s Secret’ With John Early

Famed comedy auteur John Early made his directorial debut at the Toronto International Film Festival this past week with his landmark Maddie's Secret. The film not only captured a significant chunk of the festival's buzz but garnered rave reviews in outlets like IndieWire, where critic Sam Bodrojan described it as a "devastatingly sincere high melodrama with a studied queer sensibility" and "an extremely accomplished debut and one of the boldest American movies I have seen in years."

But what else did anyone expect from the mind that produced Vicky with a V, Would It Kill You to Laugh or his totally singular special, John Early: Now More Than Ever?

Maddie's Secret, which follows food influencer Maddie as she struggles with an eating disorder and her online fame, also features frequent collaborator Kate Berlant. Fans (and hags!) will know she's starred in their joint special Would It Kill You to Laugh and numerous shorts and TV shows together, including my personal favorite Rachel.

The cast also includes familiar faces like Vanessa Bayer, Claudia O'Doherty, Conner O'Malley, Eric Rahill, Ruby McCollister, Leah Hennessey and Emily Allan. Early tells PAPER that "We made this movie (I refuse to say film) at my house, under the cover of night, approximately five minutes ago, so it felt very surreal to suddenly be all dressed up in a giant old theater having to answer for this mysterious object I'm only just now getting to know."

Poignantly, he explains that "Kate hadn't seen it yet so I was clutching her arm the entire time and we cried. Usually at screenings of something I've made, I'm hawk-eyed and paranoid, but on this night I felt light and free." While he's "starting to let go of the movie and of Maddie," he says he'll miss her. "After the screening we raged at Danny's Next Door, a Toronto pizza place that I bet Maddie and her husband Jake would read about in the Infatuation and wait in a long line for."

The night also saw Oh, Mary! creator and star Cole Escola — another in the constellation of comedic icons orbiting Early — fly in from New York, alongside Wallace Shawn, who just cast Early in his new Off-Broadway play What We Did Before Our Moth Days. Early's parent's were also in attendance, with Early telling PAPER: "I am equal parts my mom's unbridled sincerity and my dad's naughtyness, which is also very Maddie's Secret."

Below, PAPER goes inside the premiere and afterparty with exclusive photographs from Vanessa Heins and memories from Early. While he might be ready to let Maddie go, I'd say her time with the rest of us is only just getting started.

"Ruby, Leah, and Emily are like the white Supremes. They really fell in love with Toronto on this trip. They are like heat seeking missiles to local flavor."

"Kate did not ask for consent here, but damn we got the shot."

"My sweet parents immediately after the screening. I am equal parts my mom's unbridled sincerity and my dad's naughtyness. Which is also very Maddie's Secret..."

"Cole has never looked more fab, meanwhile I look like the disgraced manager of the Backstreet Boys.​"

"Totally stunned listening to programmer Dorota Lech say really nice things about me. The suit is vintage Versace and I wore a purple shirt with it that reminded me of Maddie."

Photography by Vanessa Heins

Locations courtesy of TIFF and Dannys Next Door