A few of you have been asking lately about Ezra Miller, specifically in any conversations around Oscar, as he has an outside chance at a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his performance in We Need To Talk About Kevin which I thought was great. Miller is a strong actor. He could have an interesting career. But the personality? Well, I suppose he’s only 19. There’s time for improvement. This is the story I’ve been saving up to tell you about him from TIFF.

I interviewed him on the red carpet at the gala. He’d already been through the junkets, he’d already given his “proper” interviews, and everyone knows, when you have 90 seconds with someone at the top of a line of 30 outlets or more, the situation is just a dick suck. That’s it. The actor knows it (usually), the reporter knows it, you go through the motions, you hope for a decent soundbite you can send back to the studio, and you move on to the next. Perfunctory.

Tilda Swinton arrived before him. We had a great interview. She was so nice, even though she was sick, and she was fun, even though she spent the afternoon trying not to throw up in her hotel room, I mean, this is a total professional who knows the game.

Here comes Ezra Miller.

I have attached photos for you of what he was wearing.  As you can see below, there was a FEATHER coming out of his jacket skimming his jawline. And red gloves. And, well, the rest. So, obviously, not exactly a boy who wanted to, you know, blend in.

Blah blah blah, the usual two questions off the top: movie related, movie related, film experience, film experience...and then you come to the point where you can go off business and get to some lighter discussion topics. Like... his outfit???

Me: Red carpet at TIFF tonight, you’ve made an interesting choice for your appearance. Very original. This is quite an outfit. Tell me about it, what you’re wearing.

Ezra Miller: Um, these are textiles. (enunciated very deliberatedly. Like TEXXXXX-TTTTTIE-LES) When they are sewn together, they become what’s called clothing. And this is what people wear.

Look, we all have to eat it a little bit when we’re on the job, right? Some of you have to hold back the eyeroll when your boss at the office keeps belittling you during the staff meetings. Some of you have to bend over for that goddamn bitch who got that promotion because it’s not worth it getting into it with her when 6 months from now, you’ll be on her level. A large part of my job is to suck it up when twatty celebrities act like assholes even though in real life I would have given him a slack jawed f-ck you and told him to keep walking. But you bite it back and remember that your responsibility is to send back something usable for the show and it’s not worth pissing off his publicist who may or may not represent an actual A list star.

Me: (trying not to die) Did you put it together yourself?

Ezra Miller: I just bought it, like, two hours ago at a vintage store here. (Said like he would never shop anywhere but a vintage store.)

Me: (moving on to the next generic question) Ezra, this is your first TIFF. A lot of quality pictures are being featured here with some of the biggest names in the business. You’ve worked with Oscar winner Tilda Swinton. Any other stars you’re looking forward to meeting this week?

Ezra Miller: Stars, hmmm, stars. The stars... yes... Well, there’s Orion and Cassiopeia...

Me: (unable now to contain myself) Yes, son, but those are constellations. They are not stars.

Awkward pause.

Awkward pause.

Awkward pause.

Me blinking very, very slowly.

Ezra Miller: Oh yeah, well, Tilda Swinton is the biggest star of them all!

At which point he proceeded to literally throw his arms around her, interrupting the interview she was doing with another outlet, and SCREAM like an animal for no particular reason and at no one in particular. Interview over.

Later on, we hit up the We Need To Talk About Kevin afterparty where Ezra was sitting at dinner with a very, very attractive girl. I was at a table with three other journalists and we could not stop watching their little love situation. It was actually kinda cute. They were sitting on a bench, facing each other and nuzzling noses and whispering, and then our food came so we took 10 seconds to put our napkins on our laps and by the time we looked up again, yes, 10 seconds later, um, Ezra had fallen asleep on a couch two feet away from the aforementioned bench, arms wide splayed, legs tangled sideways, and the poor girl was picking at her food.

Obviously it totally made our night.

But the point is...

He’s a punk.

He’s full of his own sh-t.

Like, I don’t know what would actually happen if he and James Franco were in the same room together. Except James Franco has, actually, accomplished a few things.

Also attached - photos of Ezra this week at the New York premiere of We Need To Talk About Kevin.