Movie Blogger Calls 911 Over Phone Use At Film Festival

Movie blogger Alex Billington was so irritated by people using their phones at the Toronto International Film Festival that he placed a call to 911 for assistance.

The First Showing writer was apparently none too pleased about how his fellow moviegoers were behaving at the recent festival. Billington was reportedly angered by people who were emailing and texting during a screening for press and film industry professionals.

According to The Associated Press, Billington attempted to correct the problem by discussing his issues with the theater’s management. When that avenue proved fruitless, the movie blogger then placed a call to 911. Not surprisingly, the dispatcher laughed at this complaint.

The incident reportedly took place at Monday evening during a screening of director Ti West’s latest horror flick The Sacrament. The Daily Mail reports that journalists who attended the showing were permitted to use electronic devices in order to take notes during the movie.

However, Alex Billington was apparently a little irritated by the behavior of one TIFF audience member sitting in the front row. Once he exhausted his options with the venue’s manager, he attempted to get authorities involved by claiming the individual might be pirating the movie.

“I’m just trying to fight the good fight even if others don’t agree with my methods,” the movie blogger later wrote on Twitter.

Although some of his bellow bloggers defended his call to 911, others weren’t quite so pleased with Billington’s behavior. Noted entertainment writers Peter Sciretta and Scott Weinberg both criticized the First Showing blogger for getting authorities involved.

“911 is for emergencies, you embarrassingly unprofessional attention-starved stooge,” Weinberg tweeted shortly after news started to spread.

Since Billington’s call to 911 hasn’t settled too well with quite a few people, he decided to quote the late Steve Jobs to defend his actions.

“You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things,” he wrote in response to the backlash.

What do you think about the movie blogger who called 911 because of phone usage at the Toronto International Film Festival? Do you think Alex Billington took things one step too far?

[Image via Shutterstock.com]