Jimmy Carter: Ex-President, Humanitarian...Movie Star?

Jimmy Carter generated just as much buzz as Hollywood hearthtrobs George Clooney and Brad Pitt at the opening night of the Toronto Film Festival.

He was appearing in support of a Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs", "Philadelphia") directed documentary, Man From Plains which stars Carter and covers his book tour for the controversial book Palestine Peace, Not Apartheid and also explores his post-presidential life during which he's been widely praised for building homes for the poor and for being a tireless advocate for peace.

From the AP:

Taking part in the film festival's first geo-political talk, taped for television, Carter called for Washington to hold "direct talks" with Iran, laid out his vision for Mideast peace and lamented the "unwarranted and unprecedented" religious fundamentalism that has crept into US politics.

In a stinging attack on US President George W. Bush and his Christian supporters, he said: "I worship Christ who was the prince of peace, not pre-emptive war."

"A superpower like the United States should use all of its resources ... to promote peace," he said.

Talking about his book, Carter said: "I hope it will precipitate attempting to find peace in the Holy Land."

"It's one of the most important political issues in the world, because a lot of the animosity (in the world) is centered around what's happening to bring peace or not bring peace in (Israel-Palestine)."

"There hasn't been one single day of peace talks in the last seven years," he complained.