It was an uncomfortable moment Saturday at a TIFF press conference for Breakaway cast members, as actor Rob Lowe learned that newbie thesp Russell Peters was getting a star on the walk of fame.

“Wait, you’re getting a star?” questioned Lowe, who made his first film, Youngbloods, in Toronto in 1986, and Peters has just acted in his second movie.

“It’s in Canada,” quipped Peters, who grew up in Brampton before finding major success as an stand-up comic. “It’s 25% less of the star you get in Hollywood. But with the exchange rate, it’s worth more,” he added, as Lowe broke out in laughter.

And so the Breakaway presser went, as movie talent from India, Canada and the U.S. celebrated their differences and similarities.

Vinay Virmani, who penned the script for Breakaway and plays a lead character, recalled nervously meeting Lowe on the first day of shooting.

Virmani said he extended a hand to Lowe to shake, and received a hug instead.

“[Lowe] told me that’s what he liked about Canada, that an Indian kid like me can be a face of a big film,” he recalled.

Akshay Kumar, the Bollywood star who coproduced Breakaway, and appears in a video at the end of the film, said it was a natural to make a Sikhs-on-skates comedy in Canada.

“Hockey is India’s national game. It’s not a different game; we play on grass, Canadians play on ice. That’s the only difference,” Kumar said.

Fellow coproducer Vijay Virmani said Breakaway is a sports movie, but more importantly, conveys a young man and a family having come to Canada and looking to fit in.

“We wanted to convey the message of a journey of a young man, but at the end of the day, we had to convey the message through a medium, so we chose Canada’s religion, hockey,” he said.