Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
World-class films directed by Helen Mirren, Seth Rogen and Chris Rock lead this year’s list. Toronto film festival.
The September festival, which takes place after the Venice film festival, has already seen Oscar-winning films such as Green Book, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Still Alice, Dallas Buyers Club and Silver Linings Playbook.
Mirren will play Patricia Highsmith in A Talent for Murder, a twisted thriller that recently won Tony Award-winning Alden Ehrenreich as a novelist who is sent to Switzerland to force the author to write another Ripley novel. The film is directed by Anton Corbijn, whose previous credits include Control and A Most Wanted Man.
Rogen, who was in Toronto last year with Aziz Ansari’s Good Fortune, will co-star. Anna Kendrick in Babies, a comedy written and directed by his wife Lauren Miller Rogen. The film, which also stars Issa Rae, Kate Berlant and Sharon Stone, tells the story of a childless couple who are forced to adopt when their divorced girlfriend moves in with her three-year-old son.
Rock will return to the festival with his latest film as writer-director, the Hollywood-set comedy Misty Green. The star, whose last effort Top Five was also screened in Toronto, also directs A24’s film which focuses on a director who offers a chance to return to an actor whose career was derailed by his bad luck. The star cast also includes Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluuya, Anna Kendrick and British actress Rosalind Eleazar in the lead role.
The festival will also see the world premiere of I Play Rocky, a drama about the making of Sylvester Stallone’s Oscar-winning hit. Directed by Peter Farrelly, whose 60s drama Green Book went from Toronto to a best picture Oscar, the movie stars Anthony Ippolito as Stallone.
Courteney Cox’s Evil Genius will also make his bow at the festival. The criminal thriller, which is the actor’s second film as a director after Tallhotblond, is based on. a true crime novel of the same name which tells the story of the so-called “Pizza Bomber” Brian Wells. The cast includes Patricia Arquette and David Harbour.
“It’s stranger than fiction,” Cox said of the project. “Sometimes it’s funny but it’s also very sad.” A story about love, loneliness, betrayal, and people on the edge who are drawn to something bigger than themselves.
After legal issues affecting the release of his first film as a director, Rebel Wilson’s next Girl Group will be shown in Toronto. The film stars Wilson as a singer who embarks on a journey to reunite with his band which he then returns to by joining a youth group. The cast also includes Jennifer Coolidge, Sheridan Smith, Melanie C and Nicole Scherzinger.
Shakespeare in Love director John Madden will return to Toronto with Onwards and Sideways, a film starring Laura Linney and Rhys Ifans about two people who are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease on the same day.
Other original films include the comedy film Everybody Wants to Fuck Me Taron Egerton about the world of modern dating, the prison drama The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd starring Amanda Seyfried, the spiritual drama of faith starring James McAvoy and Erin Doherty, Takashi Miike’s Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo with Lily James, the coming-of-age drama The Julia Set starring One Battle After Luck Club, director Way Chay Way Way Way Way Way Way. Diary of a Mad Old Man and Up Against It, a romcom directed by Trudie Styler and directed by Antonio Banderas.
Previously announced films include Love of Your Life starring Margaret Qualley, Patrick Schwarzenegger and Aaron Pierre, the action drama Prima Facie starring Cynthia Erivo, the revenge thriller Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother directed by Mahershala Ali and Being Heumann, a new film from director Sian Heder of Coda.
Last year’s Toronto premiere of Horror Obsession became the biggest grosser of all time after making $442m worldwide.
This year’s festival takes place between 10 and 20 September.
