Annual Toronto International Film Festival showcases hundreds of new films and a ton of famous faces
STARRY SKIES
Put down that People magazine. Turn off “Entertainment Tonight.” If you want to get close to the stars, then come to the party. The Toronto International Film Festival rolls out the red carpet on Thursday for the stars and ordinary folks alike.
Whether you’re buying a ticket to see one of the more than 300 movies being shown throughout the 10-day event; listening to filmmakers and actors discuss their crafts; or enjoying the free performances in Yonge- Dundas Square, there will be no shortage of Hollywood glitz and glamour to soak up during the 33rd annual festival.
For some, TIFF is all about one thing: stargazing.
The festival’s staggering guest list of more than 500 celebrities is filled with today’s hottest stars and filmmakers, renowned masters of cinema, up-and-comers, hallowed rock stars and even an athlete or two.
Check it out: Brad Pitt, Charlize Theron, Jennifer Aniston, Ed Harris, Ethan Hawke, Gerard Butler, Greg Kinnear, Anne Hathaway, Antonio Banderas, Julianne Moore, Kate Beckinsale, Matt Damon, Ralph Fiennes, Renee Zellweger, Viggo Mortensen, the Edge from the rock supergroup U2 and basketball phenom LeBron James.
Did I leave anyone out? Yes, hundreds.
Claire Danes, Colin Farrell, Debra Winger, David Schwimmer, Alicia Keys, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Smith, Laura Linney, Lauren Graham, Evangeline Lilly, Liam Neeson, Mark Ruffalo, Marisa Tomei and a guitarist named Jimmy Page. (If you’re favorite isn’t listed here, check out the full list on the fest’s official Web site at www.tiff08.ca .) In fact, let’s play a connect-the-stars game. Start with Colin Firth. The sexy Brit will be on hand in support of two world premiere films: “Easy Virtue,” an adaptation of the Noel Coward play that also features Jessica Biel and Kristin Scott Thomas, as well as Michael Winterbottom’s “Genova,” with Hope Davis and Catherine Keener.
Keener, who stars in Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York,” will be in Toronto –so will Kaufman, the mastermind behind “Being John Malkovich.” Speaking of Malkovich, he’s there for the North American premiere of Ethan and Joel Coen’s “Burn After Reading,” the much-anticipated film also starring Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton.
Ah, Mr. Pitt. His attendance already has the paparazzi salivating at the thought of Pitt being accompanied by a certain Ms. Jolie. (They were the hot sighting last year when they walked the red carpet for “The Assassination of Jesse James.”)
Significant others, in fact, could be some of the hottest sightings especially, say, if Madonna is there with hubby Guy Ritchie, who is showing “RocknRolla.”
Though we don’t know yet if Jessica Biel is bringing Justin Timberlake or if David Duchovny will accompany his wife, actress Tea Leoni, there are a few celebrity couplings already confirmed: actors and partners Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins will be there, as well as actress Rachel Weisz and filmmaker Darren Aronofsky. (Weisz has the film “The Brothers Bloom,” while Aronofsky will have the North American premiere of “The Wrestler,” starring Mickey Rourke, Evan Rachel Wood and Marisa Tomei.)
Don’t forget the movies
Try not to be blinded by the dazzling star power to the point that you’ll miss the real festival VIPs: the movies. The 312 films being shown on 36 screens through the city’s Yorkville area include 101 world premieres and 108 North American premieres.
Lest you think film festivals are just for artsy flicks, think about this: the first chance Western New Yorkers had to see four of the five best picture nominees at the recent Academy Awards, was at the 2007 festival (“Atonement,” “Juno,” “Michael Clayton” and “No Country for Old Men”). That wasn’t a fluke. Past festivals have shown such Oscar-winning films as “Brokeback Mountain,” “The Departed,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Crash,” “American Beauty,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “The Big Chill.”
The TIFF movies are broken down into 16 categories including gala presentations (high-profile showcases); special presentations (movies with major stars and directors); the Masters program (new works by some of the world’s most renowned filmmakers); Contemporary World Cinema; Vanguard (a spotlight on bold filmmakers); Wavelengths (avant-garde movies); Visions (brazen, innovative films); the Sprockets Family Zone; documentaries; and the self-explanatory “Midnight Madness.”
TIFF opens Thursday with the World War I drama, “Passchendaele,” directed by and starring Paul Gross, a Canadian you may best know from starring in television’s “Due South” or “Slings & Arrows.” It closes with the North American premiere of “Stone of Destiny,” written and directed by Charles Martin Smith and starring Robert Carlyle, Billy Boyd and Brenda Fricker.
Between those two films is quite a lineup.
World premieres include “Appaloosa,” a Western directed by and starring Ed Harris and with a cast including Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zellweger and Jeremy Irons; Deepa Mehta’s “Heaven on Earth,” starring Bollywood superstar Preity Zinta; “Management,” a romantic comedy starring the unlikely pairing of Jennifer Aniston and Steven Zahn; Richard Linklater’s “Me and Orson Welles” with Zac Efron, Claire Danes and Ben Chaplin; “Slumdog Millionaire” from visionary director Danny Boyle; Richard Eyre’s “The Other Man” starring Liam Neeson, Laura Linney and Antonio Banderas; and Kevin Smith’s ratings-challenged “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” with Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks.
Other films of note:
• “The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond” is based on a rediscovered original screenplay by Tennessee Williams. Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Evans, Ellen Burstyn and Ann-Margret star for director Jodie Markell.
• “Che” is the ambitious, two-part, four-hour epic from director Steven Soderbergh about the Latin American revolutionary. Benicio Del Toro plays the title role.
• French filmmaker Claire Denis returns for the North American premiere of “35 Rhums.”
• Anne Hathaway and Rosemarie DeWitt star as two very different sisters in Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme’s “Rachel Getting Married.”
• “Gavin O’Connor’s “Pride and Glory” stars Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Jennifer Ehle and Jon Voight in a multigenerational tale about a New York City police family.
• Kate Beckinsale stars as a Washington, D. C., reporter who refuses to divulge her sources in Rod Lurie’s political thriller “Nothing But the Truth.” It also stars Alan Alda, David Schwimmer and Angela Bassett.
• Orlando Bloom, Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Brett Ratner are among the 12 international filmmakers who created a short film for “New York, I Love You,” a homage to the Big Apple.
• Barbet Schroeder’s new thriller “Inju, la bete dans l’ombre” has its North American premiere at the festival.
• Rachel McAdams, Tim Robbins and Michael Pena star as returning U. S. soliders who take a road trip across the country in “The Lucky Ones” from director Neil Burger (“The Illusionist”).
• Kristen Scott Thomas stars in Philippe Claudel’s French hit, “I’ve Loved You So Long.”
• Jean-Claude Van Damme plays a down-on-his-luck Jean-Claude Van Damme who gets caught in the middle of a heist in “JCVD,” part of
“Midnight Madness.” Even the documentary category is star-studded this year: “Paris, Not
France” is Adria Petty’s documentary on Paris Hilton; “It Might Get Loud” is a profile of guitarists Jimmy Page, the Edge and Jack White by David Guggenheim, the Oscar-winning director of “An Inconvenient Truth”; and Kristopher Belman followed a high school basketball team in Akron, Ohio, for his documentary “More Than a Game.” Talk about foresight: the team featured young NBA phenom LeBron James.
The “Mavericks” portion of the festival features director Kathryn Bigelow discussing her latest film, “The Hurt Locker,” and a preview of playwright and social activist Howard Zinn’s documentary “Voices of a People’s History of the United States,” followed by a conversation with Zinn, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and Chris Moore.
The free outdoor programming at Yonge-Dundas Square includes a free concert at 6 p. m. Saturday by Youssou N’Dour and Le Super Etoile for his film, “Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love”; an invitational slam dunk competition featuring an appearance by LeBron James at 1 p. m. Saturday; cast members from “A Chorus Line” perform in support of the documentary “Every Little Step” at 2 p. m. next Sunday; screenings of “That’s Entertainment!” at 8:30 p. m. Sept. 7 and “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse” at 8:30 p. m. Sept. 10; a performance by Terence Blanchard, who wrote the score for Spike Lee’s “Miracle of St. Anna,” at 8:30 p. m. Sept. 8; and a festival wrap party at 8 p. m. Sept. 13.
