The Toronto Film Festival unveiled a list of high profile films that will use the annual event to launch their awards campaigns.
Major releases include Denis Villeneuve’s alien invasion thriller “Arrival,” Peter Berg’s disaster drama “Deepwater Horizon,” and Rob Reiner’s historical biopic “LBJ.”
The film festival will kick off on September 8 with the world premiere of “The Magnificent Seven,” a remake of the John Sturges classic that was itself a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai.” It stars Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt as gunslingers who are enlisted to protect a small town,
The film marks director Antoine Fuqua’s third time at the Toronto Fest, having previously screened there Training Day and The Equalizer, both starring Washington. Sony and MGM will release the film stateside September 23.
“I can’t think of a better place or crowd for the film’s world premiere,” Fuqua said in a brief video statement that accompanied a press conference announcing the lineup.
Jonathan Demme: JT and the Tennessee Kids
Jonathan Demme, Oliver Stone, and Mira Nair are just a few of the notable directors who will be bringing their latest films north of the border. Demme will offer up “JT and the Tennessee Kids,” which promises to pull back the curtain on Justin Timberlake’s 20/20 Experience World Tour. The “Silence of the Lambs” filmmaker has previously shot documentaries about musicians such as the Talking Heads and Neil Young.
Oliver Stone Snowden
Stone will be on hand with another piece of political provocation, “Snowden,” a look at NSA leaker Edward Snowden that stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and was originally supposed to open last spring.
Mira Nair is fielding “Queen of Katwe,” an inspirational drama about a chess prodigy that stars Lupita Nyong’o and David Oyelowo.
One film that will likely draw a lot of interest from Oscar-ologists is “Lion,” a drama about a young man (Dev Patel) who reunites with his long-lost parents using Google Earth. The Weinstein Company, which has struggled at the box office of late and sat out last year’s best picture Oscar race for the first time since 2008, is hoping that the film will propel the studio back into the thick of things.
After setting off a bidding war at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival for his screenplay, Tom Ford will debut “Nocturnal Animals.” The twisty story of a woman whose life begins to mirror the manuscript of her ex-husband’s first novel stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Amy Adams, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Though best known as a fashion designer, Ford impressed critics with “A Single Man,” his 2009 Oscar-nominated feature film directing debut.
Along with Ford, Damien Chazelle will try to prove that his initial brush with success wasn’t a fluke. The indie director turned heads in 2014 with “Whiplash,” his portrait of an ambitious drummer and an abusive instructor. He’s back at the festival with “La La Land,” a musical that will try to prove that Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling can hoof it with the best of them and carry a tune.
In past years, Oscar-winners or contenders such as “Spotlight,” “The Martian,” or “The Theory of Everything” have used Toronto to propel themselves forward in the race for awards glory and commercial success. The Canadian festival is seen as a must-stop on most major awards campaigns.
However, even as the competition for gold statues intensifies, so too has the rivalry between festivals. Toronto has seen its prominence threatened by the Telluride Film Fest, which has the advantage of appearing earlier in the year, and boasts a more casual and relaxed vibe that some filmmakers find appealing.
They’ve also lost out on several prominent fall releases to the New York Film Fest, which last year snagged the premiere of Spielberg’s “Bridge of Spies” and also nabbed the debut of David Fincher’s “Gone Girl” in 2014.
Toronto brass have hit back at the competition, denying opening weekend slots to films that screened at other festivals. Although last year they loosened those restrictions, simply denying them access to their biggest venues.
There are risks to offering up films for the public before they hit theaters. Last year, the gay rights drama “Freeheld” and the crime thriller “Legend” both saw their Oscar chances snuffed out and their box office prospects dimmed when they got a lackluster response from Toronto audiences.
This year’s gathering unfolds as society is grappling with a series of terrorist attacks in Europe, mass shootings around the globe, and a divisive U.S. presidential election. But the festival’s leadership said that while movies screening at Toronto will grapple with a host of social and political issues, there isn’t a connective theme linking all of the work thematically.
“We are living in complex and really unpredictable times, and the wonderful thing about cinema is it’s both entertainment and it’s also an art form, and it always reflects the times that we are living in,” said Cameron Bailey, the festival’s artistic director.
This year’s festival will also include several films that have appeared at Cannes or the Sundande Film Festival. It’s a list that includes Nate Parker’s slave revolt drama “The Birth of a Nation,” Kenneth Lonergan’s family drama “Manchester by the Sea,” Andrea Arnold’s road trip odyssey “American Honey,” Jim Jarmusch’s slice-of-life portrait of a bus driver in “Paterson,” and Jeff Nichols’ civil rights drama “Loving.”
Commercial Films
The lineup boasts a mixture of more commercially minded fare, such as “Sing,” an animated musical comedy from the makers of “Despicable Me,” as well as romantic comedies such as Lone Scherfig’s “Their Finest” or road trip yarns like Eleanor Coppola’s “Paris Can Wait.”
Closing Night
The festival’s closing night film, “The Edge of Seventeen,” seems like a homage to John Hughes’ high school dramedies. It stars Hailee Steinfeld, Blake Jenner, Woody Harrelson, and Kyra Sedgwick, marking the feature film directing debut from Kelly Fremon Craig.
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