{"id":3492,"date":"2013-09-03T22:01:40","date_gmt":"2013-09-03T22:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=3492"},"modified":"2015-04-01T09:57:56","modified_gmt":"2015-04-01T09:57:56","slug":"tiff-preview-awards-season-kicks-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=3492","title":{"rendered":"TIFF PREVIEW: Awards season kicks off"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lionsgate<\/a><\/p>\n

By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

The Toronto International Film Festival, which kicks off on Sept. 5, has a long record of spotting films destined for prizes and commercial success. This year will be no different.<\/p>\n

Veteran Time Magazine film critic Richard Corliss calls the first Friday at the Toronto International Film Festival \u201cOscar night\u201d because for three years the film screened then has gone on to be a big hit and win best picture at the Academy Awards.<\/p>\n

Last year it was \u201cArgo\u201d, which grossed $232 million in theatres worldwide; the previous year, low-budget French film \u201cThe Artist\u201d went on to earn $133 million; and before that \u201cThe King\u2019s Speech\u201d coined $414 million.<\/p>\n

As the 38th TIFF gets under way, all eyes will be on the first Friday night gala, which this year will be Australian filmmaker Jonathan Teplitzky\u2019s \u201cThe Railway Man\u201d. Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman (pictured) star with Jeremy Irvine (\u201cWar Horse\u201d) in the story of a World War II prisoner who decades later seeks out the Japanese man he holds responsible for his years of torment in a labour camp. It\u2019s based on the acclaimed memoir by Eric Lomax and will reach UK theatres on Jan. 3 from Lionsgate UK.<\/p>\n

On top of that, the film that audiences at the Canadian shindig have voted as their favourite also has gone on to acclaim and riches. \u201cChariots of Fire\u201d (1981), \u201cAmerican Beauty\u201d (1999), \u201cTsotsi\u201d (2005), \u201cSlumdog Millionaire\u201d (2008) and \u201cThe King\u2019s Speech\u201d (2010) each won the TIFF popular vote before landing an Oscar. Several others have landed Academy Awards for acting such as \u201cPlaces in the Heart\u201d (1984), \u201cShine\u201d (1996), \u201cPrecious\u201d (2009) and \u201cSilver Linings Playbook\u201d (2012).<\/p>\n

High profile pictures announced for TIFF this year include Bill Condon\u2019s \u201cThe Fifth Estate\u201d, about the founders of Wikileaks, which eOne will release in the UK on Oct. 11. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Julian Assange in the film, which co-stars Daniel Bruhl, David Thewlis, Stanley Tucci and Laura Linney and will play on the first night. Artistic Director Cameron Bailey says, \u201cWith \u2018The Fifth Estate\u2019, this year\u2019s festival kicks off with an electric, timely drama that promises to get people talking. Information is is the most potent currency of our time, and we\u2019ve found a film that charts just how volatile it can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

To close the festival on Sept. 15, TIFF has selected \u201cLife of Crime\u201d starring\u00a0 John Hawkes and Yaslin Bey (Mos Def) as writer Elmore Leonard\u2019s characters Louis and Ordell, who were played in Quentin Tarantino\u2019s film \u201cJackie Brown\u201d by Robert DeNiro and Samuel L. Jackson. That film was based on the 1992 Leonard novel \u201cRum Punch\u201d while \u201cLife of Crime\u201d is based on his 1978 yarn \u201cThe Switch\u201d. Directed by Daniel Schecter (\u201cSupporting Characters\u201d), the film stars Jennifer Aniston, Isla Fisher and Tim Robbins, and TIFF Director and CEO Piers Handling says, \u201cWe want to wrap the festival with a fun ride. \u2018Life of Crime\u2019 invites audiences to enjoy the pure pleasure of watching great actors bring the words of Elmore Leonard to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alfonso Cuaron\u2019s astronaut thriller \u201cGravity\u201d starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, which opened the Venice International Film Festival, will have its North American premiere at TIFF before it opens in the UK on Nov. 8 from Warner Bros.<\/p>\n

World premieres at Toronto will include several that have a major British presence including \u201cAugust: Osage County\u201d, a family drama based on the award-winning hit play by Tracy Letts and directed by longtime TV producer John Wells (\u201cER\u201d, \u201cThe West Wing\u201d). Entertainment will release the film in the UK on Dec. 26. It stars Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ewan McGregor, Abigail Breslin, Juliette Lewis, Dermot Mulroney, Sam Shepard and Chris Cooper.<\/p>\n

British directors on hand will include Jonathan Glazer (\u201cSexy Beast\u201d, \u201cBirth\u201d) whose latest, \u201cUnder the Skin\u201d, is a tale of aliens in Scotland based on the frightening novel by Michael Faber and starring Scarlett Johansson. It\u2019s World Premiere was in Venice. Richard Ayoade (\u201cSubmarine\u201d) will debut \u201cThe Double\u201d in which Jesse Eisenberg plays a shy man who faces a strange rival for the woman of his dreams. Mia Wasikowska, Wallace Shawn and Noah Taylor co-star.<\/p>\n

Kevin Macdonald\u2019s \u201cHow I Live Now\u201d stars Saoirse Ronan as a teenaged New Yorker sent to England one summer to stay with cousins she has never met. In the pastoral idyll, she falls madly in love but then war breaks out. Tom Holland and George MacKay co-star. Steve McQueen\u2019s \u201c12 Years a Slave\u201d stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as a free black man sold into slavery in New York in 1841. Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano and Paul Giamati co-star in a large cast that includes Brad Pitt and Alfre Woodard. The film is due here on Jan. 24 from eOne.<\/p>\n

Richard Shepard\u2019s \u201cDom Hemingway\u201d stars Jude Law as a convicted safecracker who seeks what\u2019s owed when he\u2019s released with Richard E. Grant and Emilia Clarke. Ralph Fiennes tackles his second feature as director following \u201cCoriolanus\u201d, a love affair between a mother and schoolteacher played by Felicity Jones and the writer Charles Dickens, played by Fiennes. Titled \u201cThe Invisible Woman\u201d, the film co-stars Kristin Scott Thomas and Tom Hollander and will be in UK cinemas on Feb. 7 from Lionsgate UK.<\/p>\n

Stephen Frears\u2019s \u201cPhilomena\u201d, which Path\u00e9 will release in the UK and Ireland on Nov. 1, stars Judi Dench in the title role of an Irishwoman who spends 50 years in search of a son she was forced to give up for adoption a convent. Steve Coogan plays a journalist named Martin Sixsmith who aids her quest in America and writes her story. Roger Michell\u2019s \u201cLe Week-End\u201d follows a couple who return to Paris where they honeymooned 30 years earlier. Jeff Goldblum stars with Lindsay Duncan and Jim Broadbent.<\/p>\n

Justin Chadwick (\u201cThe Other Boleyn Girl\u201d) directs \u201cMandela: Long Walk to Freedom\u201d\u00a0 based on Nelson Mandela\u2019s autobiography with Idris Elba in the title role and Naomie Harris (\u201cSkyfall\u201d) as his wife Winnie. Twentieth Century Fox will release it here on Jan. 3.<\/p>\n

Clive Owen will have two films at TIFF this year. In Guillaume Canet\u2019s \u201cBlood Ties\u201d, he plays a convict released after a long stint in jail who tries to make amends with his younger brother, a police office played by Billy Crudup. Marion Cotillard, Mila Kunis, Zoe Saldana and James Caan co-star. In Fred Schepisi\u2019s \u201cWords and Pictures\u201d he plays opposite another Oscar-winning French actress, Juliette Binoche, as teachers whose romance sparks a contest over which art form is more powerful.<\/p>\n

International premieres at Toronto will include Ron Howard\u2019s Formula One saga \u201cRush\u201d starring Chris Hemsworth as 1970s British racer James Hunt and Daniel Bruhl as his Austrian rival Nikki Lauda. StudioCanal will release the picture in the UK on Sept. 13.<\/p>\n

This story\u00a0appeared in Cue Entertainment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ray Bennett The Toronto International Film Festival, which kicks off on Sept. 5, has a long record of spotting films destined for prizes and commercial success. This year will be no different. Veteran Time Magazine film critic Richard Corliss … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1365,1770],"tags":[1192],"class_list":["post-3492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","category-previews","category-tiff-toronto-international-film-festival","tag-toronto-international-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3492"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6786,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3492\/revisions\/6786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}