#ANNA METRO EXODUS MOVIE#

#ANNA METRO EXODUS MOVIE#

“The irony is that the message of our movie - which is so much about the discontent going on in our country with the wealth disparity - is timely,” says Gillespie.

To him, “Dumb Money” - a farcical tale of high-finance rebellion starring Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Pete Davidson and America Ferrera - in some ways reflects the battles actors and screenwriters are waging with Hollywood studios. “The crowd, they’re so receptive,” Gillespie says. Gillespie, whose feature debut “Lars and the Real Girl” premiered at TIFF and whose “I, Tonya” was the most sought-after acquisition of the 2017 festival, knows what a warm reception in Toronto can mean for a movie. What might pop this year? Craig Gillespie’s “Dumb Money,” an entertaining portrayal of the GameStop stock frenzy, should be a hit with TIFF audiences.

Year after year, that winner has gone on to be a best-picture nominee, whether “Green Book,” “Nomadland” or last year’s “The Fabelmans.” Its top award, the audience award, is voted on by attendees. Because - unlike Cannes or Venice - TIFF audiences are packed with moviegoers and not just industry people, Toronto has an enviable record of hosting both the best in global cinema and crowd-pleasing hits. And Toronto is arguably the premier buzz factory in movies. “We’re on track to match or even better last year’s audience numbers.”īut less star power inevitably means less buzz. “What we found was that in terms of the lineup and our audience’s interest in seeing the films, very little changed,” says Bailey. Wolfe’s “Rustin” and Andrew Haig’s “All of Us Strangers” have been much celebrated.Īt Toronto, Bailey grants the absence of actors has a cascading effect on other parts of the festival - the amount of media that makes the trip, the number of industry members on hand and the press junkets that fill up hotel floors throughout downtown Toronto. Out of the recent Telluride Film Festival, which has always focused more on movies themselves than the circus of larger festivals, Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers,” George C. Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” was a sensation in Venice. Word is still getting out on many of the breakout films. Even though Bradley Cooper could have come to Venice as a director for his Leonard Bernstein biopic “Maestro,” in which he also stars, Cooper elected not to hit the Lido with his Oscar contender. Adam Driver, who stars in the independently made Michael Mann film “Ferrari,” wondered why “a smaller distribution company like Neon and STX can meet the dream demands of what SAG is asking for … but a big company like Netflix and Amazon can't?”īut most stars have simply stayed home. Lead juror Damien Chazelle wore a writers guild shirt to the opening press conference. The dual strikes have already taken the spotlight at the Venice Film Festival. But I think they’re doing the right thing at the right time. “It is a shame that they’re not going to be with us when we premiere in Toronto, but it is what it is. Directed by “Harry Potter” filmmaker David Yates, it boasts a starry cast led by Emily Blunt and Chris Evans as pharmaceutical drug reps in the early days of the opioid epidemic. Films come to a festival like Toronto looking to make as big a splash as possible, and announce themselves to moviegoers and Oscar voters.Ī movie like “The Pain Hustlers” could have expected to cause quite a stir. And it’s not only about the photo opportunities.

Independent productions have the chance of securing interim agreements from SAG-AFTRA.īut the biggest film festivals depend on having red carpets flush with stars. Documentaries and their subjects will still there. Some performers are still coming to the 48th annual TIFF, which opens Thursday night with Hayao Miyazaki’s long-awaited “The Boy and the Heron.” Filmmakers will be present. And we put some of those same measures at the beginning of the news about the actors strike.” We have good experience from recent years in terms of handling how the COVID pandemic affected us. “You have to respond to what the year gives you. “This is the nature of running a festival,” Bailey says.

Now, TIFF was faced with a sudden eclipse of star power. TORONTO (AP) - When the Hollywood actors union announced a strike this summer, Cameron Bailey, the longtime chief executive of the Toronto International Film Festival, dusted off his COVID-19 playbook.įor two years, TIFF, the largest film festival in North America, had maneuvered through pandemic editions that persevered, one way or another, through travel restrictions, social distancing measures and other upheavals.

Anna metro exodus