By Mr. Will Wong
TIFF ’18 officially has reached its cooling point, but that doesn’t mean that Day Six wasn’t filled to the brim with starpower! Ryan Gosling was out and about promoting FIRST MAN with his Castmates and Director Damien Chazelle, while Nicole Kidman continued to do the rounds for her latest, BOY ERASED. While TIFF ’18 heavyweight Lucas Hedges couldn’t make it to Toronto to promote his three Films at the Festival, it was a pleasant surprise that Singer/Songwriter/YouTuber Troye Sivan could make it for the Film in which he stars. Also, you might want to know about Sundance breakout hit ASSASSINATION NATION which premiered to much fanfare at Ryerson Theatre for Midnight Madness, as we expect this one to catch on in this post-#MeToo climate.
See who was saw!
FIRST MAN – Ryan Gosling, Damien Chazelle, Claire Foy, Kyle Chandler, Olivia Hamilton, Patrick Fugit x Corey Stoll
BOY ERASED – Nicole Kidman, Troye Sivan x Joel Edgerton, an Australian triple!
COLETTE – Keira Knightley x Dominic West
VITA AND VIRGINIA – Elizabeth Debicki
ASSASSINATION NATION – Odessay Young, Suki Waterhouse, Abra and Hari Nef
Expect things to start slowing down in terms of star-spotting, but we look forward to focusing on the Films of the Festival!
(Photo credit: Mr. Will Wong)
Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
Karyn Kusama’s fifth Feature may be one of the strongest ones yet. Destroyer is a powerful female-driven detective Crime-Thriller amplified by Kidman’s incredible performance. The Movie switches between the past and present effortlessly, delivering one incredible and shocking ending as well.
The Movie focuses on Erin (Nicole Kidman) as she enters a crime scene that ties back to her undercover days, where she is now determined to bring in the crime boss she tried taking down Silas (Toby Kebbell). While the story is compelling and captivating, the performance from Nicole Kidmashow-stopping and arguably one of her best performances to date. TIFF is known for Oscar movies, and Destroyer, especially Kidman’s performance, may be in serious talk come February.
Destroyer screens on Monday, September 10 at Winter Garden Theatre, 9:30 PM, with an extended Q&A, Wedensday, September 12 at 1:30 PM at the Elgin, and Saturday, September 15 at 9:45 PM, TIFF Bell Lightbox.
By Mr. Will Wong
The time has arrived. We waited every year with baited breath for those Toronto International Film Festival guest announcements and finally they have been announced! While several marquee titles like Beautiful Boy, First Man, Destroyer, Wildlife, High Life, A Star is Born, If Beale Street Could Talk and Ben is Back embark on their Awards Season trails, Toronto once again readies itself for the massive onslaught of starpower and talent set to shut down the City post-Labour Day.
With multiple titles at the Festival, stars like Jake Gyllenhaal, Dev Patel, Amanda Steinberg, Lucas Hedges and Nicole Kidman are set to make the best of the Fest!
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mahershala Ali and Hilary Swank also will be having In-Conversations-With! More on that here.
Toronto’s own Drake also will introduced highly-buzzed MONSTERS AND MEN, Jason Reitman is back with fan favourite Live Read of The Breakfast Club and THE FIRST MAN will be presented at Ontario Place‘s Cinesphere!
Announced to attend TIFF ’18 earlier today are:
Who are you most excited to see?
Our Team are prepping feverishly for this our biggest and best year yet at TIFF as we get ready to bring you the buzz on all the biggest stars and Films of the Festival.
More on some of TIFF ’18’s most-talked-about titles here.
In the meantime, start planning your Festival, who and what you’ll see right here.
(Photo/video credit: TIFF)
Not a dry eye in the house. See the new Trailer for BOY ERASED starring Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea, Lady Bird), Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe. Joel Edgerton directs.
Synopsis:
Jared (Lucas Hedges) is the teenage son of a Baptist minister (Russell Crowe) in a small American town. Although his mother (Nicole Kidman) loves him unconditionally, his father tells Jared he’ll have to disown him when the teen admits he’s attracted to men.
His mother takes him to a church-run gay conversion program, where they teach the patients that no one is born a homosexual, that it’s a choice. He’s told that God will not love him the way that he is. However, Jared has a hard time trying to wrap his head around these ideas.
See the Trailer:
Universal Pictures Canada release BOY ERASED Friday, November 2, 2018.
(Photo/video credit: Universal Pictures)
Multiple GRAMMY Award-winning Country Megastar Keith Urban returns to Toronto for a whirlwind visit, meeting Press in support of his eleventh Studio Disc, GRAFFITI U. Arriving in the City late last night, he did interviews for most of the day out of his Hotel before performing material from the new Album at a secret location for contest winners. He also chat with George Stroumboulopoulos for the low-key event discussing among other things his artistic process including working with Julia Michaels on current Single, Coming Home.
While he’s visited on many occasions in the past for touring, promotion and also to accompany his partner Nicole Kidman during TIFF, this was our first time ever meeting the New Zealander-Australian. Spotting familiar Fans whom ardently have followed him City to City, he came over to take a few Selfies before rushing-off to his private jet and onto the next City.
Urban will be back in Toronto this summer at Budweiser Stage and also this September at the Canadian Country Music Association Awards in Hamilton!
In case you haven’t checked it out just yet, listen to Coming Home below:
See our Snap:
(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong/S. Fernandez/Universal Music Group)
The 75th annual Golden Globes Awards took place tonight in Beverly Hills, California. With the #TimesUp initiative front and center of our attentions, we saw all talent uniformly wearing black to draw attention to the cause for equality and an end to sexual harassment in the workplace.
Seth Meyers hosted the affair boldly poking-fun at the likes of Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein. In the face of change, he calls 2018 “the year marijuana was allowed and sexual harassment wasn’t anymore.”.
Oprah Winfrey who next can be seen in Disney‘s A Wrinkle in Time, was awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement. Her Wrinkle Co-Star Reese Witherspoon introduced her as being all “a noun, a verb and an adjective”. And even Meyers joked DeMille should be honoured she was given the award. Winfrey recalls herself as a kid in Milwaukee back in 1964, watching Anne Bancroft speak a historic five words on television, “The winner is Sidney Poitier“. She hopes to inspire another black girl watching tonight seeing her be named the first ever black Cecil B. DeMille Award Winner. Winfrey states, “I wanted to express gratitude to all women who endured years of abuse and assault as they like my mother had mouths to feed, bills to pay and dreams to pursue.”. Recounting the story of rape (1944) victim Recy Taylor whose six attackers never were persecuted, she defiantly states that we are at the end of an era, “Their time us up!”.
“I want all of the girls watching here now to know, that a new day is on the horizon.” @Oprah accepts the 2018 Cecil B. de Mille award. #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/hbquC1GBjm
— Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) January 8, 2018
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri scored huge in the Film categories including a win for Motion Picture Drama. Martin McDonagh was awarded Screenplay for the Film which he also directed. He jokes, “My mother really wanted Lady Bird to win.”. Oscar Winner Frances McDormand before tonight had been nominated seven times for a Globe, but finally received her first win for Actress in a Motion Picture Drama. She declined to make political comments but expressed pride that the Film still is filling seats in brick and mortar theatres across the U.S. the “old-fashioned” way. Sam Rockwell, after a career spanning almost three decades, finally won a Golden Globe for his work in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. “It’s nice to be in a movie people saw”, he kids before thanking others involved with the TIFF ’17 People’s Choice Award-winning Film and also wife Leslie Bibb.
Let’s hear it for our winner of Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, Frances McDormand! She’s honored for her role in @3Billboards. #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/1bJOBP3YNW
— Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) January 8, 2018
HBO’s Big Little Lies was a major force in the Television categories winning TV Miniseries or Movie. Nicole Kidman was awarded her fourth Golden Globe for her Actress work, thanking her Co-Star, Co-Producer and fellow Nominee Reese Witherspoon with whom together she brought the HBO release to Television. Kidman despite getting the cue to shorten her speech, thanked her husband Country Star Keith Urban last, telling him “When your cheek is pressed against mine, the whole world just melts away, I love you.”. Co-Stars Laura Dern and Alexander Skarsgård also won for their work as Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress (Dern‘s fourth Globe too!) in the Miniseries.
Lady Bird, which premiered at TIFF ’17, won Comedy or Musical. The Film which loosely is based on Greta Gerwig‘s life, also is her directorial debut. Gerwig thanked her hometown Sacramento for giving her the wings and roots needed to succeed in life. 23-year-old Saoirse Ronan already has been nominated for three Globes but alas gets her first win tonight for her acclaimed work in Lady Bird. She kept pointing-out in her humble speech how her mom out of excitement was in the audience on FaceTime while she was on-stage.
A round of applause for Saoirse Ronan taking home the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for her role in @LadyBirdMovie! #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/fXm4pygZ41
— Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) January 8, 2018
Visionary Guillermo del Toro made a teary acceptance for Director with The Shape of Water while the Orchestra had tried drowning his speech out due to time restrictions. “Turn the music down, it’s taken me 25 years to get here” he said, drawing cheers from the audience. Moments before, Natalie Portman presenting his award alongside Ron Howard, pointed-out how all Nominees in the Category were male.
Gary Oldman was awarded Actor in a Motion Picture Drama for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in TIFF ’17 selection Darkest Hour. In his speech, he told us how his wife puts-up with his incredible dedication telling others “I go to bed with Winston Churchill and wake-up with Gary Oldman.”.
A massive congratulations to Gary Oldman for being awarded the Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama award for his role in @DarkestHour! #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/YyPfI7iBNl
— Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) January 8, 2018
Jeered widely for having made the worst movie of all time, The Room, Filmmaker and Cult Icon Tommy Wiseau got the last laugh joining Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy Winner James Franco on-stage tonight. Franco stars in and directs The Disaster Artist which recounts Wiseau‘s process making that Cult Classic. Franco thanked his younger brother Dave in his speech saying “He always wanted his own Coen Brother” to make Films with and it looks like he too along with Wiseau saw his dream come true.
Allison Janney who delivers a chilling portrayal of Tonya Harding’s mother LaVona Golden in I, Tonya, was awarded a well-deserved Globe beating-out some stiff competition including Laurie Metcalf whom many also feel is deserving for her work in Lady Bird. Janney made a poignant statement about perception of truth in Media, an enlightenment after having worked on the Film which gives us a fresh perspective on the disgraced Figure Skater. It was a good night for both Tommy Wiseau and Tonya Harding.
.@AllisonBJanney is awarded Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture for her outstanding work in @ITonyaMovie. Yay! 👏 pic.twitter.com/tgg72x8p30
— Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) January 8, 2018
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was this year’s Dark Horse, winning Comedy Series and also Rachel Brosnahan (House of Cards) winning Actress in a Comedy Series. The Amazon Series centers on a Jewish housewife in the ’50s who becomes a Stand-up Comedian.
Elisabeth Moss shone a light on Canada dedicating her Actress in a Drama Series win to Margaret Atwood who wrote the source material on which Toronto-made The Handsmaid’s Tale is based. The Series also took home a Globe for Drama Series. This is her second Golden Globe win, her first for Miniseries Top of the Lake.
After four nominations, Ewan McGregor finally gets his first Globe win for Actor in a TV Miniseries or Movie with Fargo. Another Canadian connection, the Series was filmed in Calgary.
Sterling K. Brown was awarded his first Globe for his work on Series This is Us. The rising star next can be seen in Marvel’s Black Panther and reminded his kids in his speech he’d be there to take them to school tomorrow morning, in addition to expressing his awe of Oprah Winfrey being seated before him on the podium.
The ONLY way to start an acceptance speech. 🙌 @SterlingKBrown 🙌 #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/34vexLiKA1
— GIPHY (@GIPHY) January 8, 2018
After getting a nod last year and seeing MASTER OF NONE, for which he has directing and writing credits, Funnyman Aziz Ansari gets a Globe for Actor in a Comedy Series. He becomes the first ever South Asian Actor to win a Globe.
In addition to having grossed almost $600 million worldwide, Disney•Pixar‘s Coco goes on to Globe success, winning Animated Feature.
Hot off its #1 success on the Billboard Hot 200 Album Chart, The Greatest Showman also wins a Globe for Original Song, This is Me, sung by Keala Settle and also Kesha.
Fatih Akin‘s In the Fade won Foreign Language Film. The German Film starring Diane Kruger as a woman dealing with the aftermath of a terrorist attack, received a TIFF ’17 Premiere.
Awards Season culminates in the Academy Awards which air Sunday, March 4, 2018 on ABC, 7 PM ET.
(Photo credit: Getty Images)
Elevation Pictures x Mr. Will want to give Readers a chance to win Run-of-Engagement Passes to see TIFF ’17 Selection THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER starring Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman.
Synopsis:
Dr. Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon presiding over a spotless household with his ophthalmologist wife Anna (Nicole Kidman) and their two exemplary children, 12-year-old Bob (Sunny Suljian) and14-year-old Kim (Raffey Cassidy). Lurking at the margins of his idyllic suburban existence is Martin (Barry Keoghan), a fatherless teen who Steven has covertly taken under his wing. As Martin begins insinuating himself into the family’s life in ever-more unsettling displays, the full scope of his intent becomes menacingly clear when he confronts Steven with a long-forgotten transgression that will shatter the Murphy family’s domestic bliss. Lanthimos has crafted a sensational thriller brimming with unsettling humor and creeping dread, steeped in Greek tragedy, existential horror, Hitchcockian psychodrama, and riveting suspense. Darting confidently between genres to subvert our expectations at every turn, The Killing of a Sacred Deer firmly cements Lanthimos in the pantheon of world-class auteurs and marks him as a cinematic provocateur without precedent.
Trailer:
Artwork:
To enter to win, click “like” on this Post at MR. WILL ON FACBEOOK and indicate for us your City.
Elevation Pictures release THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER Friday, November 3, 2017.
(Photo/video credit: Elevation Pictures)
Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
Yorgos Lanthimos made a big name for himself with 2015’s The Lobster, he now returns to TIFF with his newest Film The Killing of a Sacred Deer and takes creepy and sinister to a new level. The Film is something truly disturbing and gut wrenching, so strap yourself in for one hell of a ride.
The Film focuses on surgeon Steven (Colin Farrell) who takes Martin (Barry Keoghan) under his wing. At first everything seems relatively normal, despite the fact that a grown man is befriending a young boy, until we find out that Martin’s father died on Steven’s surgery table. This is where the movie starts to take a twist for Steven and his family consisting of Anna (Nicole Kidman), Kim (Raffey Cassidy) and Bob (Sunny Suljic). Steven is faced with an impossible task, can Steven make the ultimate sacrifice or will it be made for him?
The Killing of a Sacred Deer is not for the faint of heart, but it is an intense Thriller that is lightened with a sprinkling of dark humour throughout.
It screens at TIFF on Saturday, September 9th at 9 PM at the Elgin Theatre, and Sunday, September 10th at 11:15 AM at the Princess of Wales Theatre.
Universal Pictures Canada x Mr. Will want to give Readers in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver a chance to see Sofia Coppola‘s THE BEGUILED on Monday, June 26, 2017.
Synopsis:
World-premiering at the 2017 Cannes International Film Festival. “The Beguiled” is an atmospheric thriller from acclaimed writer/director Sofia Coppola. The story unfolds during the Civil War, at a Southern girls’ boarding school. Its sheltered young women take in an injured enemy soldier. As they provide refuge and tend to his wounds, the house is taken over with sexual tension and dangerous rivalries, and taboos are broken in an unexpected turn of events.
See the Trailer:
Artwork:
To enter to win, click “like” on this Post at MR. WILL ON FACEBOOK and indicate your City in the comments. Tell us also about a time a good deed you did backfired.
For an extra chance, “Re-Tweet” this Tweet at @mrwillw.
Universal Pictures Canada release THE BEGUILED Friday, June 30, 2017.
(Photo/video credit: Universal Pictures Canada)
We admit a month ago having known v. little about HBO‘s new series BIG LITTLE LIES, based on the novel by Liane Moriarty. Since discovering it though, we’re helplessly hooked. We have previewed the first six of seven episodes and cruelly were left hanging at the end of it. It consumed us fully this weekend and it’s been on our mind all day.
The seven-part series follows the lives of three mothers in Monterey, California as they cope with family-life balance, each facing their own unique demons. We have Madeline (Reese Witherspoon), a well-to-do stay at home mom of two, invested in a local theatre production of Avenue Q much to the disapproval of the local mayor and conservative locals. Celeste (Nicole Kidman), a lawyer-on-hiatus, has a seemingly-perfect life too with twin boys, a gorgeous house and a handsome husband in Perry (Alex Skarsgård). Enter to the picture, mysterious single mother Jane (Shailene Woodley) and her son who are new to the area, drawn to its affordable private school education at a public school cost. Things begin to unravel one day at school when Jane’s son Ziggy (Iain Armitage) is accused of hurting Renata’s (Laura Dern) daughter Anabella (Ivy George). This ignites what becomes a rampant fire as we see these mothers go to all costs to protect their children. Passions flare as Celeste and Madeline rally to support their new friend Jane and the consequences are well, fatal. As the story unfolds we get eyewitness accounts, some less reliable than others, and we learn the deep, dark secrets each of our three leading women are harbouring, leading them together to where they are today. Who dies? Why? Who did it? How? We have so many questions.
Canada’s very own Jean-Marc Vallée does a phenomenal job at the reins here and while BIG LITTLE LIES at times is a bit of a meditative slow-burn, we nonetheless are invested every step of the way. Our characters are richly-developed, complex, aware, intelligent and multi-dimensional. Nothing is ever just black or white with them, there is a rather large, beautifully-messy gray area. Domestic violence, consent, sexuality, infidelity are just some of the meaty matters the series examines with great depth and it leaves us with plenty to think about.
Although Witherspoon’s brand has become synonymous with being Elle Woods and Rom-Coms like Sweet Home Alabama, we really love her pairing with Vallée which as we saw in Oscar-nominated WILD, has given her a real opportunity to shine as a dramatic force. Kidman seldom disappoints and she has shown that when she is in full-control of her output (remember the outstanding Rabbit Hole?), as she is here serving with Witherspoon as Executive Producers, she is devastatingly good. We also really enjoy Woodley’s work as Jane, careful never to give too much away about her character as one of the story’s most fascinating aspects. And we love Laura Dern in a performance that is worthy of top-billing, as a woman on fire in the deeply-angry Renata.
See a Tease:
HBO Canada airs BIG LITTLE LIES Sunday, February 19, 2017 at 9 PM EST.
More here.
(Photo/video credit: HBO)
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