Steven Soderbergh’s dark comedy The Christophers and The Marvels director Nia DaCosta’s latest film, Hedda, are set for world premieres at the Toronto Film Festival in September, organizers said on Thursday.
Ian McKellen, Jessica Gunning, Michaela Coel and James Corden star in Soderbergh’s movie about the estranged children of a famous artist who hire a forger to finish their father’s unfinished paintings so they can be sold after his death.
Soderbergh directed The Christophers based on a script by Now You See Me scribe Ed Solomon. The creative duo collaborated on earlier projects like No Sudden Move, Full Circle and Mosaic.
Also getting a first look in Toronto is DaCosta’s Hedda, a reimagining of the Henrik Ibsen stage play Hedda Gabler that stars Tessa Thompson, Nina Hoss and Imogen Poots. Thompson will play Hedda Gabler, considered one of the greatest dramatic roles in theater history.
In all, Toronto announced five world bows for its Special Presentations sidebar, which will open with director Chandler Levack’s romantic comedy Mile End Kicks. Set in 2011 in Montreal’s indie music scene, the indie stars Jay Baruchel and Barbie Ferreira, who plays a 24 year-old music critic who moves to the Canadian city.
Her plans take an unexpected turn when she gets romantically involved with members of an indie band for whom she serves as their publicist. Levack’s follow up to her debut feature I Like Movies also stars Devon Bostick, Stanley Simons and Juliette Gariépy.
Other Special Presentations titles set for Toronto’s 50th edition include Oscar-winning auteur Alejandro Amenábar’s The Captive, starring Julio Pena and about the legendary Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes.
Also headed to TIFF for a world bow is Kill Boksoon director Sung-hyun Byun’s latest film, Good News, the Korean filmmaker’s second collaboration with Netflix. The thriller set in the 1970s captures the suspicious plans of a group of people set to land a hijacked plane by any means necessary.
Seol Kyung-gu, Hong Kyung, and Ryu Seung-beom lead the ensemble cast for Good News. Toronto fest organizers earlier announced that Ryan Reynolds and Colin Hanks’ John Candy documentary, I Like Me, for Amazon Prime will open the 2025 edition on Sept. 4.
The 50th edition of the Toronto Film Festival is set to run from Sept. 4 to 14. In addition to the traditional People’s Choice audience awards handed out by TIFF (including the most popular overall movie in the festival’s lineup being considered an instant awards season contender), Toronto this year will also hand out a first-ever International People’s Choice Award.
More lineup announcements will be made in the coming weeks.
