The Toronto International Film Festival has just made their first announcement and it’s a doozy.
Warner Bros. will give their Todd Phillips-directed DC origin story Joker the North American Premiere at this fall’s festival. Arriving on the big screen this coming October, Joaquin Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck, a new take on the iconic DC character.
Everyone has a motive. No one has a clue.
The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson will see his Knives Out, a modern-day murder-mystery, World Premiere at TIFF ahead of its November release.
In the film, “When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan’s dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan’s untimely death.”
The ensemble cast includes Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Christopher Plummer, Michael Shannon, Chris Evans, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Don Johnson, Ana De Armas, Jaeden Martell, Riki Lindhome, Frank Oz, Edi Patteron and Raúl Castillo.
Lastly, The Witch director Robert Eggers returns with The Lighthouse (read our review), which will have its North American Premiere at the festival.
The Lighthouse is a fantasy horror film, which stars Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson and was shot on 35mm black and white stock.
The film is about an aging lighthouse keeper, named Old. It takes place in Nova Scotia in 1890. A24 will release it later this year.
Fresh off becoming the first Korean movie to win the prestigious Palme d’Or at Cannes, Bong Joon-ho‘s (The Host, Snowpiercer) new film Parasite (read our review) will have its Canadian premiere at TIFF prior to its October opening.
In Parasite, “Meet the Park Family: the picture of aspirational wealth. And the Kim Family, rich in street smarts but not much else. Be it chance or fate, these two houses are brought together and the Kims sense a golden opportunity. Masterminded by college-aged Ki-woo, the Kim children expediently install themselves as tutor and art therapist to the Parks. Soon, a symbiotic relationship forms between the two families. But this new ecosystem is fragile, and soon enough greed and class prejudice threaten to upend the Kims’ newfound comfort.”
Song Kang Ho (Snowpiercer, The Host) stars as Ki-taek alongside Lee Sun-kyun (A Hard Day) and Cho Yeo-jeong (Obsessed) as the Parks, and Choi Woo Shik (Okja), Park So-dam (The Priests) and Chang Hyae Jin (Poetry) as, respectively, Ki-taek’s son, daughter and wife.
The 44th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 5–15, 2019.