George Clooney’s “Suburbicon,” Alexander Payne’s “Downsizing,” Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water,” Angelina Jolie’s “First They Killed My Father,” Darren Aronofsky’s “mother!” and Andy Serkis’ directorial debut “Breathe” are among the films that will screen at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced at a press conference in Toronto on Tuesday.
Those films will bring such stars as Matt Damon (“Suburbicon” and “Downsizing”), Jennifer Lawrence (“mother!”), Sally Hawkins (“The Shape of Water”) and Andrew Garfield (“Breathe”) to Toronto, along with dozens of others in the additional films announced in the Galas and Special Screening sections.
Also on tap for Toronto are “Battle of the Sexes,” with Emma Stone and Steve Carell recreating the famous Billie Jean King/Bobby Riggs tennis match for “Little Miss Sunshine” directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris; “Victoria and Abdul,” Stephen Frears’ period drama with Judy Dench as Queen Victoria; “In Bruges” writer-director Martin McDonagh’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” with Frances McDormand; and Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird,” with Saoirse Ronan.
Films in the Galas section include Joe Wright’s “Darkest Hour,” with Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill; “Mustang” director Deniz Gamze Erguven’s “Kings,” starring Daniel Craig and Halle Berry and set in Los Angeles just before the Rodney King trial; Haifaa Al Mansour’s “Mary Shelley,” with Elle Fanning as the young “Frankenstein” novelist; Hany Abu-Assad’s “The Mountain Between Us,” a survival story starring Idris Elba and Kate Winslet; Dee Rees’ Sundance drama “Mudbound,” with Carey Mulligan and Mary J. Blige; David Gordon Green’s “Stronger” with Jake Guyllenhaal as a Boston Marathon bombing survivor; an untitled film directed by Neil Burger and starring Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart; and Susanna White’s “Woman Walks Ahead,” starring Jessica Chastain as a woman who becomes a confidant of Sitting Bull.
The closing-night film will be “C’est La Vie,” from “The Intouchables” directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toldeano.
The Special Screenings program will also include Scott Cooper’s “Hostiles,” a 19th century drama starring Christian Bale and Rosamund Pike; Wim Wenders’ “Submergence,” with James McAvoy and Alicia Vikander; and Craig Gillespie’s “I, Tonya,” starring Margot Robbie as disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding.
Chilean director Sebastian Lelio has two films in the selection: the English-language “Disobedience,” with Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams and the Spanish-language “A Fantastic Woman” (“Un Mujer Fantastica”), with Daniela Vega as a young transgender woman.
Several of the films have screened at prior festivals. “Mudbound,” Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me By Your Name” and Maggie Betts’ “Novitiate” were well-received at Sundance, while Cannes titles included Robin Campillo’s “120 BPM (Beats per Minute),” Chloe Zhao’s “The Rider” and Ruben Ostlund’s Palme d’Or winner “The Square.”
Because Toronto no longer allows films to bill themselves as TIFF world premieres while also screening at the Telluride Film Festival, which precedes Toronto but doesn’t announce its lineup in advance, the announcement of world premieres and North American premieres drops strong hints about what films will and won’t screen in Colorado.
Judging from Tuesday’s announcement, films that are now out of the running for Telluride include “Suburbicon,” “Breathe,” “Kings,” “The Mountain Between Us,” “Victoria and Abdul,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Minnesota” and “mother!” Films that will likely screen in Colorado include “Darkest Hour,” “Downsizing,” “Battle of the Sexes” and “Lady Bird.”
While the announced titles may include the majority of the highest-profile films at this year’s festival, they will likely make up less than 20 percent of total festival programming. Although TIFF has opted to cut its total number of its films by about 20 percent this year, mostly by eliminating the Vanguard and City to City sections, it will likely screen more than 300 features and shorts.
Additional programs will be announced each week for the next month.
The lineup:
GALAS
“Breathe,” Andy Serkis, United Kingdom
“The Catcher Was A Spy,” Ben Lewin, USA
“C’est La Vie,” Olivier Nakache and Eric Toldeano, France (closing night)
“Darkest Hour,” Joe Wright, United Kingdom
“Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool,” Paul McGuigan, United Kingdom
“Kings,” Deniz Gamze Ergüven, France/Belgium
“Long Time Running,” Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier, Canada
“Mary Shelley,” Haifaa Al Mansour, Ireland/United Kingdom/Luxembourg/USA
“The Mountain Between Us,” Hany Abu-Assad, USA
“Mudbound,” Dee Rees, USA
“Stronger,” David Gordon Green, USA
“Untitled Bryan Cranston/Kevin Hart Film,” Neil Burger, USA
“The Wife,” Björn Runge, United Kingdom/Sweden
“Woman Walks Ahead,” Susanna White, USA
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
“Battle of the Sexes,” Valerie Faris, Jonathan Dayton, USA
“BPM (Beats Per Minute),” Robin Campillo, France
“The Brawler,” Anurag Kashyap, India
“The Breadwinner,” Nora Twomey, Canada/Ireland/Luxembourg
“Call Me By Your Name,” Luca Guadagnino, Italy/France
“Catch the Wind,” Gaël Morel, France
“The Children Act,” Richard Eyre, United Kingdom
“The Current War,” ALfonso Gomez-Rejon, USA
“Disobedience,” Sebastián Lelio, United Kingdom
“Downsizing,” Alexander Payne, USA
“A Fantastic Woman,” Sebastián Lelio, Chile
“First They Killed My Father,” Angelina Jolie, Cambodia
“The Guardians,” Xavier Beauvois, France
“Hostiles,” Scott Cooper, USA
“The Hungry,” Bornila Chatterjee, India
“I, Tonya,” Craig Gillespie, USA
“Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig, USA (opening night)
“mother!” Darren Aronofsky, USA
“Novitiate,” Maggie Betts, USA
“Omerta,” Hansal Mehta, India
“Plonger,” Mélanie Laurent, France
“The Price of Success,” Teddy Lussi-Modeste, France
“Professor Marston & the Wonder Women,” Angela Robinson, USA
“The Rider,” Chloé Zhao, USA
“A Season in France,” Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, France
“The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro, USA
“Sheikh Jackson,” Amr Salama, Egypt (closing night)
“The Square,” Ruben ?-stlund, Sweden
“Submergence,” Wim Wenders, France/Germany/Spain
“Suburbicon,” George Clooney, USA
“Thelma,” Joachim Trier, Norway/Sweden/France/Denmark
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Martin McDonagh, USA
“Victoria and Abdul,” Stephen Frears, United Kingdom