Shia LaBeouf’s first public appearance since his July arrest, and subsequent racist meltdown, played more like a game of leisurely doubles than a pressure-cooker press conference.
But there he was on Thursday, at the kick-off media huddle for the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival where his drama “Borg/McEnroe” serves as the opening gala screening.
Donning what we’ll call a sporty running jacket, LaBeouf appeared alongside his director, Janus Metz, and co-stars Sverrir Gudnason and Stellan Skarsgård to discuss the film, about the legendary 1980s tennis rivalry between brash American John McEnroe and the calm Swede Bjorn Borg.
There were questions as to whether LaBeouf would attend, as he’s been MIA since his arrest for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct in Savannah, Georgia — where he told a police officer that he would go to hell because he was black.
But on Thursday at TIFF’s Bell Lightbox headquarters, LaBeouf was thoughtful and collected when called on, which wasn’t often. Numerous questions about parallels between him and the incendiary McEnroe were redundant, and seems designed to give the actor a platform to discuss lessons he’s learned since his public apology for his latest legal incident.
“It felt cathartic, a lot of the stuff that was in the script,” LaBeouf said without getting specific.
McEnroe has openly battled addiction, just as LaBeouf admitted to in his July apology. Both men are known for a fiery passion when it comes to their individual craft.
One writer from an Italian publication pointed out the meta nature of Shia, a troubled actor hounded about his personal choices, playing an athlete whose troublesome behavior distracts from his performance at work.
“This is another parallel I feel with him,” LaBeouf said of McEnroe.
The writer suggested LaBeouf had stopped giving interviews, to which he said: “I’m right here.”
Skarsgard also came to his co-star’s defense. The question set LaBeouf up for the perfect serve — an actor not backing down from the press in room a jam-packed with reporters, though he ultimately revealed very little.
The film’s North American premiere will be held in Toronto this evening. LaBeouf won this set, but tonight’s reviews will tell if he takes the match.
12 Hottest TIFF Movies for Sale, From 'Hostiles' to Tonya Harding Drama (Photos)
Though it's not as robust as the annual Sundance Film Festival market or populous as Cannes' Marche du Film, TIFF is a pedigreed springboard for solid indies. Here are this year's hottest films for sale.
"I, Tonya" [UTA / CAA / Miramax] Arguably the hottest title for sale at TIFF 2017, producer-star dynamo Margot Robbie offers up a drama about U.S. Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding and her notorious involvement in the beating of teammate Nancy Kerrigan before the 1994 Olympics. Buyers are dying to see this one.
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"The Children Act" [CAA / FilmNation] Richard Eyre’s drama has an attractive cast in the firebrand Emma Thompson (who wouldn’t buy this movie simply for the joy of watching her promote it?) and Stanley Tucci, reunited after the recent box office smash “Beauty and the Beast.” The film is an adaptation of Ian McEwan’s same-named novel, about a British judge asked to intervene when a minor refuses a blood transfusion over his religious beliefs.
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"The Cured" [WME] High-brow horror is hard to do, but a category critics and select audiences adore for delivering chills without the tackier conventions of the genre. “The Cured” would certainly check that box, thanks to a clever and unsettling premise: A portion of the population became zombies but were cured. They suffer extreme judgment in a recovering society for, well, eating other people.
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"Hostiles" [CAA / WME] Christian Bale reunites with his "Out of the Furnace" director Scott Cooper for this gritty Western -- already putting Bale in the Oscar conversation after an earlier festival debut. Rosamund Pike, Ben Foster and Jesse Plemmons co-star.
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"Submergence" [UTA] Perhaps the dreamiest trio at TIFF, auteur Wim Wenders will offer up a romance between Alicia Vikander and James McAvoy. The former plays a deep-sea researcher, the latter a water engineer, attempting to connect across continents and oceans while a civil war rages.
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"Mom and Dad" [CAA / XYZ] Giving a fabulous middle finger to helicopter parents, Nicolas Cage and Selma Blair star in writer-director Brian Taylor's super-dark comedy about a 24-hour hysteria that sees parents attempt violence against their own children.
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"Papillon" [CAA] Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek star in a remake of the 1973 thriller that starred Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman -- where two men plot an escape from a prison island.
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"Three Christs" [CAA / Highland Film Group] Jon Avnet sets about the ambitious task of creating both a black comedy and a film that gets mental illness right. Richard Gere stars as a doctor treating three paranoid schizophrenics (Peter Dinklage, Walton Goggins, Bradley Whitford) who all believe they are Jesus Christ.
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"My Days of Mercy" [UTA / WME] This politically charged gay love story pits Kate Mara and Ellen Page against each other on two sides of a capital punishment debate. It also brings them together romantically. Trivia: The official TIFF festival guide labels Page a "powerhouse Canadian," which just makes us smile.
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"Eating Animals" [CAA] Natalie Portman produces this well-received doc about the horrors of meat consumption based on a memoir by Jonathan Safran Foer.
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"Marrowbone" [CAA / Lionsgate] Screenwriter Sergio G. Sánchez makes his directorial debut in a buzzy, supernatural thriller about four children orphaned by the loss of their mother. The lost brood take refuge in an abandoned house only to find sinister forces lurking there.
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"Woman Walks Ahead" [CAA] Jessica Chastain and Michael Greyeyes lead this substantive drama about New York artist Catherine Weldon, who became the trusted confidante of legendary Sioux chief Sitting Bull.
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Toronto film market has awards bait, high-brow horror and sweaty Charlie Hunnam
Though it's not as robust as the annual Sundance Film Festival market or populous as Cannes' Marche du Film, TIFF is a pedigreed springboard for solid indies. Here are this year's hottest films for sale.