It was movie nerd Christmas morning today as TIFF unwrapped their first wave of titles for the festival in September and it's bountiful, with new films from Terrence Malick, Derek Cianfrance, Joe Wright, Robert Redford, Noah Baumbach, The Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer and much, much more. And as usual, there is lots of promo material to be found on the festival's website, but our first new look comes from the dudes over at HeyUGuys.
Rian Johnson gets the illustrious opening slot in Toronto, where he will unveil his heady time travel trip "Looper." Featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt all made up to look like a young Bruce Willis, and yes, Bruce Willis, as JGL's older self, the twisty story centers on a hitman whose jobs are sent to him from the future. But his world is turned upside down when he is tasked to kill his future self. Here's the official synopsis: In the futuristic action thriller Looper, time travel will be invented – but it will be illegal and only available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past, where a “looper” – a hired gun, like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) – is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good… until the day the mob decides to “close the loop,” sending back Joe’s future self (Bruce Willis) for assassination.
TIFF kicks off on September 6th, but if you can't make it don't worry, because "Looper" arrives on September 28th.
Another celebrated director making a stop in Toronto is David O. Russell, who'll have "The Silver Linings Playbook" under his arms.
The Weinstein Company first started the buzz on the movie back at Cannes, where they unspooled a sizzle reel that was pretty much the same thing as the first trailer that arrived not long after. At any rate, everything so far points to exactly the kind of film that festival audiences tend to love: broadly appealing, yet with just enough thematic material to keep it from being too light. Featuring a great cast including Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker and more, here's the official synopsis for the film: An intense, loving, emotional and funny family story from The Fighter director, David O. Russell. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence find themselves partners in a secret arrangement to rebuild their broken lives. Robert De Niro yearns to get closer to his son (Cooper), as he tries to keep the family afloat with his compulsive bookmaking.
The film opens on November 21st.
Finally, TIFF will be the place where Mark Ruffalo and Gwyneth Paltrow unveil their third onscreen outing together following this spring's massive blockbuster "The Avengers" (though they didn't share any screen time) and 2003's comedy flop "View At The Top."
Co-starring Tim Robbins, Josh Gad, Joely Richardson, Patrick Fugit, Carol Kane and Alecia Moore, this directorial debut by Stuart Blumberg, the writer of "The Kids Are All Right," finds sex as the unifying theme. Here's the synopsis: A group of unlikely friends are brought together through shared determination to recover from sex addictions, in order to forge meaningful relationships for the first time in their lives.
No distributor yet, but that situation will likely soon change.
