Variety announces Spike Lee’s WWII epic will have its premiere at the Toronto Film Fest (Sept. 4-13), along with a few others, like the world premier of Disgrace, directed by Steve Jacobs and based on the Booker-winning novel, starring John Malkovich doing South African, Viggo Mortensen who gets sucked into the Nazi regime in Good, and Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, starring Michael Cera. Another interesting release is Kathryn Bigelow’s Iraq thriller “The Hurt Locker,” starring Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce and David Morse. Finally, Paolo Sorrentino’s Il Divo, the Cannes jury prize winner.
Toronto is a tad more high pressure than Sundance or Cannes which can exist and do exist well beyond the need for Oscar attention. Many judging eyes are there at the fest posting “is it or isn’t it” nonsense stories. If the film is crushingly bad beyond a reasonable doubt, there will be plenty of folks at the ready to spill the beans with glee. That certainly is news. However, early buzz can be misleading as well; often film fests exist in a vacuum. A movie that will do well often needs room to breathe to really impact Oscar voters. It doesn’t need a lot of people chattering about it long before it ever hits theaters and they themselves deciding whether it is an Oscar movie or not. Therein lies the rub. Columnists often confuse their own opinion and project it onto “what the Academy will do.” We here at Awards Daily try to keep an open mind and take opinions for what they represent in the bodily organ department (everybody has one). Nonetheless, hearing about these up and comers put the heat on the glass.
This will be a Spike Lee masterpiece. Mark my words. The book is incredible and Spike Lee is a genius / great filmmaker. Can’t wait.
I’m eager to hear reviews of GOOD, DISGRACE, and THE HURT LOCKER (love the cast and love the title). I knew nothing at all about DISGRACE (neither the book nor that a movie was being made) and I read a brief mention of THL on the Oscar Igloo several months ago. Nice to see Toronto picking up films even I wasn’t aware of!
Finally, Disgrace!! Other than Blindness and The Road, that is the adaptation I’ve most been waiting for. Didn’t they make that film like 2 years ago? I hope the script sticks close to the book. They really shouldn’t mess too much with any of those three literary blueprints.
By the way, thank you Sasha for posting all of those The Road/Viggo stills. I did a glance back. Viggo can’t be ignored anymore, can he?
How come no one has mentioned the new Blindness trailer that looks fantastic. It’s over at Apple I think. It looks great.