Director David Gordon Green’s “Nutcrackers,” starring Ben Stiller, will be the opening night film at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Rebel Wilson’s directorial debut “The Deb” will close the 49th edition.
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“Nutcrackers” follows Stiller as a straight-laced, work-obsessed man who suddenly becomes the caregiver for his orphaned nephews. It will screen on Sept. 5 at Roy Thomson Hall as part of the Gala program. “The Deb,” an original musical comedy about two teenage cousins who search to find dates to the Debutante Ball in a small Australian town, will premiere on Sept. 15 at Roy Thomson Hall.
“This year’s festival is shaping up to be a star-studded event with highly anticipated films that reflect the world around us with humour and empathy, like our opening and closing night selections, ‘Nutcrackers’ and ‘The Deb,’” said Anita Lee, chief programming officer of TIFF. “TIFF aims to showcase both returning and first-time directors to the festival on a big stage, and we are excited for fans to experience these two films — and the many diverse works premiering in between.”
Wilson has been embroiled in a legal battle over “The Deb.” Producers last week sued the actor for defamation after Wilson alleged they embezzled funds and sabotaged her film from premiering at TIFF. In a video posted to Instagram, Wilson accused the producers of “bad behavior” and trying to “bury” the movie, saying “it got selected for closing night of the Toronto Film Festival, which is like the best platform to be a first-time female director. It’s huge. It’s massive. So to have the joy of the movie being selected is one thing. But then to have the business partners that are involved in that movie turn around and say, ‘No, the movie can’t premiere,’ is just beyond devastating.”
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Producers have denied these accusations and claimed that Wilson has attempted to hold “The Deb” hostage over credits for screenwriting and musical recordings. They alleged in a lawsuit that they “continuously attempted to resolve the disputes in good faith,” but added that “Rebel had other ideas.” The suit continues, “even though the plan was always to show the film at TIFF, Rebel attempted to force the issue and bully them into capitulating to her other unreasonable demands by leveraging her popularity on social media to spread these malicious and baseless lies.”
Prior TIFF opening night films have included director Hayao Miyazaki’s animated fantasy epic “The Boy and the Heron,” Sally El Hosaini’s inspirational drama “The Swimmers” and the music documentary “Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band.”
Other movies already on the schedule include Ron Howard’s survival thriller “Eden,” Marielle Heller’s horror comedy “Nightbitch” with Amy Adams, the animated “The Wild Robot” and John Crowley’s “We Live in Time,” starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh. This year’s festival will run from Sept. 5-15.
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