‘Nutcrackers’ Starring Ben Stiller to Open Toronto Film Festival

David Gordon Green’s “Nutcrackers” will be the opening night film at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced Tuesday.

The film stars Ben Stiller as a workaholic who suddenly becomes the caregiver for his four nephews after their parents die in an auto accident. It marks the first lead role in seven years for Stiller, whose acting performances since 2017’s “The Meyerowitz Stories” have been in supporting roles while he also worked as a director and producer on shows like “Escape at Dannemora” and “Severance.”

“Nutcrackers” was written by Leland Douglas and also stars Linda Cardellini, Edi Patterson and Tim Heidecker.

Previous Green films to premiere at TIFF include “Our Brand Is Crisis” in 2015, “Stronger” in 2017 and his reboot of “Halloween” in 2018. That film was the first of four consecutive horror sequels (three “Halloween” films plus “The Exorcist: Believer”) for the writer-director, a streak that ends with “Nutcrackers.”

The film will screen on Sept. 5, the opening night of the 11-day festival. TIFF has already announced a dozen titles, but the bulk of its lineup, which typically consists of well in excess of 100 films, will be revealed in a series of releases beginning July 22.

The festival also announced that Rebel Wilson’s directorial debut, “The Deb,” will be the closing-night film on Sept. 15. The film is a musical comedy set in an Australian country town.

“The Deb” is currently the subject of a legal dispute between Wilson, who claimed that three of its producers embezzled funds and engaged in “inappropriate behavior,” and those producers, who have sued Wilson for defamation.

Other films already on the TIFF slate include Ron Howard’s survival thriller “Eden,” Marielle Heller’s horror film “Nightbitch” with Amy Adams, Chris Sanders’ animated “The Wild Robot,” John Crowley’s “We Live in Time” with Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh, Mike Flanagan’s Stephen King adaptation “The Life of Chuck,” Anderson .Paak’s film debut “K-POPS!” and R.J. Cutler and David Furnish’s documentary “Elton John: Never Too Late.”

The opening night film at Toronto is generally not one of the highest profile or more successful films at the festival, though last year’s selection, the Oscar-winning animated film “The Boy and the Heron,” was an exception. Other recent TIFF openers include “The Swimmers,” “Dear Evan Hansen,” “The Outlaw King,” “The Magnificent Seven” and the music documentaries “American Utopia” and “Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band.”

The festival will run from Sept. 5-15.

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