The Hollywood Reporter by Etan Vlessing
The 2021 Toronto Film Festival has added world premieres of The Good House, starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver, and the U.K. comedy Silent Night, led by Keira Knightley and Lily-Rose Depp, to its gala lineup at Roy Thomson Hall.
TIFF organizers also promoted Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World to a gala screening, from the Special Presentations section, as a North American premiere, and added Jane Campion’s Power of the Dog, Netflix’s adaptation of a 1967 cult novel that stars Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Benedict Cumberbatch, to its Special Presentations section after a Venice world bow.
Kline and Weaver, who appeared together in the Oscar-nominated comedy Dave and The Ice Storm, top line the adaptation of the New York Times best-seller The Good House by directors Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky. And Camille Griffin’s directorial debut with Silent Night portrays a family’s eventful Christmas dinner in the country.
Elsewhere, the contemporary world cinema section, which spotlights international cinema, has programmed Wen Shipei’s Are You Lonesome Tonight; Lorenzo Vigas’ The Box, Blaine Thurier’s Kicking Blood; Manny Perez’ suspense thriller La Soga 2; and Steve Pink’s The Wheel, about a couple on the verge of divorce, among other titles.
Another eight movies were added to the Special Presentations program, including Stephen Karam’s The Humans; Chung Mong-Hong’s The Falls; Michel Franco’s Sundown; and Eva Husson’s Mothering Sunday.
Toronto also unveiled the retro TIFF Rewind section, to showcase past festival premieres and virtual panels featuring actors and directors.
The inaugural program will include Antoine Fuqua and Training Day; Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara with Best in Show; Viggo Mortensen and Eastern Promises; and Patricia Cardoso and America Ferrera with HBO’s Real Women Have Curves.
TIFF, set to run Sept. 9 to 18, earlier announced that Stephen Chbosky’s Dear Evan Hansen is set to open the 46th edition as the opening night film at Roy Thomson Hall, with Chinese director Zhang Yimou’s One Second to close the Canadian festival.
Gala screening berths were also earlier reserved for Walt Becker’s Clifford the Big Red Dog from Paramount and Will Sharpe’s The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, which stars Claire Foy, and Barry Levinson’s The Survivor, a drama starring Ben Foster.
The 2021 Toronto Film Festival will effectively resemble last year’s hybrid event, with limited in-person film screenings. Last year TIFF first introduced its digital screening platform to comply with safety protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic.