Adventure/comedy Stone of Destiny will add some Scottish flare to the Toronto International Film Festival, which has selected director Charles Martin Smith’s latest to close the fete on Sept. 13.

Based on the Ian Hamilton book, Destiny follows the true story of four Scottish students who break into London’s Westminster Abbey to retrieve the ancient Stone of Scone as a gesture of defiance to British rule. It stars Robert Carlyle (Trainspotting), Billy Boyd (The Lord of the Rings), Kate Mara (Shooter) and Charlie Cox (Stardust).

‘It’s a great caper comedy with a national-pride theme running through it. It’s super-Scottish, which I think will play really well in Canada,’ TIFF co-director Cameron Bailey tells Playback Daily.

He notes it’s not festival policy to open and close with a Canadian film, as TIFF did last year with Fugitive Pieces and Emotional Arithmetic, respectively.

‘We like to do that whenever we can find the right film. It’s not a hard and fast rule with us,’ Bailey says, adding, ‘We just like to give Canadian films high-profile launches.’ This year’s opening film is Paul Gross’ World War I epic Passchendaele.

The $13-million copro marks Smith’s return to TIFF following 2003’s acclaimed The Snow Walker. Rob Merilees of Vancouver’s Infinity Features produces with Andrew Boswell of London-based The Mob Film Company. Destiny is distributed by Alliance Films.

TIFF also unveiled 20 special presentations, including the latest from Steven Soderbergh, Kevin Smith, Darren Aronofsky and Danny Boyle.

Soderbergh will screen his four-hour biopic Che, which premiered at Cannes this year, while Smith’s comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno, starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, will have its world premiere.

Aronofsky (The Fountain) returns to Toronto with the sports drama The Wrestler, starring Mickey Rourke as a retired grappler who makes a comeback, while U.K. director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) will screen his comedy Slumdog Millionaire.

Other titles on TIFF’s special presentation slate include Rian Johnson’s crime comedy The Brothers Bloom, featuring Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo, and Jennifer Aniston-starrer Management, a romantic comedy from Stephen Belber about a traveling saleswoman who catches the attention of a flaky motel manager.

Writer-turned-director Charlie Kaufman will present his dramedy Synecdoche, New York, featuring an all-star cast that includes Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Emily Watson and Samantha Morton.

In other TIFF news, the fest this week tapped Quebec producer Roger Frappier’s drama Borderline for its Canada First! program. The directorial debut of Lyne Charlebois, about a woman reflecting on her life growing up, was a hit in Quebec, where it rang in over $1 million at the box office earlier this year. TIFF runs Sept. 4-13.

With files from Suzan Ayscough