Audiences will get a double dose of George Clooney, Werner Herzog and doomsday this fall, following further selections for the Toronto International Film Festival.
Additions to the gala presentations program, announced Thursday, include Love and Other Impossible Pursuits from Don Roos, which will make its world premiere at the festival. Starring Natalie Portman, the film is an adaptation of an Ayelet Waldman novel about a young Harvard grad dealing with the loss of her newborn daughter.
Clooney and Ewan McGregor star in The Men Who Stare at Goats from filmmaker Grant Heslov. Inspired by a real story this dark comedy finds Clooney playing a character who claims to be part of an experimental U.S. military unit. This is the second movie featuring the Hollywood hunk set to play TIFF this year, following Up in the Air by Jason Reitman.
Producer Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu returns to TIFF after premiering Babel in 2006 with Mother and Child from director Rodrigo Garcia. As the title suggests, the film examines the bond between mother and daughter and stars Annette Bening.
Also new to galas is Agora by Alejandro Amenabar, Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky from Jan Kounen, I, Don Giovanni by Carlos Saura and Phantom Pain from Matthias Emcke.
Among the special presentations, The Joneses is a comedy from filmmaker Derrick Borte, starring Demi Moore and David Duchovny as an affluent family that aren’t all that they appear to be.
Organizers have also added a second film by Werner Herzog, My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, described as a mix of ancient myth and modern madness. As previously announced, Herzog is also bringing his Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.
Author Cormac McCarthy, whose No Country for Old Men was adapted into a previous TIFF selection, also wrote the acclaimed novel The Road, which director John Hillcoat is bringing to the festival. The post-apocalyptic tale of survival stars Viggo Mortenson.
Other special presentations include: Les derniers jours du monde, another apocalyptic adventure from Arnaud Larrieu and Jean-Marie Larrieu; Baaria by Giuseppe Tornatore; L’Affaire Farewell from Christian Carion; Road, Movie from Dev Benegal; A Single Man by Tom Ford; The Traveller from Ahmed Maher; and Youth in Revolt by Miguel Arteta.