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The fall festival season has wrapped up! Each year, dozens of movies premiere at festivals with distributors looking to launch them before they’re released in theaters or on streaming services. But dozens more are independent films without distribution that came to the festivals looking to be discovered. This year, over 200 movies made their world premieres across the Venice Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, the Telluride Film Festival, and the New York Film Festival, and we’ve seen some big name movie sales across all four.

Right as Venice got underway, we saw U.S. deals for two of the biggest competition titles on the slate, Pablo Larraín’s “Maria” to Netflix and Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer” to A24. A24 also picked up the rights to Venice Silver Lion winner “The Brutalist” in a competitive situation. And some of the hottest discoveries like “Nutcrackers,” “September 5,” and TIFF Audience...

While there’s a few more fall film festivals popping up in the next month, the major ones are behind us, which means we have a strong sense of the films to have on your radar in the coming months and even through 2025. We’ve asked our writers from across the globe to weigh in on their favorite world premieres from Locarno Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, and BFI London Film Festival.

Our coverage will continue with a few more reviews this week, and far beyond as we provide updates on the journey of these selections, so continue to explore all of our festival coverage here. In the meantime, check out top picks from our writers below and return soon for our extensive year-end coverage.

Soham Gadre (@SohamGadre)

1. April (Dea Kulumbegashvili)

2 and 3. Youth (Homecoming and Hard Times) (Wang Bing...

As deals continue to trickle in from last month’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Sony Pictures Classics said it has acquired North America and multiple territories to the drama On Swift Horses starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jacob Elordi.

The company has also taken Latin America, Turkey, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, India, Italy, Australia and New Zealand.

Daniel Minahan directed from Bryce Kass’s adaptation of the novel by Shannon Pufahl. Edgar-Jones plays Muriel, who along with her husband Lee (Will Poulter) starts a new life in the American West after Lee returns from the Korean War.

Their apparent...

As deals continue to trickle in from last month’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Sony Pictures Classics said it has acquired North America and multiple territories to the drama On Swift Horses starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jacob Elordi.

The company has also taken Latin America, Turkey, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, India, Italy, Australia and New Zealand.

Daniel Minahan directed from Bryce Kass’s adaptation of the novel by Shannon Pufahl. Edgar-Jones plays Muriel, who along with her husband Lee (Will Poulter) starts a new life in the American West after Lee returns from the Korean War.

Their apparent...

On the heels of the film’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Sony Pictures Classics has picked up the romantic drama “On Swift Horses” starring Jacob Elordi and Daisy Edgar-Jones. SPC has rights in North America, Latin America, Turkey, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, India, Italy, Australia and New Zealand.

Directed by Daniel Minihan (“Fellow Travelers”), the film is based on the Shannon Pufahl novel of the same name and follows Muriel and her husband Lee as they are beginning a bright new life in California upon Lee’s return from the Korean War. But their newfound stability is upended by the arrival of Lee’s charismatic brother, Julius, a wayward gambler with a secret past. A dangerous love triangle quickly forms. When Julius takes off in search of the young card cheat he’s fallen for, Muriel’s longing for something more propels her into a secret life of her own,...

Exclusive: Sony Pictures Classics is closing a deal to acquire On Swift Horses, the Daniel Minahan-directed drama that premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last month as a Special Presentation. The film stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi, Will Poulter and Diego Calva.

Pic takes place in the 1950s, where married Muriel and her brother-in-law Julius embark on separate but parallel straight life paths, only to discover their closeted desires bubbling to the surface. On Swift Horses is scripted by Bruce Kass and produced by Peter Spears, Theresa Page and Christine Vachon.

UTA Independent Film Group is brokering the North American deal with SPC, and Black Bear International is handling the international territories.

As Hollywood continues to dish out one star after the other, one actor has been drawing the attention of fans and critics the most, the alluring and charming Jacob Elordi. Having gained attention for his role in the teen comedy romantic film, The Kissing Booth, his career trajectory is one for the history books.

Jacob Elordi in Saltburn | Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

From his troubled dramatic role in Euphoria to playing Elvis Presley in Priscilla, Elordi is now expected to headline several genres and roles as far as his recent upcoming projects are concerned. While we celebrate his spectacular success, it also sheds light on his fellow actor Tom Holland’s Hollywood career.

Jacob Elordi’s Impressive Hollywood Trajectory: From a Teen Star to a Versatile Actor Jacob Elordi plays Nate Jacobs in Euphoria | Credit: HBO

Jacob Elordi might have garnered fans’ and critics attention as the bad boy Noah Flynn in The Kissing Booth,...

Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jacob Elordi had to follow intimacy "rules" on the set of 'On Swift Horses'.The 26-year-old actress stars opposite 'Priscilla' actor Jacob, 27, in the new drama film that follows Muriel (Edgar-Jones) and her husband Lee (Will Poulter) as well as his brother Julius (Elordi) all starting a new life in Las Vegas together after the end of the Korean War but director Daniel Minahan was keen to ensure that precautions had been taken in order to ensure the "authenticity " of intimate scenes. He told Collider: " We set some rules for ourselves which just seemed organic. When we're in, let's say Kansas, it had a very formal film language. When we were in the housing development, it had a kind of rigid quality to it because we wanted it to feel confining. When we were in the private spaces with the queer characters, we were always handheld — it was the one place,...

Daisy Edgar-Jones cites admiration as her first draw to the buzzy TIFF film On Swift Horses. “I loved the producers behind the film. I love Call Me by Your Name and Nomadland, so I was so excited about them taking this project on,” she says of Peter Spears and Mollye Asher while seated alongside her co-star Will Poulter in the middle of a busy press day at the Toronto Film Festival, where the film made its world premiere Sept. 8.

“And then I read the script, and I thought it was so beautiful and lyrical and just this kind of gorgeous exploration of love and self-discovery.” Her cherry on top? “When I found out the cast — Will, Jacob [Elordi], Sasha [Calle] and Diego [Calva] — I was like this is such a cool opportunity to be in a period film with a really exciting young cast.”

Set in the 1950s, the film, adapted from author...

It’s been some time since we’ve had such a ridiculously attractive lineup of buzzworthy young actors as the quartet starring in Daniel Minahan’s On Swift Horses. Daisy Edgar-Jones, the tremendously talented star of Twisters and Normal People, is Muriel, a young woman in 1950s Kansas. Her soon-to-be husband, Lee, is played by Will Poulter, who has shined in everything from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 to Kathryn Bigelow’s underrated Detroit. Returning from Korea––and making his introduction to Muriel shirtless, reclining on a car––is Lee’s brother, Julius. Yes, friends: the devil-may-care Julius is played by Jacob Elordi. I have not even gotten to the characters played by Babylon’s Diego Calva and Sasha Calle, a.k.a., the best thing about The Flash.

It’s somehow fitting that the film featuring this group is a soapy slice of ’50s melodrama, one ultimately centered...

Toronto – Queer characters hiding their true selves in the 1950s and early 1960s America is becoming something of its own subgenre. There is already Todd Haynes’ acclaimed melodrama “Carol,” Tom Ford’s “A Single Man,” Bill Condon’s “Gods and Monsters,” and a whole storyline in Stephen Daldry’s “The Hours.” All four of those films also have something in common, they are revered contemporary classics. It gives us no pleasure to report that Daniel Minahan’s “On Swift Horses,” an adaptation of Shannon Pufahl’s 2019 novel, won’t join those particular films in critical or audience acclaim.

Continue reading ‘On Swift Horses’ Review: Jacob Elordi & Daisy Edgar-Jones Can’t Spark This Queer Drama [TIFF] at The Playlist.

“Nomadland” Oscar-winning producer Peter Spears is winning 2024 with two films: Daniel Minahan’s “On Swift Horses” and Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer.” For Guadagnino, Spears has also produced “Call Me By Your Name,” and made a cameo in it, as well as “Bones and All.”

“Well, I think that the more you work with someone, the more you just get a sort of muscle memory with somebody,” Spears tells IndieWire about his creative partnership with Guadagnino at the TIFF premiere of “On Swift Horses,” which he also produced. “The trust in each other goes deeper. “One of my favorite things I’ve done in my professional career is getting to work with [Guadagnino]. I say we’re brothers, we’re sisters. I feel really fortunate to have had the experience.”

Spears revealed that he is currently working on two new projects with Guadagnino. He confirmed that one of the projects, which was previously announced,...

After directing episodes for “Six Feet Under,” “Game of Thrones,” and, most recently, “Fellow Travelers,” Daniel Minahan returns to direct his first feature film in over 20 years. “On Swift Horses” stars a powerhouse cast that includes Jacob Elordi, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Diego Calva, Will Poulter and Sasha Calle. The film is based on the queer novel by Shannon Pufahl, and centers on newlyweds Muriel and Lee who are beginning a new life when he returns from the Korean War.

The chemistry among all the characters has been teased as palpable and infectious. While most of the promotional first look images thus far have teased both Edgar-Jones’ and Elordi’s characters together, she says that they don’t have a ton of scenes together and that building chemistry with him “was not too difficult.”

“It was really important that in those scenes that you felt that [chemistry],” she told IndieWire at the film’s premiere at TIFF.

Rolling into cinemas is Daniel Minahan’s On Swift Roads, a heartstring-tugging ride back to 1950s America where not everything is as simple as the surface suggests. Helming his first big screen feature since 2001, Minahan adapts Shannon Pufahl’s novel to peer beneath the hoods of seemingly straightforward postwar lives. As the director pilots this tour through repressive eras past, a standout cast hit all the right emotional notes.

We’re introduced to Muriel, dutifully playing the part of small town wife, and Julius, a gambler drifting wherever the wind blows. But cracks soon emerge in their façades. Muriel finds herself drawn elsewhere despite vowing before God and country, while Julius connects with like-minded souls at the fringes. Pursuing hidden truths tests their endurance on a bumpy road with peril lurking around each bend. Though pressured to conform, their spirits long to gallop free across forbidden plains.

Minahan invokes the...

By Sunday morning US acquisitions activity at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was starting to grind through the gears.

Buyers were understood to be circling Mike Flanagan’s Stephen King adaptation The Life Of Chuck and David Gordon Green’s festive festival opener Nutcrackers, while A24 announced at the start of the day its US buy on Brady Corbet’s Venice Silver Lion winner The Brutalist.

The Life Of Chuck stars Tom Hiddleston and is a drama, despite the heavyweight horror credentials of King and Flanagan. It premiered on Friday and played again as a P&i and public screening on Saturday,...

The Toronto International Film Festival hosted the world premieres of two new films starring breakout “Euphoria” actors Jacob Elordi and Sydney Sweeney. Elordi stars in the LGBTQ drama “On Swift Horses” about a 1950s love triangle. Sweeney takes the lead role in the survival thriller “Eden” directed by renowned filmmaker Ron Howard.

“On Swift Horses” tells the story of newlyweds Muriel and Lee, and Lee’s younger brother Julius. The story takes an unexpected turn when Julius begins a romantic relationship with a casino worker named Henry while visiting Las Vegas. Director Dan Minahan gave actors Elordi and Diego Calva, who plays Henry, freedom to develop their on-screen chemistry. Calva said they spent a week intensely preparing in a motel room. Elordi embraced the challenge of playing the complex Julius. He studied Paul Newman films to inspire his portrayal and enjoyed exploring life on the road as a cowboy character.

On Swift Horses begins by showing us two images: sex and a deck of cards.

Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is making love to Lee (Will Poulter), a soldier on leave from Korea. Meanwhile, Lee’s brother Julius (Jacob Elordi) has already been discharged from the war and is on his way to meet them both in Kansas, with only his bag and those cards. It’s almost Christmas and Lee wants Muriel to marry him, but she still hasn’t given her answer. Even so, the mood between them is light and fun. When Julius arrives, for a moment, they are one big happy family in Muriel’s cozy, secluded home, which she inherited from her mother. Spacious, lived-in and lovingly decorated for the holidays, it’s the exact kind of house one could imagine raising a family in. But Lee has dreams of California, and he wants Muriel and Julius...

The young cast of On Swift Horses lit up the Toronto International Film Festival red carpet on Saturday for the movie’s world premiere.

Jacob Elordi, Daisy Edgar-Jones and director Daniel Minahan were in attendance at the Princess of Wales Theatre to debut their noir-ish queer love story from screenwriter Bryce Kass, based on the Shannon Pufahl novel of the same name.

Also walking the red carpet were co-stars Sasha Calle, Diego Calva, Will Poulter and Kat Cunning.

Set in the 1950s, Edgar-Jones stars as Muriel, who sets off to California with husband Lee (Poulter) to begin a new life following his return from the Korean War. But when Lee’s brother Julius (Elordi) visits, he opens Muriel up to the world of gambling and a love she never expected.

Produced by Peter Spears, Daniel Minahan, Tim Headington, Mollye Asher, Theresa Steele Page and Michael D’Alto, On Swift Horses is looking for distribution.

Jacob Elordi and Daisy Edgar-Jones brought some heat to a chilly September night as “On Swift Horses” premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. The queer drama follows a card shark and his sister-in-law as they navigate their hidden desires during the height of the 1950s, an era where acting on these impulses could lead to ruin. It’s an erotically charged film, one that features plenty of sex between Elordi’s character, Julius, and Diego Calva, who smolders as a con man who becomes entangled with the mysterious loner. Edgar-Jones, who plays Muriel, the wife of Julius’ brother (Will Poulter), also engages in a steamy affair with Sandra, a bohemian neighbor played by Sasha Calle.

In a Q&a following the screening, “On Swift Horses” director Daniel Minahan said he was drawn to the story because it offered “a re-imagining of the American dream, except through a queer lens.” The...

Jacob Elordi and Daisy Edgar-Jones are heating up the red carpet while attending the premiere of their new movie On Swift Horses at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival!

On Saturday (September 7), the costars posed together outside Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, Ontario.

For the occasion, Jacob, 27, looked stylish in an olive suit, which he paired with a white dress shirt. Daisy, 26, wore a sheer blue dress with a graceful train.

Keep reading to find out more…

They were joined at the event by castmates Will Poulter, Diego Calva, Sasha Calle and Cat Cunning. Director Daniel Minahan, screenwriter Bryce Kass and author Shannon Pufahl were also present. We’ve got photos of everyone in the gallery!

Here’s a synopsis of the movie, via Deadline: It “follows newlyweds Muriel and Lee who are beginning a bright new life when he returns from the Korean War. However, this newfound stability is...

It is the Eisenhower era, a time of post-war promise in California, a place for new beginnings and new love. Into this setting, Shannon Pufahl placed her debut novel On Swift Horses, which was a prize winner for lesbian fiction, but in the movie version, this becomes a more complicated romantic drama, mixed with gambling, noir-ish tones, horse racing and a complex love triangle that don’t all mesh as well as they might, but give this attractive and talented cast an “A” for trying to make it all plausible.

Lee (Will Poulter), an agreeable guy has come home from the Korean War to settle down and start a dream kind of family life with his wife Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones), and for a short while, all seems just fine until Lee’s wayward brother Julius enters the picture after some time on the road. Lee’s hope is they all...

While the just-ended Venice Film Festival exploded out of the gate with two high-profile acquisition annoucements in its first 24 hours for Maria and Queer, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was staying true to form as the first major on-site deals were yet to materialise heading into Sunday.

Anticipated heavyweights like Ron Howard’s Eden, Daniel Minahan’s 1950s drama On Swift Horses, and Anderson .Paak’s K-Pops received their world premieres on Saturday, while Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl first screened on Friday and has sparked admiring talk of a possible awards play for Pamela Anderson’s lead...

Let’s see if those famously kind Canadian audiences can convince Hollywood studios and streamers to bring the indies of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival back with them through customs.

As always, a promising crop of star-studded films are headed to TIFF in search of distribution. Some have tantalized audiences in Venice or Telluride, some showed only brief glimpses of their wares to early suitors in Cannes, and some are on the ground over the next week to make splashy debuts just in time for awards consideration.

“We’re still feeling the hangover of the past few years. The lingering impact of Covid, and of course the strikes,” said Jessamine Burgum, who runs the indie production shop Pinky Promise with partner Kara Durrett. The pair are in town with one of the most buzzed-about projects of the year, “The Last Showgirl” starring Pamela Anderson in a tale of redemption and sequined headdresses.

There’s never been a “normal” year in the independent film market, but this will be the first time in five years that Toronto and Venice don’t have to deal with active catastrophe. No massive labor strikes, pandemics, virtual screenings, or even overwhelming panic about the box office: Just movies seeking buyers.

Now, only one question remains: With this newfound sense of calm, will they show up? As one sales agent put it to IndieWire: If this year turns out to be slow for indie film sales, there are “no more excuses.”

A lot happened while everyone was busy fending off disaster. It’s unclear if theatrical viewing habits will ever return to the levels of 2019 and nowhere is that more apparent than the indie sector. Back in the day, Netflix and Amazon were major buyers; today, all streamers have scaled way, way back on their acquisitions. They...

Cooper Hoffman is set to join Olivia Wilde in the upcoming I Want Your Sex from director Gregg Araki, with production set to begin in Los Angeles in October.

The project features an original script from Karley Sciortino and Araki and is produced by Seth Caplan alongside Araki, Sciortino, and California-based Black Bear’s Teddy Schwarzman and Michael Heimler.

John Friedberg, Joanne Roberts Wiles, and Courtney L. Cunniff will serve as executive producers for Black Bear, which will also fully finance. Arlie Day and Mike Page are associate producing and casting the feature.

The film follows fresh-faced Elliot (Hoffman) who...

Cooper Hoffman (“Licorice Pizza”) is set to join Olivia Wilde in Gregg Araki’s provocative thriller ‘I Want Your Sex.’

The film features an original script penned by Araki and Karley Sciortino which blithely explores desire, domination and fantasy, and will go into production in Los Angeles in October.

When fresh-faced Elliot (Hoffman) lands an exciting job for renowned artist, icon and provocateur Erika Tracy (Wilde), his fantasies come true as Erika taps him to become her sexual muse. But Elliot soon finds himself out of his depth as Erika takes him on a journey more profound than he ever could have imagined, into a world of sex, obsession, power, betrayal and murder.

The film will be produced by Seth Caplan, a past winner of the John Cassavetes Award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, alongside Araki, Sciortino, and Black Bear’s Teddy Schwarzman and Michael Heimler. John Friedberg, Joanne Roberts Wiles,...

El festival se celebra del 5 al 15 de septiembre.

El Festival Internacional de Cine de Toronto (TIFF) ha completado su programación para la edición de 2024.

Entre las últimas adiciones a la programación de Toronto destacan varias películas que prometen acaparar la atención. Una de ellas es Saturday Night, dirigida por Jason Reitman y protagonizada por un elenco encabezado por Gabriel Labelle. Otra es el estreno mundial de On Swift Horses, de Daniel Minahan, con Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi, Will Poulter, Diego Calva y Sasha Calle

Otros estrenos mundiales que se añaden a Toronto son Hold Your Breath, codirigida por Karrie Crouse y Will Joines, y protagonizada por la siempre destacada Sarah Paulson, junto a Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Annaleigh Ashford y Amiah Miller, Shell, de Max Minghella, con Kate Hudson y Elisabeth Moss en los papeles principales, The Salt Path, de Marianne Elliott, con un reparto encabezado por Gillian Anderson, Jason Isaacs, James Lance y Hermione Norris,...

New York-based Wavelength, which co-financed TIFF world premiere On Swift Horses, has hired former Imagine Entertainment executive Caitlin Cleary as director of scripted development.

Based in Brooklyn, Cleary’s primary focus will be narrative features as she collaborates with president Joe Plummer and London-based managing director Dan Bowen to expand the company into the scripted space and branded entertainment.

Her arrival comes as the company founded by Jenifer Westphal builds a feature roster including On Swift Horses, Daniel Minahan’s adaptation of Shannon Pufahl’s novel set in the 1950’s American West starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi and Will Poulter...

Nach seiner Weltpremiere in Cannes wird Francis Ford Coppolas „Megalopolis“ auf dem Toronto International Film Festival seine Nordamerikapremiere feiern.

Francis Ford Coppolas „Megalopolis“ feiert in Toronto seine Weltpremiere (Credit: Festival de Cannes / Le Pacte)

Das Toronto International Film Festival hat 20 weitere Titel zum Lineup für seine vom 5. bis 15. September stattfindende Ausgabe hinzugefügt.

So wird Francis Ford Coppolas “Megalopolis“ nach seiner Weltpremiere in Cannes in der Gala-Sektion in Toronto seine Nordamerikapremiere feiern. Ebenfalls zum Lineup, das insgesamt 276 Filme umfasst, hinzugefügt wurden u.a. Luca Guadagninos „Queer“, Pedro Almodovars „The Room Next Door“ sowie Damian Chazelles „Whiplash“.

Die neu zum Toronto-Lineup hinzugefügten Titel im Überblick:

Gala

• “Megalopolis”

• “William Tell”

Special Presentations

• “Babygirl

• “Dahomey”

• “Hold Your Breath”

• “On Swift Horses”

• “Paul Anka: His Way”

• “Queer”

• “Shell”

• “The Brutalist”

• “The Luckiest Man in America”

• “The Room Next Door”

• “The Salt Path”

• “Vermiglio”

Discovery

• “Village Keeper”

• “You Are Not Alone”

Centrepiece

• “Bliss (Hemda)”

Special Events...

Deadline has just unveiled that the Toronto International Film Festival has added twenty more titles to their schedule, which brings their lineup of official selections to a total of 278 films. One of the bigger titles to be added is Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night, which depicts the evening of October 11, 1975, when “a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever. It is the true story of what happened behind the scenes that night in the moments leading up to the first broadcast of NBC’s Saturday Night Live.”

Another big feature that will be screened is the already-divisive but anticipated new film from Hollywood legend Francis Ford Coppola — Megalopolis. This will be the film’s North American premiere after its debut in Cannes already gave the movie the kind of buzz that people had expected to come from a mind as mad as Coppola’s. The film would...

Jacob Elordi is pulling double duty at TIFF 2024 with two period pieces, but only one steamy love triangle.

Elordi stars in both “Oh, Canada” and “On Swift Horses,” the latter of which just debuted its long-awaited first look. “On Swift Horses” also stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Diego Calva, Will Poulter, and Sasha Calle. The film is directed by “Game Of Thrones,” “House of Cards,” and “Six Feet Under” helmer Daniel Minahan, and will make its world premiere at TIFF 2024 as a sales title.

“On Swift Horses” is based on the novel by Shannon Pufahl, and centers on newlyweds Muriel and Lee who are beginning a new life when he returns from the Korean War. Per the novel description, the couple’s stability is upended by the arrival of Lee’s charismatic younger brother, Julius, who is a wayward gambler with a secret. A dangerous love triangle is quickly formed, as the...

And the films just keeping on coming as the 49th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival has announced 20 movies to its official selection, taking its count to 278 titles.

Chief among them is Jason Reitman’s SNL opening-night pic Saturday Night, from Sony which will get its Canadian premiere in the filmmaker’s homeland. With that deduction, this must mean Saturday Night is going to Telluride.

And you thought Harry Styles was big at TIFF two years ago? Well, here comes Jacob Elordi with Daisy Edgar-Jones in On Swift Horses. The pic also stars Diego Calva. The Daniel Minahan-directed movie follows a woman and her husband who are about to begin a bright new life, which is upended by the arrival of his brother. She embarks on a secret life, gambling on racehorses and discovering a love she never thought possible.

Also, getting their North American premieres are Francis Ford Coppola...

The Toronto Film Festival has made its final lineup announcement for its 2024 edition, to include a North American premiere of Francis Ford Coppola’s dystopian epic Megalopolis and a world bow for Driven director Nick Hamm’s medieval action drama William Tell.

Both movies, including the Cannes-bowing Megalopolis, will get a Gala premiere at Roy Thomson Hall. William Tell, set in 1307 and adapting Friedrich Schiller’s play, stars Danish actor Claes Bang as huntsman Tell, Ben Kingsley as King Albrecht, Rafe Spall as Stauffacher and Jonathan Pryce as Attinghausen.

Toronto, which will feature in all 278 films for its 49th edition, has also booked Special Presentations slots for another 12 titles. That includes world premieres for Daniel Minahan’s period drama On Swift Horses, to star Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi and Will Poulter; John Maggio’s Paul Anka: His Way biopic; Max Minghella’s dark comedy Shell, starring Elisabeth Moss, Kate Hudson...

The full programming lineup for TIFF 2024 has finally been unveiled, with 20 additional titles now included in the Official Selection.

Added to the Gala films for this year’s 49th edition of the festival are Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” and the world premiere of “William Tell,” starring Claes Bang, Connor Swindells, Jonathan Pryce, Ben Kingsley, and Jonah Hauer-King. “William Tell” is directed by the BAFTA-winning producer and director Nick Hamm; the film takes place in medieval Europe amid the Austrian Empire’s invasion of Switzerland.

The world premieres slate now also includes Daniel Minahan’s highly-anticipated queer love triangle “On Swift Horses” with Jacob Elordi, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Diego Calva, as well as Max Minghella’s “Shell.” The all-star cast for “Shell” includes Elisabeth Moss, Kate Hudson, and Kaia Gerber.

Buzzy lineup additions also include the North American premieres of Halina Reijn’s “Babygirl,” starring Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson,...

Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis,” Pedro Almodovar’s “The Room Next Door” and Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer” have been added to the lineup of the Toronto International Film Festival, which made its final programming announcement on Tuesday before posting the 2024 schedule.

The films were part of a group of 19 titles that brought the total number of movies at this year’s festival to 276.

The wildly ambitious and excessive “Megalopolis,” starring Adam Driver and Nathalie Emmanuel, was one of the most talked-about and most divisive titles at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. “The Room Next Door” is Almodovar’s first English-language feature, starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore; it will premiere just prior to TIFF at the Venice Film Festival. “Queer” is Guadagnino’s adaptation of a 1985 William S. Burroughs novel, and another Venice premiere.

Other films added to the lineup include the world premieres of Nick Hamm’s “William Tell,...

World premieres of hot sales titles including Nick Hamm’s English-language feature William Tell starring Claes Bang and theatre director Marianne Elliott’s debut The Salt Path with Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs are among 20 additions to Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) official selection.

The new arrivals announced on Tuesday bring the total number of films on offer to 278 at the 49th edition of the festival running September 5-15. The entire schedule is now available on the festival’s website.

There are also world premieres in Galas and Special Presentations for Leyline, FirstGen and Peter Spears’ drama On Swift Horses...

“Babylon” breakout star Diego Calva is returning to his film roots for Mexican feature “City of Dreams.”

The drama, which is inspired by true events, follows young boy Jesús, whose dreams of becoming a soccer star are shattered when he’s trafficked across the border and sold to a sweatshop making fast fashion in downtown Los Angeles.

The official synopsis reads: “Thrust into a world of exploitation and despair, he’s forced to adhere to the grueling work schedule dictated by El Jefe, a boss who promises freedom for those who complete their quotas. Despite Jesus’s hellish existence, he finds solace in Elena, a girl who was similarly betrayed and sold into slavery. When she goes missing and another co-worker Carlito’s is severely beaten, Jesus realizes that his only hope for freedom is to make a daring escape.”

The film is written and directed by Mohit Ramchandani; Jason Patric,...

Daisy Edgar-Jones has twisted out of the upcoming Carole King biopic.

After previously being announced as cast in the lead role in 2022, “Twisters” star Edgar-Jones told Variety that she is “no longer” set to portray singer/songwriter King onscreen.

“That’s no longer happening,” Edgar-Jones said. “I love Carole and I love that story, but it was a year ago that they decided [to no longer pursue it].”

“I did learn a lot of piano. I think it’s a gorgeous story, and the script probably needs a little more time in the oven. But I did meet Carole King on Zoom, and I was like, ‘This is the coolest thing ever,'” she added. “She really enjoyed ‘Normal People,’ so she was a fan of that and I was a fan of hers. I get so starstruck by musicians, much more than actors, and Carole was one where it was quite hard to keep my cool.

Emmy-winning producer and director Daniel Minahan wanted the period queer love story of “Fellow Travelers” to feel contemporary. The Showtime limited series, based on the novel by Thomas Mallon, chronicles the decades-long love story between two men, beginning in the McCarthy era of the fifties through the AIDS crisis of the eighties. Minahan directed the show’s first two episodes and was one its executive producers. “We weren’t going to make it as if we were making an old fashioned movie,” he says in a recent chat with Gold Derby (watch the exclusive video interview above). “I wanted it to feel contemporary, and the story itself is so relevant to today that I wanted people to be able to say, ‘Oh my God. That’s what’s happening now.'”

SEEPaul Leonard-Morgan interview: ‘Fellow Travelers’ composer

Minahan says he tried to balance the chronicling of queer history with the...

The Critics Choice Association (Cca) presented the inaugural Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema & Television, hosted by Sherry Cola, during Pride Month on Friday, June 7, 2024 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles, CA. The show will stream on June 21st on HereTV, the first and largest LGBTQ+ TV and streaming service in the USA.

The celebration honored the finest achievements from the LGBTQ+ entertainment community, both in front of and behind the camera, as well as showcased emerging and established talent. This event marked the newest addition to the Cca’s series of Celebrations. The Celebrations aim to shine a light on work from historically underrepresented talent.

Sponsors of the event included: Delta Air Lines, Fairmont Century Plaza, Fiji Water, Here Media, Milagro Tequila, Nep Sweetwater, and Starz.

Who:

Host Sherry Cola; Honorees Abe Sylvia (Showrunner Award), Carl Clemons-Hopkins (Supporting Performance Award for Television – Series), Chris Perfetti (Breakthrough Performance Award for...

Nathan Lane came out of the closet to his mother and two brothers at age 21, and says he marched in Pride parades as far back as the late 1970s. But it wasn’t until he started playing gay roles and saw his career explode thanks to Mike Nichols’ 1996 film The Birdcage that he experienced rampant speculation about his sexuality.

“I certainly wish I had been braver at the time,” Lane said while accepting a career achievement trophy during the LGBTQ+ Celebration of Cinema & Television at Fairmont Century Plaza on Friday. “Like when Oprah Winfrey on her show asked me why I was so good at all that girly stuff in The Birdcage. If I could go back in time, the answer I wish I had given is: The reason I’m good at all that stuff is because I’m a wonderful actor but if you’re asking me if I’m gay,...

The mix of actors, showrunners, directors, costumers, production designers, composers, and VFX artists in attendance at IndieWire’s Consider This FYC event, produced in partnership with Paramount, reflected the unique blend of skillsets that have to come together to create a hit show. Artists from properties as varied as “Star Trek,” “Frasier,” and “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” to “Fellow Travelers,” “Colin from Accounts,” and “A Gentleman in Moscow” convened at The Grove in Los Angeles to discuss the painstaking process of delivering the most authentic possible shows to their audiences. And while no two stories were the same, everyone seemed to agree that great art happens at the intersection of extensive preparation and serendipitous timing. (Return to IndieWire for videos of the full panels later this week.)

The day kicked off with a panel celebrating “Fellow Travelers” featuring creator and executive producer Ron Nyswaner, star and executive producer Matt Bomer (who...

Chicago – When one of Chicago’s own critic/entertainment reporters is instrumental in achieving a LGBTQ+ celebration during Pride Month, it’s a cause for Our Pride. Jerry Nunn is that achiever, and he will oversee … as Co-Sponsor and Programmer … the Inaugural Critic’s Choice Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema & Television on June 7th, 2024, at the Los Angeles Fairmont Hotel. Besides the creme of presenters and honorees scheduled for the event, it is Jerry who spearheaded the effort to make this celebration happen.

Hosted by Sherry Cola, it will take place in honor of the finest achievements from the LGBTQ+ entertainment community, both in front of and behind the camera, as well as showcase emerging and established talent. Honorees include Abe Sylvia, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Chris Perfetti, Fellow Travelers producers Ron Nyswaner, Matt Bomer, Daniel Minahan, and Robbie Rogers, Fernando Carsa, George Takei, Henry R. Muñoz III, Kristen Kish, Luke Gilford, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez,...

On Saturday, June 1, Paramount celebrated the Showtime limited series “Fellow Travelers” with a special Emmy FYC screening, panel discussion and reception at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. Gold Derby senior editor Denton Davidson was on the red carpet to chat with stars Matt Bomer, Allison Williams, Jelani Alladin and Noah J. Ricketts, as well as the series creator and showrunner Ron Nyswaner and executive producer/director Daniel Minahan. Watch the exclusive red carpet interviews above.

See Jonathan Bailey on ‘Fellow Travelers’: ‘It’s changed sort of who I am’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

Based on the 2007 novel of the same name by Thomas Mallon, “Fellow Travelers” centers on the decades-long romance between two men who first meet during the height of McCarthyism in the 1950s. The series premiered on October 29, 2023, on Showtime following an October 27 release on Paramount+ with Showtime.

The Peabody Award-winning show was also nominated...

Throughout its television run of 8 years, Game of Thrones has given its fans a whole collection of gruesome moments that were probably haunting some in their sleep for a while, but one specific scene wasn’t that easy for the show’s cast either.

As it turns out, a very important sequence back in season 1 was filmed with such a commitment to realism that everyone involved couldn’t really keep their disgust to themselves.

In James Hibberd's oral history Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon, which comes as a collection of interviews with basically everyone who has ever appeared in Game of Thrones, this story holds a special place as it dwells on the process of shooting one of the scenes that would later become essential to the whole storyline.

The sequence dates back to season 1 when Ned Stark, portrayed by Sean Bean, takes his sons to a forest near...

Exclusive: Diego Calva has been cast as a lead in the BBC & Prime Video series The Night Manager for Season 2. He joins previously announced stars Tom Hiddleston and Camila Morrone.

Inspired by the characters in John le Carré’s best-selling novel, the upcoming second season of The Night Manager will once again be written by show creator David Farr and Season 2 will be helmed by BAFTA-winning director Georgi Banks-Davies. Details regarding who Calva will portray and the season’s plot are under wraps.

Season 1 premiered in 2016 to much fanfare. Led by Hiddleston alongside Hugh Laurie, The Night Manager was watched by millions and won multiple BAFTAs, Emmys and Golden Globes including Best Actor for Hiddleston. Also starring Tom Hollander, Olivia Colman and Elizabeth Debicki, it followed Jonathan Pine (Hiddleston) – who ran a luxury hotel in Cairo – as he attempted...

Editor’s note: Deadline’s It Starts on the Page features standout limited or anthology series scripts in 2024 Emmy contention.

Ron Nyswaner has written movies for more than four decades, earning an Oscar nomination for Philadelphia, and has worked on shows like Homeland and Ray Donovan. He made his debut as a TV creator with Showtime’s limited series Fellow Travelers, a sweeping and tragic love story of two gay men, played by Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey, who start a forbidden romance in McCarthy-era Washington DC.

In the forward to his script for the premiere, “You’re Wonderful,” Nyswaner reveals the questions planted in the episode, directed by Daniel Minahan, as well as the central question of the series.

He talks about the long journey to adapt Thomas Mallon’s 2007 novel and addresses changes he made to the book, including introducing Black characters and expanding the 1950s setting...

IndieWire and Paramount+ are proud to announce a Consider This FYC event to take place in Los Angeles on June 8, featuring Kelsey Grammer, David Oyelowo, and Matt Bomer, plus creators and talent from “Star Trek: Discovery” and “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” “A Gentleman in Moscow,” “Colin from Accounts,” “Fellow Travelers,” “Frasier,” and “Lawmen: Bass Reeves.”

Emmy voters and guild members can request an invitation to attend here.

The event will feature a reception with food and drinks. It will begin at 10:00am Pt and run until 2:30pm Pt, including lunch.

“Consider This Live is essential to our growing collection of creator- and artisan-driven live events that include IndieWire Honors and Pass the Remote,” said Dana Harris-Bridson, senior VP and Editor-in-Chief of IndieWire. “We’re proud to celebrate the Paramount+ lineup.”

“We’re thrilled to bring back Consider This Live exclusively with Paramount+,” said IndieWire SVP & Publisher James Israel.

Editor’s note: This post was previously published on Thursday, May 16. It’s been updated to include more honorees, including Fisher Stevens, for this edition of IndieWire Honors.

IndieWire, the definitive outlet for creative independence in film and TV, announced on Thursday, May 16 a new edition of its IndieWire Honors event focused entirely on television. Curated and selected by IndieWire’s editorial team, IndieWire Honors is a celebration of the creators and stars responsible for some of the most stellar work of the TV season.

Hosted by “Just for Us” comedian Alex Edelman, the latest edition of the event will be celebrated at an intimate cocktail reception taking place Thursday, June 6 in Los Angeles. Exclusive editorial content, including honoree profiles, will also be featured on IndieWire beginning May 29 and will continue throughout the lead-up to the awards night, followed up video interviews and more content from the event. Other honorees...

Stars Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey set TV screens ablaze in the romantic period drama “Fellow Travelers.” The Showtime miniseries follows two men whose love is intertwined across several decades, spanning wars and political events. Since its debut in October, it has received widespread acclaim.

Revealed exclusively to Variety, the series has been submitted for 23 potential Primetime Emmy nominations across multiple categories. In addition to outstanding limited or anthology series, the pilot episode, penned by Ron Nyswaner and directed by Daniel Minahan, will serve as the official submission in their respective categories.

For his role as Hawk Fuller, a closeted World War II veteran, Bomer is campaigning in the lead actor (limited) category, competing against heavyweights such as Jon Hamm (“Fargo”), Richard Gadd (“Baby Reindeer”) and Andrew Scott (“Ripley”). He was a previous Emmy nominee for playing Felix Turner in the 2014 television movie “The Normal Heart, where he was heavily...