Nutcrackers, David Gordon Green’s new comedy starring Ben Stiller opens the 2024 Toronto Film Festival on September 5.
The TIFF opener, which marks Stiller’s first starring role in a film since Mike White’s Brad’s status and Noah Baumbach’s Netflix family drama The Meyerowitz Stories in 2017 — will have its world premiere at Roy Thomson Hall, which will be packed with regular moviegoers (and not just film industry people as in Cannes and Venice).
Written by Leland Douglas, Nutcrackers follows Mike (Stiller), a straight-laced workaholic who must travel to rural Ohio to care for his four nephews after their parents die in a car accident. After weeks of chaos on the farm, Mike realizes he doesn’t need to find a new home for the orphans. They’ve found a new home for him.
Nutcrackers — featuring an ensemble cast including Linda Cardellini, Edi Patterson, Tim Heidecker and Toby Huss — is expected to have a star-studded roster when Gordon Green leads his Hollywood cast down the red carpet outside Roy Thompson Hall on opening night.
Rivulet financed and produced Nutcrackers along with Stiller’s Rough House Pictures banner. The Night at the museum actor was in Toronto in 2017 for the premiere of Mike White’s father-son film Brad’s status. UTA Independent Film Group handles sales.
Toronto also announced Tuesday that The DebRebel Wilson’s directorial debut and an adaptation of the hit Australian musical of the same name will close out the 2024 edition. The film follows beloved farm girl and high school outcast Taylah Simpkins (Natalie Abbott), who is convinced that the upcoming Debutante Ball, “the Deb,” is her one chance to redefine herself.
When her cynical town cousin Maeve (Charlotte MacInnes) is banished to Taylah’s drought-stricken town of Dunburn, she thinks the ball is a “heteronormative shitshow” and immediately disrupts the status quo. In their quest for the spotlight, Taylah and Maeve dig deep to find self-acceptance – and a date with the Deb.
The Deb is produced in association with Rebel Wilson’s Camp Sugar Productions (Final year, The Hustle) and award-winning Australian producer Bunya Productions (The Cattle Driver’s Wife, Mystery Road). Danny Cohen is an executive producer on behalf of Blavatnik’s Access Entertainment.
To get The Deb to Toronto wasn’t an easy journey, as Wilson has been sued for defamation by three producers behind her directorial debut after she accused them of sexual harassment and embezzlement. Producers Amanda Ghost, Gregor Cameron and Vince Holden allege in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court that Wilson lied in an attempt to The Deb at TIFF and receive a writing credit on the film.
Wilson, for her part, took to Instagram on Tuesday to applaud her film for landing a spot in Toronto: “Beyond grateful that The Deb will be shared with Toronto audiences in September! Thank you TIFF for selecting a film so close to my heart, a film that I, as a first-time female director, fought to make – to the cast and crew, and to my amazing fans, thank you for your continued love and support! Let’s go to Toronto!!”
Despite The Deb Now that the film has been selected to debut at TIFF, producers are still wary, as the film is embroiled in numerous credit and licensing disputes, reportedly instigated by Wilson.
Picking Nutcrackers as his opener and The Deb while the closer follows a Toronto tradition of leaning on mainstream crowd-pleasers to close out the September event. “This year’s festival is shaping up to be a star-studded event featuring highly anticipated films that reflect the world around us with humor and empathy, like our opening and closing night selections, Nutcrackers And The Deb“, said Anita Lee, head of programming at the Toronto festival, in a statement.
Final film from Japanese anime legend Hayao Miyazaki The boy and the heron TIFF opened its 48th edition a year ago. And the 2022 festival kicked off with the Netflix refugee drama The swimmers, Inspirational film by Sally El Hosaini about the journey of real sisters from war-torn Syria to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
This year’s 49th Toronto Film Festival will take place from September 5 to 10. TIFF previously added Ron Howard’s survival thriller EdenAnderson .Paak’s K-popsSophie Deraspe’s ShepherdsAnd Superboys of Malegaon, by Indian director Reema Kagti, added to the 2024 line-up.
Other titles already booked in Toronto include world premieres for Elton John: Never Too Latefrom directors David Furnish and RJ Cutler, Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck and that of Marielle Heller Night Bitchstarring Amy Adams as a housewife whose domestic life takes a surreal turn.