(Toronto) Three of the films world premiering this weekend at the Toronto International Film Festival are the work of past, sometimes long-time actors behind the camera – Taika Waititi, Michael Keaton and Tony Goldwyn.
From independent cinema successes to big Hollywood productions, Oscar 2020 for best screenplay for Jojo RabbitNew Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi, 48, won acclaim in Toronto for his sports comedy, A dream team.
The film tells the story of the American Samoa football team which entrusts its fate to Dutch coach Thomas Rongen, played by Michael Fassbender, after having accumulated defeats and in the hope of qualifying for a World Cup.
The team, which was the subject of a British documentary in 2014, featured an obese midfielder, a player who smoked in training and FIFA’s first recognized transgender player, Jaiyah Saelua, born John Saelua.
Saelua is a “fa ‘afafine” according to the Polynesian tradition – a person born male, but who most often cross-dresses and occupies the place of a woman in society.
“I wanted to tell this story because it is heartwarming,” the filmmaker of Jewish and Maori descent said on the red carpet. “I had never tried to make a sports film, I just wanted to give myself a new challenge and get out of my comfort zone”.
Jojo Rabbitwhere he played Hitler, won the audience award at the Toronto festival in September 2019.
“For me, the most important thing is to put ourselves on the screen – I mean Polynesians, Pacific Islanders, because we are often overlooked when it comes to diversity,” he said. -he continued.
Michael Keaton, with Knox Goes Away which stars Al Pacino, shows with dark humor the ravages of memory loss in a hitman.
Due to the strike of film and television actors that began in July in Hollywood, Keaton and other artists associated with the project did not attend the film’s premiere, in solidarity with their colleagues from the Screen Actors Guild.
Tony Goldwyn, known for Ghost (1990) and the series Scandal on ABC where he played from 2012 to 2018, is also an accomplished director with multiple films to his credit.
This time he hired Robert De Niro, Bobby Cannavale and Rose Byrne to Ezraa fast-paced family drama based on the experience of raising an autistic son lived by his friend Tony Spiridakis, author of the screenplay.
Goldwyn on Saturday night praised William Fitzgerald, himself autistic, who plays Ezra. “We knew we wouldn’t make a movie if we didn’t have Ezra,” he said.
The largest film festival in North America opened Thursday and will end next Sunday.