TORONTO \u2014 Scarlett Johansson\u2019s feature directorial debut \u201cEleanor the Great,\u201d Guillermo del Toro\u2019s \u201cFrankenstein\u201d and Benny Safdie\u2019s \u201cThe Smashing Machine,\u201d are among the marquee titles headed to the Toronto International Film Festival.<\/p>\n
Festival organizers touted big directors with star-studded projects on Monday for the fest\u2019s 50th edition, including Johansson\u2019s Cannes sensation in which June Squibb plays a nonagenarian grappling with a friend\u2019s death; del Toro\u2019s take on Mary Shelley\u2019s beloved Gothic monster as played by Jacob Elordi; and the latest from \u201cUncut Gems\u201d director Safdie, who trains his lens on the life of mixed martial arts fighter Mark Kerr, with stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt.<\/p>\n
World premieres include David Mich\u00f4d\u2019s boxing biopic \u201cChristy\u201d starring Sydney Sweeney; Alice Winocour\u2019s fashion drama \u201cCouture\u201d with Angelina Jolie and Aziz Ansari\u2019s comedy \u201cGood Fortune,\u201d with a stacked cast including Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogen, Keke Palmer and Sandra Oh.<\/p>\n
Also making world premieres are Bobby Farrelly\u2019s teen road trip comedy \u201cDriver\u2019s Ed,\u201d starring Molly Shannon and Sam Nivola; and a film from Reeves\u2019 \u201cBill & Ted\u201d co-star Alex Winter, who stars and directs \u201cAdulthood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Canadian additions include Ally Pankiw\u2019s documentary \u201cLilith Fair: Building a Mystery,\u201d Lisa Rideout\u2019s \u201cDegrassi: Whatever It Takes,\u201d Zacharias Kunuk\u2019s Nunavut-set drama \u201cUiksaringitara (Wrong Husband),\u201d Tasha Hubbard\u2019s \u201cMeadowlarks\u201d and Philippe Falardeau\u2019s francophone drama \u201cLovely Day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oscar-winning Toronto director Daniel Roher helms the U.S. crime thriller, \u201cTuner\u201d and Montreal-based director Anne \u00c9mond closes the fest with a Sept. 13 gala for her romantic-comedy \u201cPeak Everything,\u201d starring Patrick Hivon and Piper Perabo.<\/p>\n
TIFF says its full schedule will be released Aug. 12. Tickets go on sale to TIFF members beginning Aug. 15.<\/p>\n
The 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival runs Sept. 4 to 14. It opens with the previously announced documentary \u201cJohn Candy: I Like Me,\u201d directed by Colin Hanks and produced by Ryan Reynolds.<\/p>\n
While the list of attendees has yet to be announced, the gala and special presentation lineup hints at the wattage that could hit TIFF\u2019s red carpet.<\/p>\n
Other films with big-named directors revealed Monday include Gus Van Sant\u2019s hostage thriller \u201cDead Man\u2019s Wire\u201d with Bill Skarsgard and Al Pacino; Baz Luhrmann\u2019s music documentary \u201cEPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert\u201d; Joachim Trier\u2019s \u201cSentimental Value,\u201d with Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd and Elle Fanning; Richard Linklater\u2019s black-and-white tribute to Jean-Luc Godard, \u201cNouvelle Vague;\u201d and \u201cTrue Detective\u201d creator Nic Pizzolatto\u2019s drama \u201cEasy\u2019s Waltz\u201d with Pacino, Vince Vaughn and Kate Mara.<\/p>\n
First features from celebrity directors include Judd Apatow\u2019s daughter Maude with \u201cPoetic License,\u201d featuring her mother, Leslie Mann; \u201cSuccession\u201d star Brian Cox with the British drama \u201cGlenrothan\u201d and actor James McAvoy with music industry saga \u201cCalifornia Schemin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 21, 2025.<\/p>\n
Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Scarlett Johansson\u2019s feature directorial debut \u201cEleanor the Great,\u201d Guillermo del Toro\u2019s \u201cFrankenstein\u201d and Benny Safdie\u2019s \u201cThe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[76,49,48,75,1554],"class_list":["post-17785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-arts","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-film"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}