Plus New Photos Of ‘The Descendants’ & Luc Besson’s ‘The Lady’
Michael Bay‘s loss is the indie world’s gain. Megan Fox may no longer be part of the “Transformers” franchise, but her next big screen role will be in Jennifer Westfeldt‘s “Friends With Kids,” an ensemble indie that stars Adam Scott, Jennifer Westfeldt, Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Chris O’Dowd and Edward Burns. Not too shabby and it pays to have famous friends.
The above image is the first official look at Megan Fox in the film and it appears she’s acting opposite Adam Scott. Maybe that’s their baby’s feces on the wall. Fun times.
While the title of the film says it all, the TIFF site is pretty vague in their synopsis: “When a few members of a close group of married and single friends start to have children, it has a big impact on everyone.” And of course, Westfeldt, whose longtime partner is Jon Hamm is drawing from experience (she and Hamm have no kids and apparently have no plans to do so).
We’ve already seen three new images from Oren Moverman‘s follow-up to the “The Messenger,” the police drama, “Rampart” starring Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster, Ice Cube, Sigourney Weaver, Robin Wright, Anne Heche, Cynthia Nixon, Stella Schnabel, Steve Buscemi and Ned Beatty, and here’s two new images including the first look at Robin Wright. Those who caught “The Messenger” know that Harrelson, Foster and Moverman were an inspired trio and Harrelson scored a Best Supporting Oscar nomination for his riveting turn in the movie, so we’re hoping this picture creates equally intense sparks.
TIFF says: Woody Harrelson gives a ferocious performance as a dirty cop, balancing a home life with two ex-wives as he becomes embroiled in the Los Angeles Police Department’s infamous Rampart corruption scandal.
Here’s a new image of Sarah Polley‘s “Take This Waltz” starring Seth Rogen and Michelle Williams in what looks to be a romantic triangle dramedy. Three clips were unveiled from the film on Friday and now we’ve got this new shot. Looks like Williams may have purposefully put on a bit of weight to play this role of a dowdy housewife looking for something more.
TIFF says: “Sarah Polley makes a welcome return to directing with her first feature since 2006 Festival favourite Away from Her. Luke Kirby, Seth Rogen, Sarah Silverman and two-time Oscar®-nominee Michelle Williams star in this bittersweet story about a married woman struggling to choose between her husband and a man she’s just met.”
Having not followed Luc Besson‘s directorial (not producing) career during the fallow years — let’s say everything after “The Fifth Element,” though “Les aventures extraordinaires d’Adèle Blanc-Sec” looked pretty cool, but never arrived on U.S. shores — we’re not entirely sure how the filmmaker went from the “Arthur and the Invisibles” films (all three of them) to the Indiana Jones-like looking ‘Adèle’ to the rather straight-forward looking drama, “The Lady” starring Michelle Yeoh, but here he is. Here’s three new photos from the film that seem unlike anything the director has ever mounted. Perhaps a mature-like drama is exactly what he needs to get back on track, but it just seems so unlike him. That said, Besson seems like a tough nut to crack and figure out.
Here’s the TIFF synopsis: “Luc Besson takes on the inspiring true story of Burmese pro-democracy activist, leader and political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi (Michelle Yeoh) and the tenacious long-distance bond she maintained with her British husband, Michael Aris (David Thewlis) while under house arrest for over a decade.”
Lastly, we have an image from Alexander Payne‘s “The Descendants” which you already saw from USA Today a few weeks ago, but this is a larger version that actually doesn’t cut out one of the daughters from the shot (nice work USA Today).
TIFF says: “George Clooney plays the leader of a storied Hawaiian family as they are forced to decide what to do with their last, vast parcel of land. At the same time he learns a secret about his critically ill wife. From the director of ‘Sideways.'”
More TIFF announcements will be hitting later this week including the Canadian line-up later this week. Hint: Bruce MacDonald and Guy Maddin will have new films screening in Toronto.