TIFF09: Festival To Open With Darwin Biopic ‘Creation’
Posted July 14, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Creation, director Jon Amiel’s film on the life story of Charles Darwin, will open the 34th Toronto International Film Festival on September 10.
Breaking with the tradition of opening the festival with a Canadian selection, the British biopic is based on the Randal Keynes book Annie’s Box and stars real-life couple Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly as Charles Darwin and his wife Emma.
“The tension between faith and reason is prominent in contemporary culture and this intimate look at Darwin puts a human face on a man whose theory remains controversial to this day,” said Piers Handling, Director and CEO of TIFF. “We are pleased to open the Festival with such an impassioned look at Charles Darwin, especially on the year marking the 200th anniversary of his birth.”
At a press conference Wednesday, Handling and Festival Co-Director Cameron Bailey announced several of the Galas and Special Presentations for this year’s festival.
They include the highly-anticipated Steven Soderbergh film The Informant!, starring Matt Damon as corporate whistleblower Mark Whitacre; The Boys Are Back, featuring Clive Owen as a single father who must look after his two sons after the untimely passing of his second wife; director Jane Campion’s Bright Star, a drama based on the secret love affair between English poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and the girl next door, Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish); and The Invention of Lying, a romantic comedy from Ricky Gervais about a down-on-his-luck man who discovers the ability to lie in a world where everyone always speaks the truth.
Handling and Bailey dismissed the notion that there would be fewer Canadian titles this year, saying that the commitment to homegrown films is as strong as ever. The Canadian programming lineup will be revealed at a subsequent press conference in August.
The festival directors wouldn’t offer a full list of what stars are expected to appear at this year’s event, but they allowed that a quick scan of the films announced so far would provide a good indication of a few of the names we could see.
So far, the 2009 lineup includes works from filmmakers Jane Campion, Lu Chuan, Raoul Peck, Steven Soderbergh, Neil Jordan and Scott Hicks, and features performances by Abbie Cornish, Matt Damon, Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall, Colin Farrell, Ricky Gervais, Eva Green, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Clive Owen, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sissy Spacek and Ben Whishaw.
The 2009 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 10 -19. For more information on ticket packages, which are now available, visit tiff.net/thefestival, or call 416-968-FILM or 1-877-968-FILM.
Images:
Top left: Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly in Creation
Middle: Matt Damon in The Informant!
Bottom: Jennifer Garner and Ricky Gervais in The Invention of Lying
