Seth Rogen hosted the Comedy Central Roast of James Franco that aired in the United States and Canada on Labour Day. Rogen talked about working with Sarah Silverman in "Take This Waltz" and how she did full-frontal nudity.
"I always thought she was very liberal, but it turns out she's actually a giant bush supporter."
But this is a reminder that great Canadian films will come along and never quite break through the scene. Then again, "Starbuck" is being remade into an American film — "Delivery Man" — that is being released on November 22.
So what is coming up for the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival?
Often times, you have a better idea at the end of the festival as to what the Canadian film landscape will look like than in the beginning.
-- Amusingly, a Ken Scott remake is tops on my personal list. The difference is that an English Canadian is remaking a French Canadian film, not involving the United States in any form.
Don McKellar's remake of "The Grand Seduction" — the story of a small East Coast village to lure a doctor to convince him to stay — opens up a new Canadian audience that might have bypassed the Quebecois version over a different language, but at least had access to the original. And the film has the potential to cross over to the States. Most people in the States didn't have access to "Starbuck."
I've seen the original and I love Don McKellar's work. Not often fond of remakes, and most of the potential audience hasn't seen the film, but this has nice potential as a truly Canadian film.
Yes, Ken Scott is directing the American remake, but the fear is still that the film will lose its Canadian spirit. Not so with McKellar.
-- Bruce McDonald checks in with a psychological thriller entitled "The Husband" about a man's encounter with a 14-year-old boy, his wife's alleged boyfriend. And Xavier Dolan is back with his own psychological thriller — "Tom At The Farm" where advertising copywriter Tom travels back for a funeral, but discovers that no one knows who he is.
-- Atom Egoyan is back with "Devil’s Knot" about the West Memphis Three with non-Canadians Colin Firth and Reese Witherspoon in the lead roles. Denis Villeneuve has his English-language debut in "Enemy" with Jake Gyllenhaal, Sarah Gadon, and Isabella Rossellini. Jean-Marc Vallée (C.R.A.Z.Y.) is in TIFF with "The Dallas Buyers Club" with Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, and Jared Leto in the true story of AIDS activist Ron Woodroof.
-- "Our Man In Tehran" is a documentary that looks at the real story of former Canadian ambassador to Iran Ken Taylor. Ben Affleck is definitely invited to find out what really happened, though the documentary likely won't have a fake Hollywood ending, so who knows if Affleck will enjoy the film after all.
You can follow along as the Toronto International Film Festival progresses (here is a link to the official Web site) now through September 15. And we should have access to those and other titles later this fall in Windsor.
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