TORONTO — Casey Affleck’s controversial movie about Joaquin Phoenix’s attempt to launch a hip-hop career will screen at next month’s Toronto International Film Festival.
I’m Still Here marks the directorial debut of Affleck, whose acting credits include 2007’s Gone Baby Gone, which was helmed by his brother Ben.
The much-discussed Phoenix flick is among a new set of gala films and special presentations unveiled on Tuesday by the festival, which will also include entries from Oscar-winning filmmakers Clint Eastwood, Danny Boyle and Dustin Lance Black.
Phoenix caused a sensation last year when he declared his intention to quit acting in favour of music.
A series of bizarre appearances followed, including a memorable guest spot on Late Show with David Letterman, during which Phoenix — sporting a shaggy beard and sunglasses — was mostly incomprehensible.
The incident prompted many to wonder if Phoenix’s music career was an elaborate put-on in service of Affleck’s film project.
Buzz about the film hasn’t exactly been entirely positive. Details of an advance screening for film buyers were leaked to the L.A. Times, with reports circulating that the film featured more nudity than a pornographic movie and a scene in which another individual defecates on Phoenix while he sleeps.
Boyle, meanwhile, will bring his latest film, 127 Hours. Based on a true story, the film stars James Franco as a mountain climber trapped in a Utah canyon.
Boyle was the toast of Toronto two years ago, winning the audience choice award for Slumdog Millionaire, which went on to nab the Academy Award for best picture.
Eastwood will debut a new film at TIFF for the first time since 1990, when he was here with White Hunter Black Heart. His Hereafter casts Matt Damon as a “blue-collar American who has a special connection to the afterlife.”
Black — the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Milk — will bring What’s Wrong With Virginia, a drama he wrote and directed that stars Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris and Emma Roberts.
Elsewhere, 13-year-old Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass) takes centre stage in Let Me In, an adaptation of the well-loved Swedish cult film/novel Let the Right One In; Bill Pullman and Irene Jacob star in Jonathan Nossiter’s Rio Sex Comedy and Mitch Glazer will premiere Passion Play, which stars Mickey Rourke, Megan Fox and Bill Murray.
Will Ferrell will headline Everything Must Go, a debut feature from writer-director Dan Rush. Adapted from a Raymond Carver short story, the dramedy casts Ferrell as a recovering alcoholic who loses his job, wife and home in short order and resorts to a garage sale to survive.
And director Massy Tadjedjin’s Last Night, which casts Keira Knightley and Sam Worthington as a married couple whose devotion is tested during a night apart, will close the festival.
The fest also unveiled its Midnight Madness program, which tends to feature edgier fare.
This year’s lineup will include the world premiere of John Carpenter’s first movie since 2001, The Ward. The new thriller takes place in a 1960s mental institution and stars Amber Heard (Pineapple Express).
The after-dark program will also feature: the James Gunn-directed superhero flick Super, which stars Liv Tyler, Kevin Bacon and Canadian Ellen Page; Guy Moshe’s star-studded actioner Bunraku, which features Josh Hartnett, Woody Harrelson and Demi Moore and Vanishing on 7th Street, which finds Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton and John Leguizamo banding together during a blackout.
International features announced include: Red Nights, a thriller set in Hong Kong directed by Julien Carbon and Laurent Courtiaud; the Benoit Jacquot-directed French period piece Deep in the Woods and Chris Kraus’s The Poll Diaries, set on the Baltic coast on the eve of the First World War.
Istanbul will be the subject of the City to City series, which focuses on the films from and about a certain area. Last year’s inaugural version of the program drew controversy for focusing on Tel Aviv.
This year’s Toronto International Film Festival runs from Sept. 9 to 19. It opens with Score: A Hockey Musical from Toronto director Michael McGowan.