I’ll start with the news that concerns me specifically, which is Toronto Film Festival Artistic Director Cameron Bailey confirming on Twitter Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master will be playing the festival in 70mm. I am assuming this will be at the Scotiabank Theatre, which hold the majority of the screenings during the fest, but Bailey wasn’t giving anything away, telling me, “We announce schedule 8/21. Top secret until then.”
Meanwhile, the New York Film Festival has announced its opening night film will be Ang Lee’s highly anticipated Life of Pi. The 3-D adaptation of Yann Martel’s best-selling novel will open the fest on September 28 before arriving in theaters on November 21. It’s the second big “get” for the fest, which will be closing with Robert Zemeckis‘s Flight starring Denzel Washington.
Recent openers at the NYFF include Carnage last year, David Fincher’s The Social Network, The Queen and Good Night, and Good Luck.
Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon closed the fest back in 2000 and this marks the filmmaker’s first time back since.
Life of Pi centers on a young man (Suraj Sharma) who survives a tragic disaster at sea and is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While marooned on a lifeboat, he forms an amazing and unexpected connection with the ship’s only other survivor — a fearsome Bengal tiger. Gerard Depardieu, Irrfan Khan and Tabu co-star.
I’ve included the film’s first trailer directly below.
