Seeing Edward Zwick‘s Pawn Sacrifice among the films listed for this year’s Toronto Film Festival was a nice surprise as it seems the film has been in the works forever.
Set during the height of the Cold War, this “based on a true story” feature centers on chess legend Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire) as he’s locked in a gripping championship clash with the Soviets, struggling against his own psychological demons while the whole world anxiously awaits the outcome. Liev Schrieber plays Boris Spassky and Peter Sarsgaard, Sophie Nélisse, Lily Rabe, Robin Weigert, Michael Stuhlbarg and Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick also star.
Steven Knight (Locke, Eastern Promises) wrote the screenplay and as of now the film does not have a distributor. We’ll see if its Toronto world premiere changes that. [pic via The Film Stage]
