Clooney Charm to Chloé Zhao Heartbreak: The Telluride to Toronto Buzz
+ I reunite with my former ‘Little Gold Men’ hosts David Canfield & Richard Lawson to survey the nascent Oscar race
It’s the Tuesday after Labor Day, which means it is officially, unavoidably time to get out of summer mode and return to real life. And though I’ve never been the kind of person who got excited about buying new school supplies or pulling sweaters out of storage, when it comes to fall film festival season, it’s a different story entirely. Bring on the rigorously planned schedules and hours spent in a dark room — I’m heading to Toronto!
I don’t arrive until Thursday, and this newsletter will take a break that day to prepare for the upcoming content onslaught (more on that in a bit). But that’s okay because I spent the weekend getting in the spirit by checking in with colleagues past and present who were at the Telluride Film Festival. Over the weekend, Christopher Rosen and I caught up with a series of Substack Live conversations for Prestige Junkie After Party subscribers, getting the earliest word on the very buzzy Hamnet, the slightly less buzzy Ballad of a Small Player, and how a film’s reactions can change drastically in the few days between premiering at the Venice Film Festival — happening simultaneously on the other side of the world — and landing in Telluride. Congratulations to Jay Kelly, in particular, for receiving muted reviews in Venice but seemingly finding its people in Telluride; the George Clooney and Adam Sandler Oscar campaigns will surely be grateful.
To catch up on those conversations, become an After Party subscriber today. Why wait?
As Telluride wrapped up, I recorded this week’s edition of the Prestige Junkie podcast, catching up with two of my former Little Gold Men co-hosts who have now also moved on from Vanity Fair. David Canfield spent the weekend in Telluride as well — yes, he and Chris bumped into each other constantly, and yes, they argued about the movies they saw — and gave me his own take on the movies that popped the most, as well as some cautionary tales about what happens when Telluride buzz doesn’t translate to the rest of the world. Richard Lawson, like me, was watching all of this unfold from afar, but he’s also heading to Toronto and shared his perspective on how to read those Venice responses, and which of these films might fare best with Toronto audiences in just a few days.
As ever, you can watch the full video version of the podcast as a paid Prestige Junkie After Party subscriber — and if you were ever a Little Gold Men listener and used to wonder what we all looked like when we talked to each other, this is your chance to find out!
The State of the Race So Far
If you’re looking for a crib sheet version of these conversations, here’s my best effort. Netflix does, in fact, have strong contenders with Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, even if the response to both of them is a bit mixed in some corners; the fate is less clear for Edward Berger’s Ballad of a Small Player with Colin Farrell, which mainly was rejected by the Telluride crowd and now heads to Toronto and hopefully finds a few more fans. Neon once again brought its Cannes hits to Telluride and reaped the rewards, as Sentimental Value and It Was Just An Accident both played exceptionally well. Emma Stone is getting what are now customary raves for her performance in a Yorgos Lanthimos’ film, this time Bugonia. Still, her co-star Jesse Plemons may be the one everyone is actually most excited about. Not that Focus Features can zero in on prioritizing Bugonia just yet — they’re also behind Hamnet. The heartbreaking Chloé Zhao drama was actually the biggest breakout hit of Telluride and has its own formidable best actress contender in Jesse Buckley.
Feel like your head is spinning? Better get used to it, because Toronto is about to bring a slew of major world premieres, like the new Knives Out film, Wake Up Dead Man, and Paul Greengrass’s wildfire thriller The Lost Bus. TIFF is also an excellent launchpad for smaller films without distribution that are looking to make a mark. This year I’ve got an eye on Navalny Oscar winner Daniel Roher’s Tuner, which Chris loved at Telluride, with Dustin Hoffman and an apparent breakout performance from Leo Woodall. I’m also curious to see the response to Maude Apatow’s directorial debut, Poetic License, starring Gen Z up-and-comers Andrew Barth Feldman, Cooper Hoffman and Nico Parker, as well as Apatow’s mom, Leslie Mann. But there are literally dozens of potential breakouts on the TIFF lineup, and it’s impossible to see them all coming.
So how in the world are we going to manage to cover all of this in just a handful of days in Toronto? Read on for your guide to The Ankler at TIFF, and how to keep up whether you’re on the ground or watching from home.
Our Plans from Toronto
First, your players. Chris, Richard Rushfield and I are going to be your brave TIFF correspondents, seeing as many movies as possible, talking to the people who matter and doing our best to remember to eat something in the process. The three of us will be joining forces on at least one Substack Live dispatch, and the best way to make sure you don’t miss it is to be an Ankler subscriber and get a heads-up.
When I’m not running around seeing movies, though, I’ll be spending a lot of time in Prestige Junkie’s first-ever TIFF interview studio, where we’re expecting some of the biggest names of the festival to stop by for both a portrait and a video conversation. Those interviews will be posted on The Ankler’s YouTube page as well as Instagram, and you may catch them on future episodes of the Prestige Junkie podcast as well. The studio will be running from Friday through Monday, so stay subscribed and make sure you don’t miss a single conversation!
Our studio will be closed to the public, but I have one conversation everyone is more than welcome to join. On Sunday, Sept. 7, at 4:30 p.m. ET, I’ll be sitting down onstage at the Glenn Gould Studio with Joel Edgerton, the star and executive producer of the absolutely gorgeous Train Dreams. We’ll discuss his work on the film, which Netflix is releasing this fall, as well as his long career that led to this point and how making movies with his stuntman brother, Nash, in Australia contributed to him becoming one of Hollywood’s most reliable stars. Tickets are now on sale, available to the public and to anyone with a press or industry badge for TIFF. If you’re a Prestige Junkie After Party paid subscriber and will be in Toronto, we will get you in for free! Email me — katey@theankler.com — and I’ll make sure you’re set up.
That busy Sunday closes out perfectly, with The Ankler and Letterboxd’s first-ever TIFF party. The invite-only event, hosted by our own Janice Min and Richard, as well as Letterboxd CEO Matthew Buchanan, will bring together some of the biggest names from the festival, both onscreen and behind it. I’ll have a full roundup of the festivities in a newsletter the next day, but be warned: you may feel some FOMO.
Remember, for more information on any of the above, write TiffEvents@theankler.com.
And speaking of newsletters! Here’s what subscribers will be able to access during Toronto:
Special Prestige Junkie Daily sends coming Friday-Tuesday to Ankler subscribers
As many Substack Lives as we can fit in there
Prestige Junkie After Party subscribers will get even more, including a special bonus episode on Friday and access to the video version of my live onstage event. It won’t quite be the same as being there in person, but I promise it will be about as close as it gets.
Got all that? Even if you don’t, you’ll be in the loop anyway when the Prestige Junkie Daily dispatches start arriving in your inbox this Friday. Stay in touch and let us know what you’re dying to hear about from TIFF, or say hello if you’ll be there!