‘Biosphere’: Mel Eslyn’s Directorial Debut Starring Sterling K. Brown & Mark Duplass Gets Surprise Special Presentation At TIFF

Steven Spielberg is enjoying another triumph, with his quasi-autobiographical drama “The Fabelmans” earning this year’s People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Jordan Peele’s third feature, “Nope,” focuses on a group of characters (played by Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, Brandon Perea and Michael Wincott) attempting to track down an unidentified flying object spotted in the air around the Agua Dulce desert. Many of the film’s scenes take place in the dead of night, but as Peele describes it, the majority of them weren’t filmed at night. Instead, cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema shot most of the scenes during the day using some innovative technological approaches “I haven’t wanted to ruin the illusion, but I’ll ruin it for you today,” Peele said at a Toronto International Film Festival Q&A on Sept. 12. “The night shots, for the most part, were shot in the day, which is due to a technological and strategic thing that [Hoytema] brought to the table. ”

Today at TIFF, months before its Christmas Day theatrical opening, Oscar-winning filmmaker Damien Chazelle came to show off the trailer of his Hollywood period opus, Babylon. It will drop tom’w. The pic is still in post.

Brendan Fraser fought back tears as “The Whale” received a passionate standing ovation at its Toronto International Film Festival premiere on Sunday. The crowd stood for roughly five minutes until festival organizers quieted the applause to begin a question and answer session with Fraser, director Darren Aronofsky, writer Samuel D. Hunter and cast members Sadie Sink and Ty Simpkins. The reception was one of the strongest yet at this year’s festival, a gathering that has already included the premieres of Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” and “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.” TIFF was set to be a big festival for Fraser even before “The Whale” screened to huge acclaim. The actor is receiving the TIFF Tribute Award for Performance at the 2022 festival, with TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey saying, “Brendan Fraser gives a performance of staggering depth, power, and nuance in ‘The Whale.’ This former Torontonian has been an action star, a screen comic, and a romantic lead. We’re thrilled to welcome him home as the actor behind one of the finest performances of the year.”

never wanted to produce…” she said, laughing. So what happened to change her mind about producing? “I happened!” Duplass interjected.“I met Mark and he never let me go, he locked me in his pool house…” Eslyn said, continuing the banter.

Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” earned a roaring standing ovation at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday, as the crowd of movie lovers cheered loudly for the Oscar-winning auteur as he made his first appearance at the gathering. “I’m really glad we came to Toronto,” a visibly moved Spielberg said after taking the stage as the credits rolled.  The director said he was inspired by the COVID pandemic to tell his most personal story yet, a look at his early filmmaking efforts, his childhood in Arizona and Northern California, and the dissolution of his family. However, he reassured the crowd at TIFF that this would not serve as his farewell to movies.“This is not because I’m going to retire and this is my swan song,” he said. “Don’t believe any of that.”

Deadline’s studio at the 2022 edition of the Toronto Film Festival continued with Day 2 by hosting fest-goers such as Viola Davis and John Boyega from The Woman King; Sterling K. Brown from Biosphere; Lily James from What’s Love Got To Do With It? and Eddie Redmayne from The Good Nurse. Click on the photo above to launch the gallery.

Taylor Swift fever hit the Toronto Film Festival on Friday night as the singer-songwriter star passed through with actress Sadie Sink to present her 10-minute work All Too Well: The Short Film, followed by an hour-long In Conversation event with festival CEO Cameron Bailey.

Manori Ravindran International Editor The Toronto International Film Festival kicked off on a historic day with one of its strongest opening films in years in Sally El Hosaini’s “The Swimmers,” but what some audience members will likely remember is the stressful experience of getting to Roy Thomson Hall in the first place. TIFF, which has gone digital this year via Ticketmaster, has been plagued with ticketing issues all week thanks to a complicated voucher process for public tickets. While it was hoped that many of the technical kinks would be ironed out by opening night, this wasn’t the case. Media outlets, including Variety, that received opening night tickets from the film’s studio — in this case, Netflix — didn’t receive their tickets in time for the screening due to “technical glitches” and had to be rounded up and escorted to their seats by representatives for the streamer.

Jordan Moreau SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not watched “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.” After playing Randall Pearson on NBC’s “This Is Us” for six seasons, Sterling K. Brown was ready to play a completely different character. So, he took on Lee-Curtis Childs, a closeted pastor accused of sexual misconduct who’s relaunching his church, in Adamma Ebo’s satirical comedy “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.” Styled as a mockumentary, the film follows Lee-Curtis and his wife’s struggle to reopen their church and the public backlash from Lee-Curtis’ scandal. Regina Hall co-stars as Trinitie Childs, who’s also mired in the controversy as she’s forced to stand by her husband. After the #MeToo movement, the movie echoes many stories of real-life celebrities held to account for their bad behavior, but it now hits home even more as those figures attempt to re-emerge into public life.

EXCLUSIVE: Daniel Kaluuya is “chilling” on acting following the release of Nope, his latest collaboration with Jordan Peele.

Taylor Swift is set to make an exciting appearance at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival.

The Everything Everywhere All at Once and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon actress is set to receive the Toronto International Film Festival’s  inaugural TIFF Share Her Journey Groundbreaker Award presented by BVLGARI at the fest’s upcoming Tribute Awards on Sunday, Sept. 11 at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.

Sterling K. Brown and Regina Hall hold up a sign at the Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. premiere at Plaza Theatre on Friday (August 26) in Atlanta, Ga.

Simu Liu and Sterling K. Brown will be starring with Jennifer Lopez in her upcoming movie, Atlas.

EXCLUSIVE: After establishing himself as one of the key pillars of the next phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Simu Liu is ready to show some edginess. Sources tell Deadline that he is set to play the antagonist in Netflix’s Atlas starring Jennifer Lopez. Sterling K. Brown and Abraham Popoola have also landed key roles in the pic, which is being directed by Brad Peyton. Aron Eli Coleite is writing the most recent draft of the script based off Leo Sardarian’s original screenplay.

previously reported, Lopez will play an intelligence analyst who gets stuck on a distant planet and is forced to fight inside a military-grade mech suit in order to save humanity. “San Andreas” filmmaker Brad Peyton will direct, with Aron Eli Coleite building on an original script by Leo Sardarian.Producers include Brad Peyton and Jeff Fierson for ASAP Entertainment; Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell for Safehouse Pictures; Jennifer Lopez, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, and Benny Medina for Nuyorican Productions; and Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter for Berlanti/Schechter Films.

Sterling K. Brown and Regina Hall hit the red carpet for the premiere of their new movie, Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. held at Regal LA Live on Monday (August 22) in Los Angeles.

Th 47th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival has selected its Industry Selects, a section of ten audience friendly films up for global acquisition. In addition it was announced that Jason Reitman’s Live Read is returning to the Festival for an all-star event featuring a surprise cast; the filmmaker presenting a surprise screenplay in honor of his late father, Ivan Reitman.