Toronto Film Fest 2023: Buzzy Titles Looking for Distribution

Scarlett Johansson, Elliot Page, Alexander Skarsgard in Promising Features at Toronto Fest

A movie in which Taylor Russell’s mom won’t get off the couch, a dad-daughter Ethan-Maya Hawke story, a dramatic turn for Andy Samberg among the BUZZY entries at Toronto Fest.

The fall festival circuit during the history-making double union strike. It’s unclear how interim agreements — either signed or not — will affect a feature’s potential for pickup.

There is the question of whether AMPTP studios will be looking to buy given lack of new content, or if they will abstain?

In the weeks leading up to the festival, there was chatter about how studios, including Netflix, had been messaging that they would not be buying projects that had signed interim agreements.

If a streamer did sign on to these agreements, they would indeed be signing on to SAG-AFTRA’s requirement that actors for streaming projects receive 2 percent of subscription revenue produced by those projects, as defined by metrics from Parrot Analytics.

Here are some movies that could muster up sales out of Toronto Fest

Close to You 

Director Dominic Savage

Stars Elliot Page, Hillary Baack

A starring vehicle for Page with material drawn from his best-selling memoir, Pageboy. The actor stars as Sam, who, after going home for the first time since his transition, runs into a high school friend (Baack) with whom he has an unresolved past.

Sales UTA

Daddio

Director Christy Hall

Stars Sean Penn, Dakota Johnson

Hall, who co-created the critically acclaimed but canceled Netflix series I Am Not Okay With This, tackles this enclosed drama about a woman (Johnson) and her taxi driver (Penn) who, over the course of a cab ride from the JFK airport, engage in a life-changing conversation.

World Premiered at Telluride Fest

The Dead Don’t Hurt

Director Viggo Mortensen

Stars Mortensen, Vicky Krieps

As Yellowstone has brought the neo-Western to Hollywood, here is an art house option. Described as feminist Western, the film follows an immigrant flower seller who must defend herself against the corrupt leaders of a small town in 1860s Nevada.

Sales HanWay

Hate to Love: Nickelback  

Director Leigh Brooks

Music biopics have proved successful fodder for Netflix and Amazon.  This doc tweaks the model, offering intimate look at the career of the band that everyone loved and then loved to hate, with interviews from the band members, detractors, and advocates.

Sales Submarine

Hell of a Summer

Directors Finn Wolfhard, Billy Bryk

Stars Wolfhard, Bryk

The horror comedy title has the potential appeal of Stranger Things’ Wolfhard going for it. He and his Ghostbusters: Afterlife co-star Bryk have devised a plot based on slasher fodder, revolving around counselors at summer camp.

White Lotus breakout Fred Hechinger also stars.

Sales 30West/CAA (domestic); Altitude Film (international)

His Three Daughters 

Director Azazel Jacobs

Stars Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, Carrie Coon

They converge in a family drama about sisters who occupy their father’s small apartment as he is dying.

Sales CAA

His Three Daughters, starring Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen and Carrie Coon
His Three Daughters, starring Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen and Carrie Coon COURTESY OF Tor0nto Fest

Lee 

Director Ellen Kuras

Stars Kate Winslet, Alexander Skarsgard, Andrea Riseborough, Marion Cotillard, Andy Samberg

Oscar winner Winslet stars as photojournalist Lee Miller, whose World War II portraits included the liberation of Paris and the horrors of the Buchenwald and Dachau concentration camps.

An all-star cast, which includes an already talked-about dramatic turn for SNL alum Samberg, is sure to entice buyers.

Sales CAA, UTA (domestic); Rocket Science (international)

LEE, starring Kate Winslet as Lee Miller.
Lee, starring Kate Winslet as Lee Miller ELEVATION PICTURES / COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION

Mother, Couch 

Director Niclas Larsson

Stars Ewan McGregor, Rhys Ifans, Lara Flynn Boyle, Ellen Burstyn

When their mom refuses to leave the couch of furniture store, three estranged siblings, with their emotional baggage in tow, try to fix the strange problem.

The cast includes up-and-coming indie talent Taylor Russell, who earned acclaim in Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All.

Sales UTA (domestic); Charades (international)

North Star 

Director Kristin Scott Thomas

Stars Scott Thomas, Sienna Miller, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Beecham

In addition to the star power of Johansson, the movie has strong producer Finola Dwyer (BrooklynAn Education) and backer Steven Rales.

Sales CAA

Wildcat

Director Ethan Hawke

Stars Maya Hawke, Laura Linney

This indie biopic has the added benefit of cross-generational appeal thanks to the father-daughter filmmaking combo.

The younger Hawke, who has found major success with the Netflix feature Do Revenge, plays the American novelist Flannery O’Connor as she struggles to publish her first novel.

World Premiered at Venice Fest

Sales UTA/CAA

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