عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Entertainment

‘The Life of Chuck’ Wins the Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award

Tom Hiddleston attends the premiere of "The Life of Chuck" during the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival at Princess of Wales Theatre on September 06, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario. (Getty Images/AFP)
Tom Hiddleston attends the premiere of "The Life of Chuck" during the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival at Princess of Wales Theatre on September 06, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario. (Getty Images/AFP)
TT
TT

‘The Life of Chuck’ Wins the Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award

Tom Hiddleston attends the premiere of "The Life of Chuck" during the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival at Princess of Wales Theatre on September 06, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario. (Getty Images/AFP)
Tom Hiddleston attends the premiere of "The Life of Chuck" during the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival at Princess of Wales Theatre on September 06, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario. (Getty Images/AFP)

The Toronto International Film Festival's People's Choice Award went to “The Life of Chuck,” handing Mike Flanagan's Stephen King adaptation one of the most-watched prizes of the fall film festival circuit.

The award for “The Life of Chuck” was announced Sunday as North American's largest film festival drew to a close. “The Life of Chuck,” based on King's 2020 novella of the same name, stars Tom Hiddleston as Charles “Chuck” Krantz, an ordinary man living through apocalyptic cataclysms. Mark Hamill, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan and Jacob Tremblay co-star.

TIFF's People's Choice Award is regarded as a reliable Oscar harbinger. Since 2012, every winner of the festival's top prize has gone on to be nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards. Last year, Cord Jefferson's “American Fiction” won, and went on to be a major awards contender.

But “The Life of Chuck” could test that track record. The film is up for sale and doesn't yet have distribution. It could be acquired and quickly readied for release this fall, or it might end up a 2025 release.

“The Life of Chuck” drew mixed — though mostly positive reviews — out of Toronto, though audiences were clearly charmed by the uplifting drama.

Runners-up for the People's Choice Award, which is voted on by festival attendees, were both films that first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May. The first was Jacques Audiard's “Emilia Pérez.” The second runner-up was Sean Baker's “Anora,” the Palme d'Or winner at Cannes.

The audience award for top documentary went to Mike Downie's “The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal.” In the festival's Midnight Madness section, the prize went to Coralie Fargeat's “The Substance,” starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley.

Most Viewed

 
 
Entertainment

‘Piano Lesson’ Premiere in Toronto a Family Affair for Denzel 

(L-R) Producer Denzel Washington, Pauletta Washington, executive producer Kate Washington, actress Danielle Deadwyler, director Malcolm Washington and actor John David Washington attend the international premiere of "The Piano Lesson" at the Princess of Wales theatre during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on September 10, 2024. (AFP)
(L-R) Producer Denzel Washington, Pauletta Washington, executive producer Kate Washington, actress Danielle Deadwyler, director Malcolm Washington and actor John David Washington attend the international premiere of "The Piano Lesson" at the Princess of Wales theatre during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on September 10, 2024. (AFP)
TT
TT

‘Piano Lesson’ Premiere in Toronto a Family Affair for Denzel 

(L-R) Producer Denzel Washington, Pauletta Washington, executive producer Kate Washington, actress Danielle Deadwyler, director Malcolm Washington and actor John David Washington attend the international premiere of "The Piano Lesson" at the Princess of Wales theatre during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on September 10, 2024. (AFP)
(L-R) Producer Denzel Washington, Pauletta Washington, executive producer Kate Washington, actress Danielle Deadwyler, director Malcolm Washington and actor John David Washington attend the international premiere of "The Piano Lesson" at the Princess of Wales theatre during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on September 10, 2024. (AFP)

Denzel Washington and his family celebrated the screening in Toronto of Oscar hopeful "The Piano Lesson," the latest Hollywood adaptation of an August Wilson play in which the entire clan was involved.

Washington's son Malcolm makes his feature directorial debut and elder son John David stars in the movie, which tells the story of a family struggling to make peace with its past and confront the legacy of slavery.

Washington himself is a producer of the film, wife Pauletta and daughter Olivia have small roles, and daughter Katia is an executive producer.

"I'm happy, a proud father," Washington said in a Q&A session after the screening.

For 33-year-old Malcolm, who received a warm ovation at the film's conclusion, "this was such a beautiful time for us all to come together, but it became something much bigger than our own family."

"This is a story of ancestry, of lineage, and dealing with the August Wilson canon at all, you're tying yourself into a much larger lineage there."

"The Piano Lesson," written in 1987 and set in the 1930s, is part of Wilson's so-called "Pittsburgh Cycle," a series of 10 plays that aimed to explore the African American experience in the 20th century.

It debuted at the Telluride festival in Colorado before making its way over the border for a splashy international premiere in Canada's largest city. The film will stream on Netflix on November 22.

At the center of the story is an heirloom piano, hand-carved with images of their ancestors and imbued with the family's difficult history.

John David Washington, 40, plays Boy Willie, who wants to sell the instrument to buy land and get ahead, while sister Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) insists that they keep it.

The two actors turn in electrifying performances as they duel over the fate of the piano, while confronting issues of race, spirituality and acceptance of the past.

Deadwyler, who many believe was snubbed for an Oscar nomination for her performance in "Till" (2022), is on nearly every expert's shortlist for a best supporting actress nod this time around, according to awards prediction site Gold Derby.

The film is adapted specifically from a recent Broadway revival of Wilson's play, and retains much of the same cast, including Samuel L. Jackson as the de facto patriarch.

Denzel Washington is no stranger to Wilson's work; this is the third of his plays that he has helped bring to the big screen.

The Oscar winner directed and starred in "Fences" (2016), for which Viola Davis won an Academy Award, and then produced "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," which took home two golden statuettes.

The Toronto International Film Festival runs through Sunday.