Stars Take Over Toronto

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Toronto Film Festival delivers cinematic gems and star power

By Lori Hoffman

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Sep. 16, 2009

Matt Damon at the ITFF

TORONTO, ONTARIO — In the final analysis, it is the quality of the movies that count the most during the annual Toronto Film Festival, but it is the stars who come to tout their movies that generate all the fan worship and celebrity hunting. This year’s festival has been top heavy with major stars, as early arrivals included Matt Damon, George Clooney, Oprah Winfrey (for a film she produced), and Drew Barrymore, for her directorial debut.

Damon remains a major movie star, but even after his Oscar win for Good Will Hunting, he still had insecurities about his career. At the press conference for his new movie The Informant!, directed by Steven Soderbergh, he talked about those insecurities and about gaining 30 pounds to play the real-life scam artist and whistleblower Mark Whitacre.

Damon explains that, “Steven called me and offered me the part. I had just had two movies that came out and tanked and I was shooting The Bourne Identity that needed reshoots and was delayed for a year so I thought that was going to be a turkey, too. The standard rule is that after three [bad movies] you are done [in the business]. I thought I would have to go back to writing. Nobody had offered me a job in months. I got the phone call from him and I said, ‘Do you want me to adapt the book?’ I thought he was calling me with a writing job. He says, ‘No. Scott Burns is writing it; I want you to star in the movie!’”

Asked about Oscar buzz and the fact that gaining weight and changing your appearance can equal an Oscar nomination, Damon jokes, “That’s why I made this movie. I tallied up all the times that actors have earned nominations and we designed an algorithm and then wrote the movie around that. And, the Oscar campaign is now over.”

Asked if he felt uncomfortable or insecure gaining the weight, he says: “I felt more secure than ever. I loved it [not having to worry about my weight]. If I had to stay there [at that weight] it might have been different. Four months was enough. The people in Decatur [where the film was shot] were nice. Invariably, somebody would say, ‘You look so much better looking in person.’ The wig, the mustache, the 30 pounds, the fake nose, or maybe it was the costumes. I think it was Midwestern politeness.”

As for how he put on the extra pounds, Damon says, “I think people have a natural range of weight, and it was probably easier for me to lose the weight since I went outside my natural range. It was alarmingly easy to gain the weight. Lots of beer.”

Movie Scorecard

Here are some of my favorite flicks so far:

Up in the Air, directed by Jason Reitman and starring George Clooney as a man who loves air travel far too much and relationships on the ground far too little. Clooney will nab an Oscar nomination for this one. ***½

Fish Tank, written and directed by Andrea Arnold, and the Jury prize at Cannes, is a brilliant portrait of working class Brits, in particular, a tough 15-year-old named Mia (Katie Jarvis). ***

The Informant!, Soderbergh’s take on the true story of the most wacked-out industrial spy you are ever going to meet, is a movie that grows on you thanks to a great performance by Matt Damon. ***

Get Low, the directorial debut of Aaron Schneider, features a brilliant performance by Robert Duvall as an old hermit who decides he wants to buy himself a funeral party while he is still alive. Based on true events, it is a film of rich emotions and tons of sly laughter, enhanced by fine support from a droll Bill Murray, Sissy Spacek and Lucas Black. ***½

To read more about movies and other topics covered by movie critic Lori Hoffman under her blog alias Moviejunkie, visit http://blog.acweekly.com/