Toronto’s Festival To Draw Lots of Stars

With a series of Biblical-like disasters behind the city, it’s almost amazing that Toronto is still standing. But, with Tuesday’s announcement for this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (which runs between September 4th to 13th), it’s time to put all that behind us and enjoy the barrage of films and movie stars who will descend on our city.

And believe me – it’s an amazing list. Michelle Maheu, the managing director of the Festival Group, put it best by saying that only “a rain of frogs or a plague of locusts” could stop the festivities this year. And with stars like Tim Robbins, Denzel Washington, Neil Young, and even Francis Ford Coppola coming to town, it’s not hard to believe that 2003 will be a very good year for the festival of festivals.

The list of films will blow your average fan’s mind. Like, how about sitting in on the “Dialogues: Talking With Pictures” series and getting to see Sir Ridley Scott talk about Alien before watching a special edition of the film that’s never been seen before?

Or, what about one of the multiple gala presentations with films like: Robert Altman‘s The Company, Robert Benton‘s The Human Stain, Denys Arcand‘s acclaimed Les Invasions Barbares, Sir Ridley Scott‘s Matchstick Men, Deepa Mehta‘s The Republic of Love, or even Joel Schumacher‘s Veronica Guerin?

It sounds like an incredible year for the festival, and obviously the city as a whole… just as long as those Biblical-like entities that keep messing with Toronto stay away from us for a little while.

Here’s some of the stars expected at this year’s festival:
Tim Robbins, Nicole Kidman, Woody Harrelson, Francis Ford Coppola, Jerry Bruckheimer, Joel Schumacher, Ridley Scott, Neil Young, Robert Altman, Robert Lepage, Jack Black, Nicolas Cage, Jennifer Jason-Leigh, Katie Holmes, Deepa Mehta, Darryl Hannah, Meg Ryan, Marcia Gay Harden, Sarah Polley, Val Kilmer, Dan Aykroyd, Scott Speedman, Colm Meaney, Dylan McDermott, Oliver Platt, Anthony Hopkins, Sean Penn, Kate Beckinsale, Miranda Richardson, Guy Maddin, Tilda Swinton, Benicio del Toro, Robert Downey Jr., Omar Sharif, Cate Blanchett, Parker Posey, Colin Firth, Denzel Washington and Gary Sinise.

Stay tuned for more feature coverage from The GATE.