In the battle of the CBC it boys, George Stroumboulopoulos is out-buzzing Jian Ghomeshi with his acting roles. While Ghomeshi recently made a brief appearance on the reality series The City, Strombo has a cameo in Score: A Hockey Musical, the TIFF opening-night film. The film festival is getting even more George now that George A. Romero’s next zombie flick, Survival of the Dead—in which Stroumboulopoulos plays *drum roll* a TV host—will have its North American premiere at the fest. The movie’s premise: a war-weary band of soldiers take refuge in Earth’s last paradise, only to be confronted by flesh-eating zombies. The film will have an exclusive one-week run at the Toronto Underground Theatre on Spadina Avenue before TIFF starting August 20.
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Thank you, recession: this year’s free TIFF events are surprisingly wonderful
Rock star Neil Young gives a free performance (Photo by F.A. Hernández)
Synonymous with velvet ropes, lavish parties and celebrities whose annual income rivals the GDP of Palau, the Toronto International Film Festival has never been a particularly thrifty affair—until now. TIFF is getting recession friendly in ’09 by offering expanded free programming at Yonge-Dundas Square (the kind that so irked Rex Reed last year), not to mention some A-list celebrity appearances. “It’s been a tough year for everyone, so everyone deserves a bit of a break,” says festival managing director Michele Maheux. And judging by the press release, it’s good to see they’re not phoning it in with the freebies: planned events include appearances by Neil Young, George A. Romero, Joan Baez, Sapphire and many more. The full list, after the jump.
Schlock and awe: Megan Fox and Ethan Hawke among stars at TIFF’s Midnight Madness program
Megan Fox, star of Jennifer's Body, predicts that we will all laugh at gilded butterflies. Some of us already are (Photo by Megan Fox Rules!)
Megan Fox stirred the hearts—and a few other body parts—of millions of men when she donned a pair of tight denim shorts in the two Transformers movies. That they were mediocre films was cause for less celebration. Happily, though, Fox’s Toronto fans will soon have the chance to see her in a movie that promises to be more than a brain-dead ogle-fest: the titillatingly titled Jennifer’s Body, which will open TIFF’s annual Midnight Madness lineup.
Written by Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody and co-starring Adam Brody and Amy Sedaris, Jennifer’s Body represents a turn to the mainstream for the historically esoteric Midnight Madness series. Fox, in the title role, plays a popular high school cheerleader who’s the envy of the school—and boy does she know it. When she becomes possessed by a demon and begins devouring the town’s all-too-willing young men, her nerdy best friend has to step up and save the day. Other titles from Midnight Madness—TIFF’s horror and schlock series—were announced today. More on them after the jump.
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