[projekktor id=’14876′]
This is a big day at the Toronto International Film Festival — with several stars walking the red carpets for film premieres. Dustin Hoffman is expected this hour for his new movie “Boychoir”. Sean Leathong and Melissa Raftis are the CHCH News “TIFF team”
These fan got quite the thrill moments ago as Dustin Hoffman got out of his car, signed some autographs, shook some hands and took some photos with some fans. There were loud screams. He then went on to the red carpet for the premiere of “Boychoir”.
Sean Leathong is on the red carpet and spoke to Eddie Izzard who is one of the cast members of “Boychoir”.
What can we expect from this movie?: “Boychoir is a story about a young boy named Sted and his fight to see whether he’s going to drive his life into oblivion or whether he’s going to realize his potential. He has this amazing voice inside him. Debra Winger plays the teacher who decides to push him forward and Dustin Hoffman is the head of the Boyschoir school. I play the second head and I hate Dustin Hoffman’s character and I try to get him to leave. I think my guy is better than Sted and it’s a big fight over the soul of this kid. And it’s Debra Winger and it’s Josh Lucas, Kathy Bates and Dustin Hoffman and my good self.”
You have a comedic background and so does Dustin Hoffman. Was it hard not to make it a funny film?: No, I have only one line in the film — he says he’s going to resign and I say ‘I’ll pack your bags for you.’ I ad-libbed that I think but apart from that it’s a drama. It is the story of this kid and his growing pains and trying to find his feet in his life. We got on very well. We quite liked the fact that we hated each other — in the film. So we got along great.
Was he easy to work with?: Yes, he was very easy to work with. And you can never tell how they’re going to be. But no, working with Dustin was great and I’d do it again at the drop of a hat.
Boychoir starts in just a few minutes. The film also stars Dustin Hoffman and Josh Lucas who we will have at 11.
Earlier today Melissa got a chance to speak to Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell for the world premiere of “Welcome to Me”. They were at the Princess of Wales for that film.
Wiig plays a woman with a borderline personality disorder who wins the lottery, buys airtime for her own talk show and then becomes an overnight celebrity. And then she has to deal with being a celebrity. Will Ferrell produced this film and Wiig says this was a very different role for her: “It’s weird because it’s not who I am as a person so I had to figure that out. She’s very open, very public and wants everyone to know everything about her. I’m not like that — probably the opposite of that.”
Will Ferrell, why did you want to produce this film?: “I was just attracted to the material. We love the fact that it was female driven. When Kristen Wiig signed on board we said ‘oh, wow! This could be great’. She one of those people who is a comedic genius and such a talented actress and I think she’s going to blow people away with what she does in this movie.”
Today was named Bill Murray day in honour of the legendary actor who is in town for his latest film ‘St. Vincent’. Murray plays an unlikely role model for his 12-year old neighbour in the film. There are also screenings of some of his classic films like ‘Stripes, ‘Ghostbusters’ and “Groundhog Day’.
Sean Leathong will be bringing you all the highlights from the red carpet for ‘Boychoir ‘ and St. Vincent’ at 11.
