September
5
Toronto Watch: Wrestler First Big Sale Title
On my plane from LA to Toronto were Jason Reitman, whose Juno hit it big here last year, Participant exec Ricky Strauss, New Line survivor Christina Kounelias, Variety critic Todd McCarthy and Los Angeles Times contributor Mark Olsen.
McCarthy's rave review of The Wrestler went up Thursday, breaking the agreed-upon Friday review embargo--after The Hollywood Reporter posted their review. "Rourke creates a galvanizing, humorous, deeply moving portrait that instantly takes its place among the great, iconic screen performances," writes McCarthy.
The Wrestler debuts in Toronto Sunday night at 6 PM (after its unveiling in Venice) and is by far the hottest title for sale here. Sharon Swart and Dade Hayes lay out the field. The trick for Wild Bunch, which is selling The Wrestler's North American rights with CAA, is finding a distrib that can ramp up a release before year's end so that Rourke can qualify for Oscar consideration. A late December limited opening would be likely.
Strauss, who came out of Toronto well last year with The Visitor, one of the few indie hits this year, is debuting Robert Kenner's big-business expose Food, Inc., a hard-hitting doc based on the reporting of Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma). Kounelias insists that big Warners plunking down the bucks for a wide October 24 release on the long-finished cop drama Pride and Glory, starring Colin Farrell and Edward Norton, is a good thing. Olsen has already seen The Hurt Locker (reviewed here from Venice) and written up director Kathryn Bigelow for Saturday's paper. The movie is also for sale by CAA here.
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Wallace Beery wasn't available?
Posted by: Edward Wilson | September 05, 2008 at 09:12 AM