Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant Added To Toronto Fest Lineup
We've been wondering when the hell we'd actually get to see Bad Lieutenant, the non-remake of Abel Ferrara's film directed by Werner Herzog and starring Nicolas Cage (click here to see the Bad Lieutenant trailer). Now the Toronto International Film Festival has announced that the film will screen as part of the 'Special Presentations' slate. No huge surprise, as Herzog is frequently represented at TIFF (he was last there with Encounters at the End of the World in '07) but since Bad Lieutenant has seemed to languish without distributor interest this is a good sign. Other great filmmakers were also announced for the fest; get details of the Coen Brothers and Michael Moore appearances after the jump.
Here's the short form release from TIFF:
The Toronto International Film Festival is pleased to announce the addition of two Gala Presentations and eight Special Presentations to the programming lineup for this year's Festival, running September 10 to 19. Included are works from critically acclaimed filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, Werner Herzog, Rebecca Miller, Michael Moore and Oliver Parker, and featuring on-screen performances by Drew Barrymore (in her directorial debut), Jim Broadbent, Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine, Colin Farrell, Colin Firth, Rebecca Hall, Val Kilmer, Christopher Lee, Juliette Lewis, Blake Lively, Eva Mendes, Julianne Moore, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page, Robin Wright Penn and Keanu Reeves.
So, the big additions are that we've got A Serious Man by the Coen Brothers, Capitalism: A Love Story by Michael Moore and, in the slightly surprising column, Drew Barrymore's directorial debut Whip It. (Which was promoted around Comic Con by squads of rollergirls in costume as the film's main roller derby team.) While the Herzog, Coen and Moore films aren't surprises, it's nice to see them in the lineup.
And, as The Playlist noted while we were returning from San Diego, Wes Anderson's The Fantastic Mr. Fox will not be at TIFF, or at Venice. It will premiere at the BFI London Film Festival. Since Venice has loved Anderson in the past and gave this one a pass, does that mean the film isn't any good?