TIFF 2025 films for theatre and comedy lovers
From docs about John Candy and the famous 1972 Godspell to two takes on Hamlet, there are lots of stage-related movies at this year's festival
This year’s Toronto International Film Festival slate of stage-related films seems much stronger and more interesting than last year’s.
The opener, for one, is a documentary about one of Canada’s most beloved comic actors. Another hotly-anticipated doc explores the legendary Toronto production of a certain religious-themed musical that featured a rowdy bunch of future comedy and theatre greats.
And there’s not one but two takes on the Hamlet story. Plus a film about one of musical theatre’s great lyricists — when does that happen?
Note: I didn’t apply for TIFF media accreditation this year, for various reasons that are too boring to get into here. Mostly I need a break before the theatre season revs up in September. But I’ll try to weigh in on these films if and when I can — if not during the festival, then when they’re released theatrically.
John Candy: I Like Me
It’s still hard to believe that John Candy was only 43 years old when he died of a heart attack in 1994. His work, from his brilliant SCTV sketches and characters to iconic comedies like Splash, Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Uncle Buck, still feels fresh and original. Imagine what he could have gone on to do. Director Colin Hanks employs archival footage (wonder if there’s something about Candy’s small role in the first ever Tarragon Theatre season, in 1971) and interviews with his friends like Steve Martin, Tom Hanks (the director’s dad), Martin Short, Eugene Levy and his young Uncle Buck co-star, Macaulay Culkin. A lovely film to open this year’s 50th anniversary edition.
September 4 at 6 pm (Princess of Wales) and 8 pm (Roy Thomson Hall); September 11 at 9 pm, September 12 and 13 at 9 am, September 14 at 9:25 am at the Scotiabank. See details here
You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution...
No history of the Toronto theatre scene would be complete without a reference to the legendary production of Godspell that opened at the Royal Alex in 1972 before transferring uptown to the Bayview Playhouse. Victor Garber headed up the cast as Jesus (he would soon leave for New York and the show’s film adaptation), and the ensemble included Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Martin Short, Jayne Eastwood and music director Paul Schafer. Also, its composer, Stephen Schwartz, would go on to create a modest little show called Wicked. All of them would soon alter the entertainment landscape. Director Nick Davis talks to surviving members of the cast and uses various media — including animation — to recreate the time and illustrate the huge importance of this show to future pop culture.
September 6 at 2 pm at Roy Thomson Hall; September 7 at 9:15 pm and September 12 at 9:30 pm at the Scotiabank. See details here
Blue Moon
Oklahoma! is one of the defining works of the American stage. Now its historic opening night at Sardi’s in 1943 provides the setting for Richard Linklater’s new film (he’s also at the festival with Nouvelle Vague, his film about the making of Godard’s Breathless). Up until then, lyricist Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) had collaborated with composer Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott) on shows like Pal Joey and The Boys From Syracuse and songs like the titular ballad. But after seeing Oklahoma!, co-written by Oscar Hammerstein II (Simon Delaney), the alcoholic, semi-closeted Hart knew he was being eclipsed by the new lyricist. Underscored by some great music (obviously) and featuring a cast that includes Bobby Canavale and Margaret Qualley, this pic looks like theatre lovers’ catnip.
September 8 at 6:15 pm and September 9 at 9:45 pm at the Scotiabank. See info here. The film will also get a theatrical run in late October.
Hedda
Recently, Toronto theatregoers have had a couple of chances to experience Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler in revivals by the Stratford Festival and Coal Mine Theatre. Setting the film in mid-century England, director Nia DaCosta (Candyman, The Marvels) has created a bold new adaptation that promises to mix things up — much in the same way that the bored and restless title character (Passing’s Tessa Thompson) mixes things up in her life. The advance promo shots look suitably sumptuous, and the casting of the great German actor Nina Hoss (Tár, Barbara) as Eileen Lovborg — rather than the male Eilert Lovborg, Hedda’s former lover — suggests a possible queer, or at least overtly feminist, take on the story. We’re intrigued.
September 7 at 9:30 pm at the Princess of Wales; September 8 at 3:45 pm and September 12 at 3:30 pm, Scotiabank. See info here. The film will be released theatrically on October 22 and then globally on Prime Video on October 29.
The Choral
Nicholas Hytner (The Madness of King George) directs Ralph Fiennes, Simon Russell Beale and Roger Allam (among other great British thespians) in this film about the power of art to get people through difficult times. In 1916, a Yorkshire town is losing its men to the war. And so for its upcoming performance of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, the local choral society, led by Fiennes, is forced to find singers from among the town’s male teenagers, who are nervously awaiting conscription. The script is by prolific playwright Alan Bennett, who won an Oscar for his adaptation of King George back in 1994. This has awards bait written all over it.
September 5 at 5:30 pm at Roy Thomson Hall; September 6 at 11:55 am and September 12 at 6:15 pm at the Scotiabank. See info here
Duse
Like Sarah Bernhardt, Eleanora Duse’s name has gone down in theatre history as one of the most legendary stage actors to have ever lived. Now director Pietro Marcello, who won TIFF’s Platform prize for his 2019 film Martin Eden, has created a portrait of the artist later in her life, during Italy’s fascistic post-World War I years. Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (Human Capital, Like Crazy) plays the woman known throughout Italy and the world as La Duse in a film that apparently defies the conventions of the typical biopic.
September 8 at 9 pm at the Scotiabank; September 9 at 12:30 pm at TIFF Lightbox; September 12 at 10:45 am at the Scotiabank. See info here
Hamlet
Something is rotten in the state of... England? In Aneil Karia’s London-set modern adaptation of the world’s famous play, Riz Ahmed plays a man haunted by his father’s ghost who then scours London — from high society to the peripheral South Asian communities on the edges to avenge the man’s murder. Karia shared the 2022 Oscar with Ahmed for their short film The Long Goodbye. Could they go for a second with this adaptation, which also stars Joe Alwyn and Morfydd Clark? That is the question.
September 5 at 6:15 pm at TIFF Lightbox; September 7 at 2:45 pm and September 12 at 6:45 pm at the Scotiabank. See info here
Hamnet
Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland won the TIFF People’s Choice Award back in 2020, before going on to win half a dozen Oscars — including picture and director — several months later. So expectations are high for this adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s acclaimed novel about how the death of their son Hamnet affected William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley). The former went on to write his most famous play, Hamlet, after experiencing this huge tragedy, but what role did his Agnes play in both the grieving process, and the creation of his art? Again, that is the question.
September 7 at 1:30 pm at Roy Thomson Hall; September 8 at 6:30 pm at the Scotiabank; September 11 at 2 pm at the Royal Alex. See info here