‘Joker’ & Mr. Rogers: Awards Season 2019 Kicks Off With TIFF Line-Up

The 2019 Toronto International Film Festival has announced its official lineup, featuring some unexpected heavy hitters. TIFF is generally viewed as the unofficial start to awards season, with many hopefuls and eventual winners making their debut at the Canadian festival.

Per Variety, his year’s line-up includes Todd Phillips’s “Joker,” “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” with Tom Hanks,” “Hustlers” with Jennifer Lopez and Cardi B, Taika Waititi’s “Jojo Rabbit,” Donna Tartt adaptation “The Goldfinch,” “Just Mercy” with Michael B. Jordan, and “Ford v. Ferrari” with Matt Damon and Christian Bale, among many others.

The major standout here is the DC Comics adaptation “Joker,” which aims to be a gritty crime saga borrowing the iconography of the classic Batman villain. Warner Bros. have clearly been high on the film’s chances critically, and a spot at TIFF confirms that they want an awards contender. Joaquin Phoenix suits up as the Clown Prince of Crime, following in the footsteps of the late Heath Ledger, who also won critical acclaim and a posthumous Oscar for his turn as the Joker back in 2008. The film hits theaters on Oct. 4.

Another buzzworthy entry is director Marielle Heller’s Mr. Rogers biopic, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” After the debut of its first trailer this week, the film began building buzz over Hanks’s portrayal of the wholesome and beloved children’s TV host. After the success of last year’s documentary, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” it appears the love for Fred Rogers hasn’t gone away. The film hits theaters on Nov. 22. Watch the trailer at the top of this page.

Sure to be a controversial, wild card release this fall is “Jojo Rabbit,” Waititi’s self-described “anti-hate satire” about a young boy in Nazi Germany who discovers that his mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a young Jewish girl in their home. Waititi himself also stars in the film as the boy’s imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler. He will follow this film with a return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for “Thor: Love and Thunder” in 2021.

Netflix will also make their presence felt with the Panama Papers biopic “The Laundromat,” starring Meryl Streep, and “Marriage Story” from director Noah Baumbach, also starring Johansson.