Behind the Scenes Buzz

MICHAEL B. JORDAN, JAMIE FOXX, KERRY WASHINGTON TO KEYNOTE TIFF: The Toronto Film Festival unveiled a festival slate of 244 features from 84 countries Tuesday, plus their high-profile In Conversation With... series of talks with superstars. Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx will talk and introduce Just Mercy, a civil rights film, and Kerry Washington will helm a talk about her latest film, American Son. Antonio Banderas, Allison Janney and Javier Bardem will also host informal conversations. The Toronto Film Festival, set to run Sept. 5-15

IDRIS ELBA & ROSARIO DAWSON BOARD NBA 2K20: Idris Elba, Rosario Dawson and Thomas Middleditch are set to collab on a basketball video game, NBA 2K20, which launches in September. They also appear in When the Lights Are Brightest trailer, directed by Sheldon Candis, in which Elba plays a a coach, Dawson stars as a player adviser and Middleditch as an agent. Candis told Deadline, “Imagine if LeBron had went to college and he spoke out against the system when his close friend gets injured and the university pulls the kid’s scholarship. This year’s story furthers the ‘More Than An Athlete’ societal mission. It’s been my greatest experience working with our actors and deep diving into the world of Motion Capture. This year’s cinematic narrative story is a piece of emotional pop culture with a special social activism thematic.”

SPIDER-MAN SCORES RE-RELEASE: Sony is re-releasing Spider-Man: Far From Home over Labor Day weekend. Far From Home became the top-grossing Sony movie over the weekend, surging past the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall with $1.09 billion, versus Skyfall‘s $1.08 billion. The re-release will start Thursday, August 29^th.

TIM ROTH TO BE HONORED: British actor Tim Roth will be honored at the Sarajevo Film Festival on Tuesday when he receives an honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award. Roth will host a master class ahead of the ceremony, where he will be honored “in recognition of his exceptional contribution to the art of film,” the festival said. Roth is currently starring in Tin Star, a Sky Atlantic television series.