The 2022 Toronto International Film Festival will be bookended by films directed by women. A couple weeks after the fest unveiled Sally El Hosaini’s “The Swimmers” as its Opening Night Gala, it has announced that the world premiere of Mary Harron’s “Dalíland” will be its closer, Deadline confirms. It will screen September 17 at Roy Thomson Hall.
A biopic of the Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and his wife, Gala, the film sees Ben Kingsley and Ezra Miller portraying older and younger versions of the titular character, respectively. As the source pointed out, TIFF’s announcement of the “Dalíland” premiere didn’t mention Miller by name, likely because of the various criminal allegations and arrests they have accrued, the latest of which is a charge of felony burglary. However, Miller has apparently not been edited out of the final cut.
“We started looking at Dalí in the 1970s, the older Dalí, with flashbacks to the younger Dalí, which are rendered like an old movie. That format really excited me,” Harron told Deadline. “The story is all played out through this kind of Nick Carraway figure [Christopher Briney], who comes into Dalí’s life as an assistant and sees it all.”
“We’re excited to premiere Mary Harron’s ‘Dalíland’ as this year’s Closing Night film,” said TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey. “We couldn’t be prouder that Harron is a Canadian who has taken her singular explorations of iconic eccentrics to the world stage. In portraying the wild relationship between Salvador Dalí and his partner, Gala, Harron continues to keep moviegoing interesting and engaging.”
Barbara Sukowa and Suki Waterhouse are also among the cast of “Dalíland.”
Harron’s best known projects include features “American Psycho” and “I Shot Andy Warhol” as well as miniseries “Alias Grace.” Her most recent credits are “Charlie Says,” a portrait of three Charles Manson followers, and Quibi horror series “The Expecting.”
TIFF 2022 will take place September 8-18.
