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The Toronto Film Festival kicked off September 5 with a multi-move opening night that included David Gordon Green’s family comedy Nutcrackers starring Ben Stiller. It kicked off a slate of world premieres and buzzy movies across 11 days for the 49th edition of one of North America’s biggest film festivals.

Other key titles making their debuts in Toronto included The Luckiest Man in America starring Paul Walter Hauser, the Amy Adams-starring Nightbitch, theater guru Marianne Elliott’s The Salt Path, DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot and Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck, which won the coveted People’s Choice Award.

Documentaries that made a splash included Elton John: Never Too Late and Paul Anka: His Way.

Click below to read Deadline’s reviews from the ground in Toronto, where the festival wrappred September 15.

The Assessment ‘The Assessment’

Section: Special Presentations

Director: Fleur Fortune

Cast: Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Olsen,...

Rebel Wilson is having a triumphant moment at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, and she’s celebrating with her daughter Royce!

On Saturday evening (September 14), the Pitch Perfect actress hit the red carpet outside Roy Thomson Hall for the premiere of her directorial debut The Deb in Toronto, Ontario.

She was joined at the event by her fiancee Ramona Agruma, her nearly two-year-old daughter and members of her cast, including the likes of Tara Morice, Costa D’Angelo, Alex Champion De Crespigny, Shane Jacobson, Stevie Jean, Sophea Pennington, Amanda Kour, Michaeljon Slinger and Natalie Abbott. We’ve got photos of all of them in the gallery.

Keep reading to find out more…

Here’s the movie’s official synopsis from the TIFF website: “Maeve (Charlotte MacInnes) is queen bee at her exclusive private school in the city. But when one of her misguided crusades provokes outrage, she gets not only disciplined...

When Maeve (Charlotte MacInnes) gets suspended from school after a political demonstration backfires, her mother (Susan Prior), who also happens to be the institution’s principal, sends the Sydney teenager to live with her cousin Taylah (Natalie Abbott) in the Australian outback.

Dunburn, the fictional locale in which Rebel Wilson’s uneven directorial debut The Deb is set, is a small town recovering from a years-long drought and dereliction of duty by national ministries. The local government desperately needs money to maintain their water supply and have resorted, in one of the film’s more humorous gags, to making a viral video to bring attention to their plight. Of course, none of these issues concern Maeve, who arrives in Dunburn already plotting her escape.

Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, The Deb chronicles Maeve’s fish-out-of-water adventures in Dunburn. Upon arrival, the cosmopolitan teen loudly rejects the town’s regressive traditions.

With the goal of making a big-screen Australian musical in the vein of movies like Muriel’s Wedding and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert that made such an impression on her growing up, Rebel Wilson has in many ways measured up to the delights that made those films modern classics in The Deb, which just had its world premiere at the closing night of the Toronto Film Festival.

Overshadowed in the past few weeks by a public dispute between Wilson and the film’s producers that nearly derailed this premiere, that kind of negative energy should not cloud what, for much of its two-hour running time, is a toe-tapping, dazzling, fun and young musical entertainment with an exceptional cast in the kind of showcase that makes future stars. Wilson knows exactly what kind of entertainment she wants to serve up here, and for at least the first half...

According to tradition, debutante balls are designed to introduce young ladies to polite society. But in Australian comedy star Rebel Wilson’s rowdy directorial debut, “The Deb,” there isn’t really anything that resembles “polite society.” Wilson’s characters run the gamut from uncouth to in-your-face offensive — none more than the tacky small-town beautician Wilson embodies in a brash, John Waters-esque musical satire, situated where overzealous progressive values meet old-school pageantry at its most patriarchal.

It’s unfortunate that the film’s Toronto Film Festival closing-night premiere is overshadowed by legal disputes between Wilson and three of her producers, since “The Deb” delivers where it counts. The project pokes fun at all parties while rewriting the codes of teenage romance for the 21st century. Right out of the gate, it’s “Hairspray” meets “High School Musical,” as the elaborately choreographed, radio-inappropriate opening number, “Fml,” sets the tone for all that follows.

Rebel Wilson is stepping into the music industry.

The Australian actress and singer has signed a deal with Warner Music and will have her very own, exceptionally personalized label — Rebellionaire — Deadline reports.

“Take the ‘b’ out of billionaire and replace it with an ‘r’ for Rebel,” she told the publication of her partnership with the recording group, whom was set on partnering after hearing songs from Wilson’s feature directorial debut “The Deb” — a comedy/musical set in Australia.

The first release from Rebellionaire will be “The Deb”’s soundtrack, out late 2024 along with the film’s debut.

Wilson was first introduced to “The Deb” over three years ago via a scholarship program she supports at Sydney’s Australian Theatre for Young People (Atyp).

Read More: Rebel Wilson Reveals She’s Auditioned For New James Bond Movie

“Basically, one young person wins it and then I mentor them for a year,...

Exclusive: Rebel Wilson has signed with Warner Music and will have her own highly personalized label: Rebellionaire. “Take the ‘b’ out of billionaire and replace it with an ‘r’ for Rebel,” she quipped.

The recording group partnered with Wilson after hearing songs from her feature directorial debut The Deb, a musical set in Australia that is set to begin shooting Down Under in October.

Rebellionaire’s first release will be The Deb’s soundtrack, due out later next year with the film’s launch.

Wilson was introduced to The Deb 3½ years ago through a scholarship program that she supports at Sydney’s Australian Theatre for Young People (Atyp). “Basically, one young person wins it and then I mentor them for a year,” she explained. “And as part of it, they have to pitch a show and write the show and hopefully finish it by the end of the year.”

The...

Rebel Wilson is setting her eye on the director’s chair.

The actress is set to make her directorial debut with a screen adaptation of the hit musical The Deb.

The film will be a joint production between Wilson’s Camp Sugar Productions and award-winning Australian producer Bunya Productions.

Read More: Rebel Wilson Shares New Photos Of Baby Daughter In Adorable Mother’s Day Post

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“’The Deb’ is my type of movie — full of humour, full of heart, and uniquely Australian but with universal themes. It came out of my scholarship program at the non-profit Australian Theatre for Young People, a program that I’m very proud of and has had incredible success. If there was ever a movie I was going to direct, it would be this one,” said the actress. “This project is just so special and original.

Rebel Wilson is set to direct her first feature, The Deb, a musical set in Australia “that brings the bush into the city.”

The Deb was written by Hannah Reilly and Meg Washington based on a stage show that Wilson championed when it premiered at Sydney’s Australian Theatre for Young People (Atyp) in 2022. Wilson revealed that she also will co-star in the film and told us that two songs not used in the stage production will be featured in the film.

Amanda Ghost, Len Blavatnik and Gregor Cameron are producing through their company Unigram (Tetris) and sister company AI Film.

Shooting on locations in Sydney and rural New South Wales starting in September, The Deb will be produced in partnership with Wilson’s Camp Sugar Productions and award-winning Australian producer Bunya Productions. Danny Cohen executive...

Rebel Wilson is directing her first feature film with musical comedy “The Deb,” a big-screen adaptation of an Australian musical set in the outback.

The film is produced by Amanda Ghost, Len Blavatnik, and Gregor Cameron via their company Unigram, which recently produced Apple TV+ movie “Tetris,” and sister outfit AI Film. The project was launched around the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, at a private event aboard billionaire investor Blavatnik’s yacht, where cast members from the Aussie musical performed a number of songs on the vessel’s upper deck.

Blavatnik, sporting a baseball cap with branding for the movie, introduced the singers, making it clear to the intimate gathering aboard his three-floor yacht that he was an enthusiastic backer of the project and, indeed, Wilson.

Variety caught up on the boat with the “Pitch Perfect” star, who also has a role in the film. “Because I’ve been...

Actress Rebel Wilson is set to make her directorial debut with an adaptation of the Australian musical of “The Deb” for Unigram, AI Film and Access Entertainment.

“The Deb,” according to the official synopsis, tells the story of “lovable farm-girl and high school outcast Taylah Simpkins, who is certain the upcoming Debutante Ball, ‘the Deb,’ is her one chance to redefine herself. When her cynical city cousin Maeve is exiled to Taylah’s drought-stricken town Dunburn, she thinks the ball is a ‘heteronormative shit-show’ and immediately disrupts the status quo. In their search for the spotlight, Taylah and Maeve dig deep to find self-acceptance — and a date to the Deb.”

The musical originally premiered at Sydney’s Australian Theatre for Young People (Atyp) in 2022, written by Hannah Reilly. It includes original songs from singer-songwriter Meg Washington.

“’The Deb’ is my type of movie — full of humour, full of heart, and...