Actors James McAvoy and Rebel Wilson opened up about expanding their artistry behind the camera while filmmakers Rachel Morrison and Liz Garbus got candid about the barriers that still need breaking in the film business during Variety’s Future in Focus panel, presented by Utopai Studios, at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. Variety’s executive editor of film, Matt Donnelly, and senior entertainment writer, Angelique Jackson, led a series of conversations at the invite-only event, which explored how innovation is shaping the art and craft of filmmaking. With the advent of AI and amid corporate mergers and production woes, cinema is at a tipping point, but this assembly of panelists is optimistic.
To them, the future of film looks bright. Conversation with James McAvoy, Actor, Director and Producer McAvoy first attended TIFF 20 years ago with his film “The Last King of Scotland,” but his trips to the festival have become a little different now that he’s become a director and producer. Last year, McAvoy traveled to Toronto with his directorial debut “California Schemin’” and this year, he returned in support of “Faith,” a British supernatural drama from director Paul Andrew Williams (“Dragonfly”), where he stars opposite Erin Doherty (“Adolescence”).
In the conversation, McAvoy got candid about what he has learned from the transition behind the camera, joking that he has become the “monster I never wanted to be” by stepping into the producer role. While he has been lied to by producers over his 30-year career, he hasn’t “fucked anyone over yet,” he told Jackson onstage. The indie film is about a pair of Scottish rappers who pretended to be American to get a record deal.
McAvoy’s experience with “California Schemin’” was different from previous films he took through the festival circuit, too. As an actor, he has been able to “breeze in, breeze out” of places like TIFF, but as a director and producer, he has to network with financiers — after all, they’re the people who have the power to make independent films happen. The actor also shared what drew him to his other upcoming movie “Faith” and the challenges of playing Michael, an enigmatic stranger who helps a single mother grapple with an unimaginable tragedy.
Conversation with Rachel Morrison, Academy Award-Nominated Cinematographer and Director, “Love Of Your Life” Cinematographer and director Rachel Morrison attended TIFF this year for her second directorial outing, “Love of Your Life.” Her first film, “The Fire Inside,” also debuted at the festival in 2024. The romantic drama “Love of Your Life” stars Margaret Qualley as Maya, an ER nurse whose romantic life spawns a journey of self-discovery. Morrison hadn’t seen Qualley take on this type of role before, but she quickly saw how aligned their vision for the character was.
Julia Cox wrote the script, but Morrison came to see her own experiences in the story. She worked with Amazon MGM Studios to create a romantic drama that felt real but also beautiful and full of hope and love. Morrison was the first woman nominated for best cinematographer at the Oscars for 2017’s “Mudbound,” a distinction only four women have received.
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