Toronto Film Fest 2012: Malick, Baumbach, Affleck, ‘Looper’ and More

Malick. Newell. Baumbach. Whedon. Ozon. Nair. Affleck. Redford. Some major names have tossed their hats into the proverbial ring for the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, which announced its first wave of programming Tuesday morning. Wait until you hear all of the directors we’ve yet to mention.

Rian Johnson’s ‘Looper’ – with Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt – will open this year’s fest on Sept. 6. From there, a number of films with Oscar hopes will hold their World or North American premieres in Canada (leaving a few options for Venice and Telluride, which run approximately the same days).

The biggest surprise has to be Terrence Malick’s ‘To the Wonder,’ the long-developing romance with Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams and Javier Bardem. Malick’s film will make its North American premiere at TIFF, meaning it likely will first bow in Venice.

In addition to Malick, the recognizable names bringing anticipated films to TIFF include David O. Russell (‘The Silver Lining Playbook’), Derek Cianfrance (‘The Place Behind the Pines’), Neil Jordan (‘Byzantium’), Dustin Hoffman (‘Quartet’), The Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer (‘Cloud Atlas’) and Ben Lewis’ Sundance hit, ‘The Sessions.’

Here’s a complete list of the films already announced by TIFF. Expect more titles to be released in the coming weeks, and stay tuned for the most complete TIFF coverage on the Web.

World Premieres
"Looper" (Rian Johnson) (Opening Film)
"Cloud Atlas" (The Wachowskis & Tom Tykwer)
"Argo" (Ben Affleck)
"The Silver Linings Playbook" (David O. Russell)
"Love, Marilyn" (Liz Garbus)
"Free Angela And All Political Prisoners" (Shola Lynch)
"The Place Beyond The Pines" (Derek Cianfrance)
"Midnight's Children" (Deepa Mehta)
"Hyde Park On Hudson" (Roger Michell)
"Great Expectations" (Mike Newell)
"Inescapable" (Rubba Nadda)
"Twice Born" (Sergio Castellitto)
"English Vinglish" (Gauri Shinde)
"The Perks Of Being A Wallflower" (Stephen Chbosky)
"Thanks For Sharing" (Stuart Blumberg)
"End Of Watch" (David Ayer)
"Imogene" (Robert Puccini and Shari Springer Berman)
"A Late Quartet" (Yaron Zilberman)
"Much Ado About Nothing" (Joss Whedon)
"Frances Ha" (Noah Baumbach)
"The Time Being" (Nenad Cicin-Sain)
"Writers" (Josh Boone)
"At Any Price" (Ramin Bahrani)
"Venus And Serena" (Maiken Baird)
"Byzantium" (Neil Jordan)
"Quartet" (Dustin Hoffman)
"Ginger And Rosa" (Sally Potter)
"A Liar's Autobiography" (Ben Timlett, Bill JOnes, Jeff Simpson)
"Foxfire" (Laurnet Cantet)
"In The House" (Francois Ozon)
"The Impossible" (JA Bayona)
"Hannah Arendt (Margarethe Von Trotta)
"Mr. Pip" (Andrew Adamson)
"Capital" (Costa-Gavras"
"The Attack" (Ziad Doueriri)
"Zaytoun" (Eran Riklis)
"The Deep" (Baltasar Kormakur)
"Dreams For Sale (Nishikawa Miwa)
"The Last Supper" (Lu Chuan)

International/North American Premieres
"To The Wonder" (Terrence Malick)
"Anna Karenina" (Joe Wright)
"The Reluctant Fundamentalist" (Mira Nair)
"The Company You Keep" (Robert Redford)
"Jayne Mansfield's Car" (Billy Bob Thornton)
"A Royal Affair" (Nikolai Arcel)
"Dangerous Liasons" (Hur Ji-Ho)
"Thermae Romae" (Hideki Takeuchi)
"Caught IN THe Web" (Chen Kaige)
"Dormant Beauty" (Marco Belloccchio)
"Everybody Has A Plan" (Ana Piterbarg w/Viggo Mortensen)
"Kon-Tiki" (Espen Sandberg)
"Reality" (Matteo Garrone)
"A Few Hours Of Spring" (Stephan Brize)
"The Hunt" (Thomas Vintenberg)
"The Iceman" (Ariel Vromen)
"Lore" (Cate Shortland)
"No" (Pablo Larrain)
"OUtrage Beyond" (Takeshi Kitano)
"Rust And Bone" (Jacques Audiard)
"The Sapphires" (Wayne Blair)
"Tai Chi O" (Stephen Fung)

Canadian Premiere
"The Sessions" (Ben Lewis)