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. “But that moment, that decision might come.”