Toronto: Kristen Wiig’s ‘Welcome to Me,’ Simon Pegg’s ‘Kill Me Three Times’ Get World Premieres

TORONTO – Kristen Wiig‘s dark comedy Welcome to Me and the Simon Pegg-starrer Kill Me Three Times are to get world premieres at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival.

Fest organizers also unveiled on Tuesday seven more gala premieres for Roy Thomson Hall, including Richard Loncraine‘s Ruth & Alex, starring Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton, and the John Travolta and Christopher Plummer art heist pic The Forger, each getting world bows.

Other high-profile world premieres at Roy Thomson Hall include Francois Girard‘s Boychoir, which stars Dustin Hoffman and Kathy Bates, and French director Andrea Di Stefano‘s Escobar: Paradise Lost, in which Benicio Del Toro plays the Colombian drug lord and Josh Hutcherson a young man pulled into the family.

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Elsewhere, Maya Forbes‘ Infinitely Polar Bear, starring Mark Ruffalo, is getting a Canadian premiere at Roy Thomson Hall, while Lynn Shelton‘s Laggies, which stars Keira Knightley and Sam Rockwell, is getting an international premiere.

In the Special Presentations sidebar, Toronto programmers added another 17 star-driven titles, including a world premiere for Paul Bettany‘s Shelter, starring Jennifer Connelly and Anthony Mackie.

Toronto will also bow Henry Hobson‘s gender-bending debut feature Maggie, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Abigail Breslin, and Sophie Barthes‘ literary adaptation Madame Bovary, which stars Mia Wasikowska in the title role of Gustave Flaubert‘s 19th century novel, alongside Paul Giamatti, Rhys Ifans and Ezra Miller.

Flaubert also figures in the Gemma Arterton-starrer Gemma Bovery, French director Anne Fontaine‘s drama about a well-heeled Parisian hipster passionate about the French author, who settles in a Norman village as a baker.

Also debuting in the Special Presentation section is Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s Beyond the Lights, starring Danny Glover; Thomas McCarthy‘s The Cobbler, starring Adam Sandler; Johnnie To‘s Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2; and Andrew Lau and Andrew Loo‘s Revenge of the Green Dragons, starring Ray Liotta and Justin Chon.

Special Presentation titles making their North American bows include the Cannes films The Search, Michel Hazanavicius‘ Chechen war drama, fellow French helmer Benoit Jacquot‘s Three Hearts and British director Matthew Warchus‘ Pride, starring Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton.

Toronto will also feature a Canadian premiere for Two Days, One Night, Luc Dardenne and Jean-Pierre Dardenne‘s social drama about working-class Belgian life that stars Marion Cotillard and Simon Caudry.

Toronto also unveiled a slew of world premieres for its Contemporary World Cinema sidebar, including for South African director Jyoti Mistry‘s Impunity, Finnish director Dome Karukoski‘s The Grump, Luis Ortega‘s Lulu, from Argentina, and Alex Holdridge and Linnea Saasen‘s Meet Me in Montenegro.

North American bows in the CWC section, which has films from 42 countries, include those for Bruno Dumont‘s Li’l Quinquin  ,   Chang Jung-Chi’s Partners in Crime, Naomi Kawase‘s Still The Water, Christian Zubert‘s Tour de Force, Panos Koutras‘ Xenia and Martin Rejtman‘s Two Shots Fired.

Other announcements from Toronto on Tuesday included the lineup for the City-to-City focus on Seoul, including world premieres for Boo Ji-Young‘s Cart and Yim Pil-sung‘s Scarlet Innocence and North American bows for Park Jung-bum‘s Alive, Kim Seong-hun‘s A Hard Day and July Jung‘s A Girl At My Door.

The Toronto Film Festival, which will make additional lineup announcements in the coming weeks, is set to run from Sept. 4-14.