Says The Film Is “Raging Bull On Ice”
While the film world will turn their attention to Cannes tomorrow when the full line-up for the festival is revealed, immediately afterword, the films that aren’t mentioned will be pegged for premieres this fall at Venice, Telluride and TIFF, with a whole new round of speculation surely kicking in. It’s like comic book movie casting for arthouse nerds. And while TIFF is a good five months away just yet, one filmmaker already has his eye on Toronto.
Director Michael Dowse (“Fubar,” “Take Me Home Tonight“) told MovieWeb that he hopes his hockey comedy “Goon” will be ready in time for the red carpet saying, “We are just now putting the finishing touches on the edit right now. I think we will premiere it at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) this year, if everything goes right.”
The film wrapped at the end of last year and is currently in post, and it sounds quite promising. Starring Jay Baruchel, Seann William Scott, Alison Pill, Marc-Andre Grondin, Liev Schrieber and Eugene Levy the film follows a bouncer (Scott) who joins a rag tag hockey team and inspires them to greatness. But this ain’t “Miracle.”
The bouncer’s contribution to the team is that he is one helluva fighter, and Dowse says, “It’s my ‘Raging Bull‘ on ice. It is quite violent. It’s very funny….I really love the movie. It is hyper-violent and hyper-funny.”
But does it sound too out there, even for a sports comedy? Guess again. “It is based on this guy who was a goon in the East Coast hockey league. A little bit in the NHL,” Dowse said. “I think he was a mall cop and a former boxer from a Boston suburb. He got invited in and started being a goon in these hockey leagues. But this is a very loose adaptation, based on the novel called ‘Goon.’”
It all sounds like a blast, and we’re definitely intrigued. The director of “Fubar” taking on the wild world of hockey? Bring it on. Obviously release dates are premature at this point, so don’t bet on it hitting screens until late this year or early next year — we’d guess distributors would want to get this on screens during the hockey season. Two other films almost already a lock for TIFF later this year? Jason Reitman‘s “Young Adult” (which he recently called his “most unlikable” film, natch if you read the Diablo Cody-penned script) and David Cronenberg‘s “A Dangerous Method” — Canucks like to ensure that Canucks premiere their films at their most prestigious event after all.
