London Film Festival 2024: Seven films to look out for at this year’s LFF
As film festival season gathers pace, the 68th BFI London Film Festival (LFF) has announced its full 2024 programme, featuring a whopping 39 world premieres.
Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig and Sir Elton John are among the stars to head up the 255-strong collection of movies from around the world.
Here are seven LFF films to look out for – with some hotly tipped for the coming awards season.
Saoirse Ronan in Blitz. Pic: BFF via Getty
Blitz
London-born director Steve McQueen opens the festival for the third time, with the world premiere of his World War Two drama Blitz. The movie re-creates a war-torn London, bombarded by nightly air raids, as battle rages all around.
Saoirse Ronan stars as Rita, an East End mother who makes the heartbreaking decision to send her young son George, played by newcomer Elliott Heffernan, to safety in the countryside. But, George has other ideas, and is determined to return home despite the many dangers ahead.
The ensemble cast includes Kathy Burke, Benjamin Clementine, Harris Dickinson and Stephen Graham, with a score by Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer.
Angelina Jolie stars as Maria Callas. Pic: BFF via Getty
Maria
Angelina Jolie makes a return to the big screen after several years away, starring in the biopic about famed opera singer Maria Callas, one of the greatest sopranos of all time.
While the majority of the vocals we hear in the movie are from original recordings of Callas in her prime, the depictions of singing at the end of her life are mostly Jolie’s own voice. The Oscar-winning actress, who spent seven months training for the role, has called it the most demanding of her career.
Directed by Pablo Larrain, it depicts Callas’s final days in Paris when she was addicted to anti-anxiety drugs, looking back to the peak of her career when she wowed audiences around the world. Larrain has said he hopes it will encourage people to listen to more opera.
Daniel Craig in Queer. Pic: BFF via Getty
Queer
Bond star Daniel Craig plays a drug-addicted American living in 1950s Mexico, in the historical drama Queer.
Based on the 1985 semi-autobiographical novel by Beat Generation author William Burroughs, the film delves into the nightlife of Mexico City, in an immersive flood of colour, and doesn’t shy away from full-on sex scenes.
With some reviewers praising it as Craig’s best performance to date, it also stars Jason Schwartzman, Lesley Manville and newcomer Drew Starkey.
Amy Adams in Nightbitch. Pic: BFF via Getty
Nightbitch
A comedy horror starring the ever-adaptable Amy Adams as a stay-at-home mother who slowly thinks she may be turning into a dog.
Based on the 2021 novel by Rachel Yoder, it’s pitched as a modern feminist fable, examining a society in which women are told they can “have it all”.
The movie is directed by Marielle Heller, who in 2020 was one of the female filmmakers many felt were snubbed by the Oscars and Golden Globes when she failed to get a nomination for her movie A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood. Heller will no doubt be hoping this film – as offbeat as it is – is a different story.
Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan (L-R). Pic: Apprentice Productions Ontario / Profile Productions/ Tailored Films
The Apprentice
One of the most polarizing political figures of the 21st century, this film unpacks the young Donald Trump, examining his life before politics, and his career in real estate in New York in the 1970s and 1980s.
Directed by Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi, it stars Sebastian Stan stars as Trump, with Succession actor Jeremy Strong (aka Kendall Roy) playing attorney Roy Cohn.
Possibly the most controversial film of the year, it’s been beset with legal issues, not least of which include a cease-and-desist letter from Mr Trump’s legal team.
With a US election due in November, this one will at least be topical when it finally makes it to cinemas.
Sadie Frost with her subject, Twiggy. Pic: BFF via Getty
Twiggy
This is the first fully approved documentary to tell British model Twiggy’s life story.
Directed by actor-turned-director Sadie Frost it tells the story of the fashion icon – whose real name is Lesley Lawson – going back to her working-class childhood in northwest London, through to her international stardom as a celebrity model, and her career as an actor, singer, fashion designer, writer and TV presenter.
Other noteworthy documentaries screening at LFF include Elton John: Never Too Late, about the singer’s final US live shows, and Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, which looks back at the late actor’s rise to fame as the superhero and his life following a horse-riding accident that left him paralysed from the neck down.
Pharrell Williams’s life story in Lego. Pic: Courtesy of Focus Features
Piece By Piece
A movie about the life of musician Pharrell Williams will close the festival – but told entirely using Lego.
Directed by Morgan Neville, and produced by Williams himself, it depicts the Happy singer’s early life in Virginia, through to his rise to fame as he tops the charts.
Williams recorded five new songs for the soundtrack, and many think it’s a likely contender for best animated feature and best original song come awards season.
LFF takes place from Wednesday 9 October to Sunday 20 October.
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John David Washington says he felt like he had to conceal his desire to act because of the external expectations of him being the child of Denzel and Pauletta Washington.
He tells Sky News it took some time for him to pursue an acting career, choosing football instead to assert his “independence” and create his own “identity” separate from his famous family.
“I’ve been wanting to do this my whole life… but I was hiding it,” he said.
“I had to conceal that passion based on my relationship to the world and more specifically, my folks being in the industry, so I chose ball.
“I loved ball, but I was sort of hiding my love for the arts under a helmet – literally an American football helmet – and so when I wanted to become an actor, when I decided to pursue it, that was a big shock to some people.”
The 40-year-old actor says when he decided to pursue an acting career, he kept the decision quiet.
“Some people didn’t know I was even pursuing it professionally until I got a job,” he said.
John David with fellow actor Danielle Deadwyler. Pic: David Lee/ Netflix
Since switching to acting, John David has starred in a number of notable roles including the protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, Ron Stallworth in BlacKkKlansman and Joshua in The Creator.
He also led the stage revival of the 2022 Tony-nominated play The Piano Lesson on Broadway alongside Samuel L Jackson.
“He [Jackson] originated the role [I play] in 1987 at Yale with Lloyd Richards and August Wilson,” John David said.
“So it was of great importance for us to learn from both he and Michael Potts about August Wilson. It was a great blessing for me, I think, for all of us to have him present on set.”
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The Piano Lesson is the third August Wilson play to be adapted for the screen by Denzel Washington’s production company Mundy Lane Entertainment.
It is part of a pledge made by the Gladiator II actor to make all 10 of the playwright’s works into films.
The Netflix project is directed by another Washington family member, Malcolm, and stars most of the cast from the Broadway revival.
The Piano Lesson is Malcolm Washington’s directorial debut. Pic: Katia Washington/ Netflix
Set in 1936 Pittsburgh in the aftermath of the Great Depression, the film centres on a family heirloom, a piano, that is etched with the carvings of their family history made by their enslaved ancestor.
Malcolm says he started reading the play for the first time during the pandemic and immediately wanted to be involved in the film adaptation.
“I think with this movie, reclamation of story and identity is so central to the theme and it’s something that’s central to my life where I both acknowledge the fertile ground that I was raised on and who I am today.
“That’s what Wining Boy [played by Michael Potts] really is trying to do, he’s trying to build on that legacy, so that’s a story that really resonated with me.”
The filmmaker added: “I take all the gifts that my ancestors laid in front of me, and I’m trying to build something for the next generation to pass down – all of their gifts, plus mine to the next generation and let them build on it.”
Malcolm has dedicated his directorial debut to his mother, Pauletta Washington. Pic: David Lee/Netflix
Malcolm says his goal was to put family at the forefront of the production. By dedicating his feature debut to “Mama”, he is acknowledging the dedication and sacrifices that mothers make for the growth of their families.
“There’s so much pointing to my mother in particular, who inspired this adaptation so much. I see so much of her life in Berniece’s character [played by Danielle Deadwyler] – and that became a guiding light for me in this adaptation,” he said.
“As we made this thing and started reconnecting with our ancestors, my mum became like a kind of representative of them.
“She’s the matriarch of our family. She tells me about my grandparents and great-grandparents and the line that I come from, and I see them in her.
“And when the movie ends, I want people to kind of have that moment of reflection for their own lives. So in dedicating it to her, I was trying to dedicate it to all mums everywhere.”
The Piano Lesson is now available on Netflix.
Blockbuster Wicked has landed the largest opening weekend of 2024 at Vue International.
The film, starring Oscar-nominated actress Cynthia Erivo and Grammy-winning pop star Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Glinda, surpassed both Gladiator II and Paddington In Peru.
It has also had the largest opening weekend for a stage musical adaptation in the cinema chain’s history.
A boss for Vue International said it had seen a “sea of pink and green” over the weekend.
Ariana Grande (left) as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in the film. Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Released on Friday, Wicked is up 60% on Les Miserables’ opening weekend in 2012 and three times larger than the 2022 film adaptation of Matilda.
Founder and chief executive of Vue International Tim Richards said: “Vue has seen a sea of pink and green over the opening weekend of Wicked, which has shown continued high demand for the big screen experience.
“We saw record-breaking pre-sales for Wicked, followed by a chart-topping opening weekend – the biggest for 2024.”
The film is the first of two parts, with the second expected in November next year.
Wicked and Gladiator II – known together as Glicked – have reportedly failed to beat out Barbenheimer, Barbie and Oppenheimer, in its own opening weekend last summer.
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Glicked brought in £215m in worldwide ticket sales – with Wicked making the majority of that.
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