Van Damme ramps up Midnight Madness in Toronto
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Jean-Claude Van Damme during filming of the comedy JCVD (www.jcvd-lefilm.com: Wahib)
Forget red carpets and polite Hollywood stars, mayhem reigns at the Toronto film festival's Midnight Madness movies that kicked off, literally, with an early morning screening of JCVD in which aging action hero Jean-Claude Van Damme pokes fun at his own career.
The Toronto festival is one of the world's top movie gatherings and Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and even young Dakota Fanning will be in town walking up the glamorous red carpet at gala screenings.
But at midnight, the glitz is packed up and movie going gets down to dark, bloody and outlandishly funny films that help define the range of about 300 films overall at the festival.
In the past, Midnight Madness has launched Hollywood hits such as Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan and horror flick Saw, which spawned several gory sequels.
Studio executives prey on the offbeat material for their next big hits, and the buzz around JCVD is pretty strong.
Van Damme plays himself, an international action hero who is down on his luck and going through a custody battle. His aging body makes it hard to kick butt, and he is in money trouble.
He heads back to his home town to escape life, but is taken hostage in a heist-gone-awry and has to fight his way out. Sure, there are high-flying kicks, but Van Damme won fans for a monologue he delivers addressing his personal demons.
Known as the Muscles from Brussels, Van Damme was not among the predominantly male audience in the early morning hours on Friday (local time), and he apologised via a brief video message.
"A really big hug to the Toronto festival," he said.
Ten films are chosen each year, and at 2008's launch, programmer Colin Geddes promised "another year of mayhem."
A documentary by Matt Hartley explores Ozploitation during the 1970s and 1980s when Australian moviemakers seemed obsessed with car crashes, nudity, and kung-fu.
Other titles include French sci-fi film Eden Log, horror flicks Acolytes and Martyrs, and Japanese manga-influenced Detroit Metal City.
Now in its 21st year, Midnight Madness is akin to sitting in a large living room as audience members yell "Don't do it!" during hair-raising scenes or cheer on the hero.
Marcel Sarmiento, who co-directed one of this year's films Deadgirl, a coming-of-age-horror-thriller, says he has been an audience member at previous years' Midnight Madness and he looks forward to the audience participation.
That reaction is hugely important to Hollywood executives as they seek out the next Borat or Saw.
In fact, nearly 90 per cent of movies in the midnight program over the last 10 years have been released in theatres or on DVD.
- Reuters
