“I Love You, Daddy,” a new full-length movie written and directed by Louis C.K. and shot entirely in black and white using 35 mm film, will debut at this year’s Toronto Film Festival, which will run from September 7-17.
Nobody aside from those involved in the film, which was shot in secret, had any inkling of its existence prior to TFF’s announcement. The new movie is widely regarded to be Louis C.K.’s first full-length directorial effort since 2001’s “Pootie Tang,” although the artist confirmed to Howard Stern that he directed another full-length film called “Tomorrow Night,” which features Robert Smiegel and which Louis C.K. says is currently “under his bed somewhere.”
Paramount Pictures hired Louis C.K. to make “Pootie Tang,” whose title character was featured on The Chris Rock show (Rock was also featured in the movie. Midway through the editing process, Paramount fired Louis C.K., who said in the Stern interview that the studio flew him out first class to its headquarters in Hollywood, where Paramount’s then-president, Jonathan Dolgen lambasted and fired him.
“All I wanted to do was make movies at the time, and that was being destroyed,” said Louis C.K. in the Stern interview. “…But a part of me was outside my body going, ‘You are in the Paramount big office being yelled at…how fucking cool is this?’”
“Surviving failure,” he adds, “is a very great experience to have.”
Louis C.K. has made a career out of turning failure into gold.
Since Paramount and several other respected Hollywood personalities harangued his first full-length directorial debut (Paramount, Louis C.K. says, heavily altered the film before releasing it), Louis C.K. has become a household name in stand-up comedy, and has written, directed, edited, and starred in one of the most successful shows on television, “Louie.” “Louie” has seen five seasons and 81 episodes since it began airing in 2010, and has won three Emmy awards and numerous other honors.
Louis C.K. told Stern the show succeeded because “Pootie Tang” failed.
Also since the failure of “Pootie Tang,” Louis C.K. has not been eager to thrust his work into the limelight. In an unprecedented maneuver, he released his web series “Horace and Pete” in real time on his website, as it was shot. He made no announcements concerning the series but distributed it exclusively through his site’s mailing list.
According to IndieWire, the cast of “I Love You, Daddy” will feature John Malkovich, star of the 1999 cult classic “Being John Malkovich;” Edie Falco, who played Sylvia in “Horace and Pete;” Chloe Grace Moretz of “Hugo” (2011); Rose Byrne, who starred in “X-Men: First Class” (2011); Helen Hunt of “What Women Want” (2000) and TV’s “Mad About You;” and Pamela Adlon, who co-starred with Louis C.K. in “Louie.” Adlon and Louis C.K. have collaborated on numerous other endeavors as well, including the creation of the FX series “Better Things.”
The film will center around the relationship between Glen Topher (Louis C.K.), a TV producer and writer, and his daughter Moretz (played by Moretz). For the record, Louis C.K., who openly draws upon his own experiences in his comedy as well as his on-screen endeavors, has two daughters himself.
The Toronto Film Festival will also feature “Molly’s Game,” the directorial debut of “West Wing” creator Aaron Sorkin; and “Unicorn Stone,” the first directorial effort by Brie Larson, who appeared as an actress in “Room” and will star in the upcoming “Captain Marvel.” “Molly’s Game” will follow a real-life Olympic skier (played by Jessica Chastain of “The Martian” and “The Help”) who starts her own poker game The Verge reports.
TV offerings include “The Deuce,” starring James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal and directed by David Simon and George Pelecanos of “The Wire;” and a new Netflix original, “Dark”, which TheVerge calls a “German thriller.” The former work will trace the birth of the porn industry in 1970s New York, per TheVerge.
The festival will also unveil an animated short film called “An Imagined Conversation: Kanye West and Stephen Hawking.”
The above is only a cursory overview of the art being shown at TFF. For the full lineup, consult this page.
Featured image via Vimeo
