Score: A Hockey Musical to open the 35th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival
“Score: A Hockey Musical captures key elements of Canadian identity – our passion for our national pastime, our unique musical style and our special brand of humour.” – Piers Handling, TIFF co-director
The Hockey Hall Of Fame in Toronto could be considered an unusual place to hold the first official TIFF press conference of 2010. Festival co-directors Cameron Bailey and Pier Handling even entered the room in custom made hockey jerseys (#35 to honor the thirty-fifth edition of the festival.)
When Bailey started the announcement, “Ladies and gentleman, we’ve been drafted… into Hockeywood.” – The Cadillac Festival Insider knew we were in for a special announcement…
TIFF’s big 2010 Opening Night Gala on September 9th will be Score: A Hockey Musical.
Score: A Hockey Musical tells the tale of emerging love and fame for a teenage hockey phenom in Canada. The film features one of the most iconic stars ever of movie musicals, Ms. Oliva Newton-John of “Grease” fame. There’s also an impressive list of co-stars and cameo appearances. CBC’s George Stroumboulopoulos, Evan Solomon, singer Nelly Furtado, even Wayne Gretzky’s dad, Walter makes an appearance in what looks to be a very fun film.
TIFF showed the media a few minutes of the film during the opening press conference. The first thought that came to this insider’s mind was, “It’s maybe Glee on Ice!”
Score: A Hockey Musical features relative newcomers Noah Reid and Allie MacDonald in the lead roles. It was cool to see all the press attention they were receiving at the Hockey Hall Of Fame. You could tell it was still so new for them. The Festival Insider chatted with Ms. MacDonald for a few minutes and discovered it will be Allie and Noah’s very first trip to the Toronto Film Festival – and what a way to start – the featured stars walking the red carpet at the opening night Gala!
It’s sure to be quite exciting for the entire cast as they become the centre of attention that first TIFF evening in Toronto. Our advice to Ms. MacDonald and Mr. Reid was to just sit back in their Cadillac and enjoy the ride. It’s sure to be a very special one that evening for the newly minted stars.
