Ben Stiller Says Making Films in Canada Is 'An Amazing Experience': TIFF

The Toronto Film Festival returned to the Hollywood star power scene on Thursday after the strikes, with Ben Stiller and director David Gordon Green giving a glittering launch for their opening film Nutcracker.

Gordon Green introduced Stiller to a crowd at Roy Thomson Hall in the Canadian city that seemed ready for film festival fun with the opening night comedy. The Movie Zoolander AND Tropic of Thunder The star then recalled having shot films in Canada.

“Sometimes when people talk to me about the Night at the Museum movies, they're like, 'Wow, what's it like to shoot in the Natural History Museum?' And I say, 'It was actually a warehouse in Vancouver,'” Stiller said.

“I’ve shot a lot of movies in Canada, and it’s always been a great experience,” Stiller added. His comments followed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau praising Canada as a foreign destination for Hollywood. “Our cities can sometimes stand in for American cities, but frankly, more and more often they actually end up being set in Toronto or Vancouver or other places,” the Canadian leader said.

“But more than that, we are one of the few places in the world that truly understands that diversity and differences can and should be a source of strength,” Trudeau added of the inspiration for homegrown films exported to the world.

Director Gordon Green spoke to the Toronto opening night audience when he introduced Nutcracker that showing his films at TIFF “is like a rite of passage, it's like a birth for a lot of the films I've made. It's great to be here.” Later, during a post-screening Q&A, he explained that after a series of dark-themed films, his latest film, a heartfelt comedy, responded to an inner need for “a little lightness.”

Gordon Green also argued that Hollywood films currently lack “warmth” and that The Nutcracker sought to fill a gap in the film industry. “We're in a comedy drought,” he added, as Gordon Green sought to satisfy his own creative needs and what he hopes will be a market demand for family-themed films.

For his part, Stiller said that after a few years of just directing or producing projects, he was looking for a film that would really capture his interest and get him back into acting. Then the script for Nutcracker arrived in your email.

“For some reason, I read it right away and it just clicked with me. I said, I want to make this movie, I want to meet these guys, I want to be a part of this experience,” Stiller recalled as Arlo Janson, Ulysses Janson, Homer Janson and Atlas Janson, the four real-life brothers who starred alongside Stiller in Nutcracker and they also sat on the stage at Roy Thomson Hall for the Q&A.

“This movie was made because of you guys,” Stiller added to warm applause, as he addressed the Janson brothers, who were making their acting debuts. “I just want to thank you all for watching our movie and for being here,” Homer Janson told the opening-night audience, to applause, as he spoke on behalf of his brothers.

Written by Leland Douglas, Nutcracker follows Mike (Stiller), a stern workaholic who must travel to rural Ohio to care for his four grandchildren after their parents die in a car accident. After weeks of chaotic farm life, Mike realizes he won't have to find new homes for the orphaned children. They found a new home for him.

The ensemble cast for Nutcracker includes Linda Cardellini, Edi Patterson, Tim Heidecker and Toby Huss. The TIFF opener marks Stiller's first starring role in a feature film since Mike White Brad's Status and Noah Baumbach's Netflix family drama Meyerowitz's Tales in 2017.

This year’s debut of a mainstream Hollywood comedy in Toronto comes at a time when Roy Thomson Hall is usually packed with regular moviegoers (and not just industry insiders like at Cannes and Venice).

Stiller's crowd-pleasing film marked a change of pace in Toronto from 2023, when the last film from Japanese anime legend Hayao Miyazaki was screened. The Boy and the Heron kicked off the 48th most solemn edition of TIFF.

On Thursday morning, TIFF presented red carpet previews for Eddie Huang's film The vice is brokenthe documentary on Vice Media going from boom to bust; Jia Zhang-Ke Caught by the tides; and Samuel Van Grinsven I went up the hillwith Vicky Krieps and Dacre Montgomery.

Toronto also opened Thursday with the debut of Durga Chew-Bose Good morning sadwith Chloe Sevigny; Samir Oliveros The luckiest man in America; and a Midnight Madness premiere for The substance, directed by Coralie Fargeat and starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, playing at the Royal Alexandra Theatre.