TIFF Takeaways: A Chris Rock Crowd-Pleaser, Peter Farrelly’s ‘Rocky’ Standing Ovation and Market Growing Pains

After a flurry of fall festival activity in Venice and Telluride, the curtain is coming down on another year at TIFF. Careers were boosted, dark horses gained traction and blades were sharpened. Here are our biggest takeaways.

Everybody Loves Chris

“I love messy women,” Chris Rock told the soldout crowd at the world premiere of his latest directorial effort, “Misty Green.” The audience loves them too. Rock delivered a crowd-pleaser in the form of this Hollywood-skewering dramedy, which follows an actress attempting to claw her way back to the spotlight. Rock has leveled up since his last turn behind the camera with 2014’s “Top Five.”

“I’m more open as a person. I read more. I write more,” Rock said, reflecting on his growth as an artist. “I’m 61. There’s more [life] behind me than in front of me, so I’m just getting it in. You might see a fucking tap-dance musical from me next.” In a conversation the next day, Rock explained how tough love from producer Scott Rudin — one of Hollywood’s most notorious half-canceled figures — helped make him a better filmmaker. “Scott really pushed me in a way I hadn’t been pushed in a long time,” Rock said about their collaboration on “Top Five,” in which he also starred opposite Rosario Dawson. “I learned to not settle for anything … especially when it comes to getting talent. [To] pursue the best of the best of the best for everything — in front of the camera, behind the camera. No compromise.”

Good Luck, Sussexes

While screenings ran around the clock, Variety carved out some time to ponder posterity with a panel called “Focus on Future.” The event featured “Bedford Park” director Stephanie Ahn, Utopai Studios production head Carsten Kurpanek, “Girl Group” helmer and star Rebel Wilson, Thunder Road CEO Basil Iwanyk and two-time Oscar nominee Liz Garbus. Garbus, you may recall, directed the top-rated 2022 Netflix docuseries “Harry & Meghan,” about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex building a new life in America. Four years later, and the couple have just shocked the world by hightailing it back to the U.K.

“I have no gossip or intel. I wish them well, and it’s a hard road,” Garbus said of the surprise move. It was not lost on the director that the festival takes place in a Commonwealth country, adding that she knew Meghan and Harry’s time in Canada “was really positive.”

Deep Cut

Back in 2021, filmmaker Bassam Tariq and twotime Oscar winner Mahershala Ali were all set to make a new “Blade” film for Marvel. Then it all went to hell. Tariq departed the following year over production delays, and Ali confirmed in July that the project was officially dead. Marvel honcho Kevin Feige confessed he felt like “a gigantic loser” for failing Ali. But hope was not lost. Tariq and Ali finally got to make their “Blade” movie by way of “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother,” a searingly emotional action-drama about a devout Muslim hit man (Ali) who, following his wife’s sudden death, goes on the run with his three kids — including a newborn — after running afoul of his boss and a gun-toting Christian cult leader (John Cho) who’s declared a holy war on porn. It’s Ali’s best work since “Moonlight,” and Adia, in a star-making turn, matches his intensity as his rebellious teenage daughter.

Amazon’s Underdog

Half a century after a small-time Philadelphia pug went the distance and out-punched “All the President’s Men,” “Network” and “Taxi Driver” for best picture, the underdog is back. But this time, it’s behind the camera with Peter Farrelly’s “I Play Rocky,” which world-premiered here and retells how a young and broke Sylvester Stallone (an electric Anthony Ippolito) stared down a studio dangling money to hand the trunks to a bigger name — and refused. The crowd answered with mid-film applause and a lengthy standing ovation, the kind of enthusiasm that once carried Farrelly’s “Green Book” to the People’s Choice Award (and Oscar gold). Critics will spar, as they tend to with this director. But in a season still scouting for a champ, “I Play Rocky” just stepped into the ring swinging.

Market Mess

There were bound to be growing pains. For the first time in 51 editions, TIFF launched a formal film market. It’s a space where buyers, sellers and producers of independent film meet to drum up financing, sales representation, marketing cash and schmooze. Heading in, excitement was high because the TIFF market was arriving later in the calendar year than other prominent hubs, such as the one attached to May’s Cannes Film Festival. However, the debut was plagued by technical problems, including broken printers that delayed delegates’ badge pickups for as long as five hours. (Variety overheard several asking for refunds.)

Another faux pas: Delegates were given online calendars intended to help them organize their time. Many content buyers began scheduling meetings with major streamers and studios. The big players, caught unawares, unintentionally ghosting smaller fish hoping to pitch them.