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Warren Beatty could be TIFF-bound with his new film

Thursday August 04th 2016

The road to the Oscars often starts in Toronto. And there are a number of likely Academy Award nominees popping their heads out of the avalanche of 68 movies announced on Tuesday as part of the lineup for the Toronto International Film Festival’s 2016 edition.

But the contender I’m most eager to see was not among the titles announced so far. Nevertheless, I’m betting it will be launched at TIFF, probably on opening weekend.

Rules Don’t Apply marks a comeback, and possibly the last hurrah, of Warren Beatty who, at 79, ranks as a Hollywood giant and a Hollywood enigma, and one of the movie world’s most fascinating characters both on and off the screen.

Beatty, who hasn’t made a movie for years, not only produced and directed Rules Don’t Apply — a comedy with big aspirations — he also wrote the screenplay and plays the role of eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes. So let’s call it a rare case of one American legend playing another American legend.

Beatty is not the first actor to take on this part. In the award-winning 1980 movie Melvin and Howard, directed by Jonathan Demme, Hughes was memorably played by Jason Robards as a grizzled desert hitchhiker forced to sing “Bye Bye Blackbird” in exchange for a ride. And there’s a connection between these two movies. Bo Goldman, who wrote Melvin and Howard, is credited for collaborating with Beatty on the story for Rules Don’t Apply (but not on the screenplay).

Beatty has been thinking about Hughes for 40 years since spotting him in a lobby. Rules Don’t Apply is the first feature film he has directed since Bulworth (1998), a satire (co-written by Beatty) about a California senator running for re-election. Rules Don’t Apply is also the first time Beatty has acted on the big screen since Town & Country (2001), a huge flop about two couples whose long marriages are starting to come apart.

Hughes is not the main character in Rules, which opens in theatres in late November, ideally positioned by 20th Century Fox for awards consideration. The leading characters are two people who work for Hughes: an actress from a small town, played by Lily Collins, and her deeply religious driver, played by Alden Ehrenreich (a.k.a. Han Solo).

Their deep attraction to one another conflicts with a key rule of their boss: no Hughes employee is allowed to have a relationship with one of his contract actresses.

Toronto is the perfect place to start Oscar buzz, based on its impressive track record of launching many award winners.

And Warren Beatty has some hugely important connections with Canada in general and TIFF in particular; most memorably, the 1984 tribute to him, when he was quizzed onstage by Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel.

But his Canadian roots go further back, to his mother, who was born in Nova Scotia. And the game-changer movie of his life, Bonnie and Clyde, had its world premiere on opening night of the Montreal Film Festival during Expo 67.

I was there that night and wrote in the Star: “Bonnie and Clyde is a brilliant triumph of style — charming, witty and exciting . . . Beatty doubled as producer and star of the picture in a gamble on an off-beat idea that seems certain to pay off. This film is going to make him the major star he has never quite become, and it marks an impressive debut as a producer.”

Before that, the key moment in Beatty’s career came when Elia Kazan took him to dinner to tell him he had landed a starring role opposite Natalie Wood in Splendor in the Grass (1961). At that moment, Beatty once said, he knew he would never have money problems and he felt a thrill that went up his spine. And in 1975 he scored one of his best acting performances as the promiscuous hairdresser in Shampoo.

Beatty is known for being a control freak, so it was not exactly a surprise that he tried to orchestrate all the details of the 1984 tribute at the Toronto festival. That started with choosing the hotel (the Four Seasons) where he and his gang would stay.

Accompanied by Diane Keaton, Beatty arrived in Toronto on a private plane owned by Gulf & Western (whose empire included Paramount Pictures).

He got a standing ovation as soon as he walked onto the stage of the University Theatre on Bloor St. W.

“One can’t help be aware that there is a responsibility to respond to questions no matter how personal they might be,” Beatty told his interrogators, Siskel and Ebert.

But while displaying grace and charm, rather than focusing on himself he clearly preferred talking about the problems of the political left in the U.S. and the appalling state of movies.

Only one photographer was allowed, the festival’s own Gail Harvey. The shots had to be processed and then edited by Beatty’s staff, who chose which ones could be given to newspapers.

After the tribute there was a party at the Copa, a Yorkville nightclub where Beatty held court in a private area with festival board members and some journalists.

Among friends who flew to Toronto for the tribute were Jack Nicholson, director Arthur Penn, writer Jerzy Kosinski and screenwriter Robert Towne, some of whom appeared onstage.

Beatty hailed Keaton as “the finest American actress in films and the person who has had the most profound influence on my work.” But she stayed in her seat rather than join those onstage.

Twenty years later, Beatty returned to Toronto. But this time he had a supporting role as husband of the star. The year was 2004 and Annette Bening was the star of TIFF’s opening night movie, Being Julia, produced by Robert Lantos.

He did his best to keep a low profile, which in his case is almost impossible, because if your name is Warren Beatty rules don’t apply.