At this year’s BFI London Film Festival, 240 films will be featured over a 12 day span. With so many films spanning across a wide range of genres, there is a film for everyone to love. Though many of the gala films are highlighted as the “must see” films of the festival, they only represent a handful of the brilliant films featured this year. These galas are not the only place to see A-list celebrities on the big screen, either. Many of the films featured during the festival will display familiar faces. Not sure who, though? Take a look at some of the films featured that might just have one of your favourite actors in it.
Ashley Benson – RATTER
Ashley Benson is best known for her work in the hit-American show, Pretty Little Liars. Since the show’s since 2010, Benson has acted in several movies and television shows such as Spring Breakers and How I Met Your Mother. Similar to her role in the psychological thriller show PLL, Benson stars in Ratter as a young college student living on her own who is unknowingly watched by an online stalker after he hijacks her phone, laptop, and other gadgets. Shot from the perspective of various technological gadgets, this thriller will likely get into the heads of anyone who frequently uses technology, leaving them to second-guess their privacy and question everything.
Kristen Wiig – NASTY BABY
Kristen Wiig is an American comedian, writer, and actor, perhaps best known for her work on Saturday Night Live from 2006-2012. Since then, she has gained immense popularity, especially for her work in Despicable Me, Bridesmaids, Despicable Me 2, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Martian, and manymore. In Nasty Baby, Wiig portrays Polly, best friend to Freddy (Sebastián Silva) and Mo (Tunde Adebimpe), a gay couple that want her to have their baby. Throughout the film, these three combat issues about how to begin their family, the threat of Mo’s deportation, and other life struggles.
Michael Caine – YOUTH
Michael Caine has been in the spotlight for over 60 years, and is well known across all audiences. Some of his work includes Zulu, Alfie, The Italian Job, Battle of Britain, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Cider House Rules, and many more. In his most recent film, Youth, Caine portrays a cantankerous retired composer who goes on vacation with his old friend Mick (Harvey Keitel), a film director. The movie takes a look at the friendship of these two men as they worry about their children’s lives, their careers, and much more.
Lily Tomlin – GRANDMA
Lily Tomlin is an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer. Known for her quick wit and humour, Tomlin has stayed consistently in the spotlight for the last few decades. Tomlin is best known for her one-woman shows, as well as Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, Short Cuts, The Magic School Bus, The West Wing, and the new Netflix original show Grace and Frankie. In Grandma, Tomlin plays Elle, a poet grappling with the death of her long-time partner. When Elle’s 18-year-old granddaughter shows up in desperate need of money, the pair goes on a road trip in order to track down the cash. In the process, both battle inner demons and come to terms with their own problems.
Elisabeth Moss – QUEEN OF EARTH
Elisabeth Moss is an American actor best known for her work in Girl Interrupted and her long standing roles in the television series The West Wing and Mad Men. In her role in Queen of Earth, Moss portrays Catherine a mentally unstable woman who retreats to a lake house with her childhood friend Ginny (Katherine Waterston), after Catherine’s father commits suicide, shortly followed by a breakup with her boyfriend, James. This psychological thriller takes a look at mental breakdowns and power dynamics as the two friends spend time together at the lake house and realize just how much they’ve drifted apart over time.
Juliette Binoche – THE WAIT
Juliette Binoche is a French actor with a large international fan base. Known for her work in Mauvais Sang, Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, Three Colors: Blue, The English Patient, Chocolat, and numerous other films, Binoche is one of the most talented actors of her time. In her newest film, The Wait, Bincohe portrays a mother grappling with the death of her son. When her son’s estranged fiancée visits, she struggles with how to tell her that he will not return.
Patrick Stewart – GREEN ROOM
Patrick Stewart is an actor of both stage and film, and is best known for his work on the stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as his roles in the Star Trek: The Next Generation and the X-Men film series. In the film Green Room, a punk band books a gig at a dive-bar, and after witnessing a murder, are forced to remain there to ensure they don’t say a word. Sir Patrick Stewart leads as the front man of the group of thugs, ensuring that this movie will be both violent, shocking, and thoroughly entertaining
Jesse Eisenberg & Jason Segel – THE END OF THE TOUR
Both Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel are well known American actors. Jesse Eisenberg is best known for his portrayal of Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, as well as his roles in Adventureland and Zombieland. Jason Segel is an actor and comedian, known for his longstanding role of Marshall in the American TV show, How I Met Your Mother, along with his roles in Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Despicable Me, and many more.
The two star alongside one another in their new film, The End of the Tour. The film chronicles the five days that writer David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) of Rolling Stone spent with the novelist David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel), writer of the novel Infinite Jest. After Wallace’s suicide twelve years later, Lipsky looks back on the time the two spent together.
All of these films will be screening at the BFI London Film Festival, 7 October to 18 October 2015.
