EDEN INTRO + Q&A | TIFF 2024

good evening good evening welcome thanks so much for coming my name is Cameron Bailey I'm the CEO here at Tiff I want to welcome you to the world premiere of the new film by Ron Howard Eden thanks so much for coming when we say World premiere we mean you are the very first audience on this planet to see Ron Howard's new movie so glad we can uh bring this to you want to thank some of the people and organizations that make tonight and everything we do at Tiff possible uh beginning with our presenting sponsor Rogers and our major sponsors RBC and visa for all of their continued support yes we also want to thank our government supporters the government of Ontario telefilm Canada and the City of Toronto no woo for them and this film is part of our Galla program which is presented by Dyson it's also eligible this film for Tiff's most important prize it's the People's Choice Award presented by Rogers it is decided on by you the people uh so we encourage you to vote for your favorite films you can do that by going online to tiff.net vote and on Sunday you will know who won the prize we want to thank Amazon Prime video and AGC Studios and also creative artists agency ca for providing us with this film big thanks thanks to the sponsor of tonight's screening and one of our major partners for over 17 years RBC Royal Bank welcome and on behalf of Dave McKai president and CEO of RBC welcome to all of rbc's guests tonight we also yeah go ahead very glad to have you here we also would like to welcome the Cil General of the United States Mr Baxter hunt and we want to Welcome All of [Applause] You probably like many of you I grew up with and alongside Ron Howard as an actor you may know he was a child actor he was a teen actor he was an adult actor and of course a director as well um he is one of the most remarkable storytellers that I think Hollywood has produced in the range of films he's done whether it's Apollo 13 or Oscar winner A Beautiful Mind Cinderella Man uh Frost Nixon or Rush the Formula 1 film that was shot um that was uh premiered here in 2013 what I always find in Ron Howard's films is the power of Storytelling no matter the genre he shows us the risk the vulnerability that human Billings human beings are willing to put themselves through and Nobody Does it quite like him and I think when you see Eden you will see him taking another step in a different direction but bringing that same storytelling power to the screen we're very pleased that he and his remarkable cast uh have come to present this to you and I want to invite them out to introduce Eden please join me in welcoming director Ron Howard and the actors Jude Law Anna De armos Daniel Brule uh Sydney Sweeney and screenwriter Noah pink oh thank you thank you so much uh well what a pleasure to be here what a journey to be here I first encountered the story that you about to see in a museum in the galpagos and the story was so wild with so many twists and turns that I just honestly could never get it out of my brain the more I learned about the story over the years uh the more engrossed and entertained I was by it uh it the events incredible the the individuals who who inhabited this story were truly remarkable and I realized that is what kept me you know desperately wanting to tell this story uh I mean they they're they're just remarkable they're they're complex they're they're layered they're contradictory um and and it's a real Clash of personalities so that I knew that in order to make this I need a a wonderful script that came from from torontonian Noah pink a script that would not only deal with the real events in a compelling dramatic exciting entertaining way but also attract a a cast a remarkable cast I needed an ensemble who not only had the capacity but also the creative courage to go to some of the places that these real people had gone to in their lives and in in this particular set of events and I found that with this remarkable cast and I just I thank everybody here on the stage for your commitment to this movie it just it's it's a it's a it's beyond anything that I've ever done in many ways the tone the style the feel of this film and you made so much of that really all of it possible and I thank you for that and I thank all of you first of all for for coming to Tiff for for celebrating cinema cinema in the way that it needs it's meant to be experienced and uh and of course thank you for uh for choosing to experience our film so uh with that I say uh you want to go to Eden let's go okay thank you you please join me in welcoming to the stage the director of Eden Ron Howard and the Stars Jude Law Sydney Sweeney Anna dearmas Daniel [Applause] Brule and the screenwriter Noah ping [Applause] thank you so much for this incredible film thank you we had some additional uh drama in the theater and I want to apologize for that we did have a medical emergency one of the audience members had something that um had to be tended to right away so we apologize for that Interruption but we're glad that you stayed and any sense of results um they they will be okay okay okay but there was plenty of drama on screen [Laughter] and that's what I want to talk to you about um a lot of people will know your movies over many many years Ron this feels like a departure for you in terms of tone and the kind of characters that we're dealing with um I don't know if these are bad people or people doing bad things but um tell us about what Drew you to this material now well you you know you're right that for some time really since Apollo 13 um and now as I'm additionally making you know documentaries I'm fascinated by stories based on real events and um but there's no question that in this circumstance um you know the the kinds of the kinds of choices that the characters are feel compelled to make or are forced to make are you know much more complex than anything that I've ever dealt with in a film and I and uh and yet um um to the extent that we can both sort of understand it and uh fairly easily surmise you know what could have happened uh this is what these people live through and I just found it I found it fascinating and I found it utterly human and surprisingly relatable to uh human existence uh today with all of its foibles all its quirks and all the pain and danger uh as well and as I said in the opening remarks I've just drawn toward it and uh but as I also said you know at this point in my life I look for projects that I think I'm going to have you know a great experience making and I just love challenging scenes for great actors and and I've felt it about the story because of who those people were and then Noah's screenplay confirmed that and honestly it was um exciting as hell every day because every day and by the way you saw the tone of the movie It's shifting sometimes it's it's it's weird it's weirdly funny and other times it's just de deathly serious well with the schedule they were doing both on I mean they were like covering all that ground every day uh and uh and it was a remarkable thing um to see and and uh and it was you know exciting for me so much depends on the cast for a film like this because you have to get the tone right it has to feel like they're all on the same page in terms of the the the pitch that they're at uh sometimes asked to do somewhat extreme or unusual things in the film um how did you put the cast together and I'm curious for each one of you who were uh acting in this film what Drew you to the material and to working with Ron but let's start with you Ron in terms of putting the cast together well I even before I committed to making it even when AGC was was saying yes we'll we'll support you and we can we can get this movie made in in a in a in a you know in a viable way um I even then then I said that's great but but only if we really get the cast um and um and and it was um it was a process Daniel was the first conversation because I had talked to Daniel about the hindes role before um and uh and and he was interested and then you know it just the the conversations uh evolved and I was getting also great feedback from representatives of people you know who who you know were exciting then I had to look at the windows and the and the schedules and I was able to you know remarkably G get my dream cast and uh and it was um you know it it was unusual let's start maybe we'll start with you Daniel and we'll work our way down in terms of what brought you to this project this script this material and to working with Ron yeah well funnily it All Began here at Tiff um because we had our premier with with rush and then uh and then Ron was mentioning this this project that he wanted to do and then the first reaction was great that was reassuring because it meant okay he was happy with me he wants to do another film but then if you haven't seen Rush Daniel is great in Rush by the way but then yeah wa and and the scening was right here uh 10 11 years ago but then you go like oh it's a party the director's telling you yeah we're going to do another film okay right and then so nothing happened then 10 years later I was shooting something in France I was in Paris and then this man called me hey Daniel you remember that conversation Tiff about the Galapagos film so I'm doing it and I thought incredible um which also says so much about Ron and how loyal he is that he um yeah and so when he asked me I was all in cuz I was um so thrilled about this story I knew that another German director wanted to do it like 20 years ago one that i' had also worked with so he gave me a book in which it was written down by this director this book made it to to the Galapagos uh 1992 or so so it was in people's minds in director's Minds uh uh a lot so um so I did my digging already back then before Ron had told me about it and I was fascinated by it it is fascinating Anna um well to me it was yeah the the fact that this was a true story I couldn't believe how um crazy it is and how relatable it is to as well nowadays um um I read the script and I told Ron uh right before going to a wedding and I think I never saw those people getting married because I was on the phone with Ron do you remember that with the music I can't hear you um but um we talked about the baroness and I told him how I felt and all these things that I was already imagining and and it was a um from from day one it was there was great communication and back and forth and and I just I was like this might be the end of my career but it looks like fun so I'm going to go for it and and yeah I just I just really fell in love with the with the character I thought it was very unique very special and the baroness has some of the juiciest Lines by the way I heard you celebrating I it felt personal so well that's all I have to say means the character worked that's all and I'll just say Anna is a good character actress because she's nothing like the baroness in life uh Sydney I mean it's every actor's dream to work with Ron um I grew up loving your films but being able to work with you I have just learned what an amazing human being you are and when Margaret came to me I was absolutely Amazed by one it's a true story and two it wasn't her choice and she had to follow her husband's footsteps and she had no idea what she was getting herself into she was a child at that and it was just such a crazy character Journey for her and for all the other characters and I absolutely wanted to dive into it and with such an amazing cast I mean this is like a dream to be able to be a part of of um but I'm just really lucky I also want to add one thing with to what to uh uh what's being said you asked earlier what attracted me and I I never want to answer this question in an interview because it gives too much away but now you've seen the movie um no spoilers around please but you know I love that this intense some of them brilliant all motivated people they came together with an agenda and it is that question of you know who's going to survive and why and as dark as the story is as bizarre as the story is I I love that what we prove is that survival of the fittest is connected to love it is connected to a belief in family that that's that's the people who draw strength from that in this story Prevail they are the survivors and that thematically makes means something to me right so even with all of these people it is there is an uplifting message in there family story somewhere I mean Parenthood Eden I mean don't you see it double bill um Jude a magnificent outrageous uh performance uh of a magnificent outrageous character and I'm curious to ask the same question but also your role your character uh probably required a little bit more audacity perhaps in terms of the performance and some of the things that your character does but can you talk about what wow I didn't know about that I think we all we all had to be audacious yes um what were what were you going to say um well what Drew you to the role and did it take what did it take to actually do some of the things that we see your character do you mean walk around naked I mean among other things um screens for paparazzi uh well I mean to to Second what what everyone said the opportunity to work with Ron you know you knew we knew we were in safe hands and it was this extraordinary script these Incredible characters and and there was something really enticing about being in an ensemble they don't come along very often and there's this lovely sense at the beginning where with the director and the writer where you all kind of look at each other and we're all going are we going to do how far are we going to go we going to push each other and it's a lovely uh uh fluid and um it's it's a game of chance in a way and trust you know for actors in that situation because we're all carrying our own element our own thread um and so you're you're you're watching each other and reading how how the others are are are attacking the tones and the um the the different uh barometers I suppose the barometer of the piece and obviously R like I think everyone had just so much to to to explore um and I loved the for me the personal challenge was trying to find some kind of movement in his rigidity you know he was a he was a stubborn man and a kind of brilliant man who who didn't want to be uh moved didn't want to be bent didn't want to give and and yet did somehow perhaps more than most in that you know he potentially took a life um that was really at the heart of what I loved uh or was the um uh at the heart of the challenge that and the nudity and um and having my teeth pulled out yes I think there might be some memes that come out of this uh film so not encouraging it but you know it's there uh Noah can I just ask you this is a story that feels like it's fiction because it's so crazy in some ways but this is a real story that happened and I Wonder as you're writing the screenplay for this it's a fictional version but it's based on real events how are you calibrating um that element in terms of the fictionalizing something that that happened yeah I mean the surprising thing about this story is that more is true about it than you would ever believe I mean it's really hard to believe it's really hard to believe but we went there because it happened we weren't actually going you know for the gore we weren't going for the last like that happened and so we you know the challenge really was how do we get there in an emotionally true way um and so yeah so my you know my way into the script was really from an emotional perspective like personally I you know I think we all sometimes question our existence and why we're here and what our purposes and I think what was so interesting to me is that there's these three groups who have three very different outlooks on on why they're here on Earth uh and that's just like juicy drama and so that was kind of like my original way in uh and then obviously went this amazing cast and you know talking to Ron over literally five years you know you know it it evolved into you know creating you know really interesting and complex characters um but at the end of day like Ron and I talked about this a lot like we we kind of root for everyone in this in this movie even though they're doing insane things like they're they're coming from a place of emotional truth or damage but you know we we connected to them at least certainly empathy for for everybody I mean I think you're I you know I I I hope you you you can understand you know what is driving everybody and by the way I mean look go online the the uh the real Hancock of Hancock Park shot a a lot of footage and you can find it on you can find it online and it's it's uh it's fascinating and there are if you delve into the story this Mo this is could have even been crazier than the way we presented it um there are other twists and turns we didn't go down those you know those avenues that were also rumored or or or reported um and so it was a it was a you know fascinating journey to sort of get at this you know the the the surmise the sort of the the um you know the narrative we were going to we were going to present um and um you know and again just just um endlessly fascinating and frankly you know a lot a lot of fun oh great listen thank you so much for bringing this film for its World premiere to Toronto and I'm so thrilled to have you all here to present it and congratulations on continuing to really just push yourself as a Storyteller as well really loved it Noah pink Daniel Bru Anna De ARA Sydney Sweeney Jude Law and director Ron Howard thanks so much for coming tonight all your support thank you thank you