"Borg/McEnroe" to Open TIFF

Chris here. We're very excited that the Toronto Film Festival is right around the corner, and last week's first announcement of the films in the lineup were just the beginning. One of the conspicuous gaps in last week's films was the fest opener - and now we know that film to be tennis biopic Borg/McEnroe.

This makes the second real-life period tennis film playing the fest, after the likely more lighthearted Battle of the Sexes. Here Shia Labeouf stars as the hot-tempered John McEnroe facing off against his rival Björn Borg, played by Sverrir Gudnason, during Wimbledon 1980. The opening slot hasn't had the best luck in recent years, with past films being the The Magnificent Seven remake, Demoliton, The Judge, and The Fifth Estate - bet you hadn't thought of those movies in a bit! Could Borg/McEnroe turn it around? Or, perhaps more importantly, is tennis the next sports movie obsession?

TIFF also just announced their Midnight Madness, Docs, Shorts lineups! Check those out after the jump...

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Shia LaBeouf as John McEnroe

by Murtada

The bad boy of movies is playing the bad boy of tennis. Is this a case of too on the nose casting? What matters of course is if Shia LaBeouf can approximate John McEnroe’s look convincingly. Looks like it. The fro helps.

However it seems that LaBeouf is trying to reform that bad boy image. To promote Andrea Arnold’s American Honey, which comes out later this month, LeBeouf gave a long interview to Variety. In it he might have come up with the best rebuttal for Jared Leto’s recent shenanigans about being committed to the craft. LaBeouf said that he doesn’t think of himself as a method actor anymore:

“The word is getting embarrassing. You don’t hear about female method actors. The whole thing has turned into weird, false masculinity shit.”

Indeed. Could it be that Shia finally said exactly what everyone wants to hear? Good on you, Shia.

The movie, Borg vs.McEnroe, is a sorta Scandinavian affair. Also starring Swedish actors Sverrir Gudnason as Bjorn Borg and Stellan Skarsgard as his coach, the director is Danish Janus Metz Pedersen (HBO’s True Detective). Currently shooting in Prague, it will trace the battle for tennis supremacy in the 70s and 80s between McEnroe and Borg. No release date is set yet but expect it sometime next year.

What do you think of Shia's look and his recent comments?