The Toronto International Film Festival Is Basically a ‘Euphoria’ Cast Summit This Year

I am a big believer in intention setting. And as my flight’s wheels touched down in Canada to attend the Toronto International Film Festival last Friday, I rested my eyes and sent the universe my one wish for the weekend: I will meet Jacob Elordi. As the festival’s events rolled along, the reality of my situation settled in: I had to fly home Sunday morning, and viral TikToks placing Jacob in NYC, dancing with Romy Mars, made it clear that he would not be arriving for the festival until his Monday night premiere for Frankenstein. So I loosened the reins on my intention: I will meet a cast member of the hit HBO show Euphoria. I landed on this ask since it was an incredibly realistic goal to pose to the powers that be. Because this past weekend at the Toronto Film Festival was an absolute Euphoria cast takeover.

Not one, but four stars from the show had projects screened during the iconic festival this year. Unfortunately, none of them were Zendaya. But fortunately, each of them proved my theory that in the years to come, Euphoria will be regarded as a breeding ground for the next generation of Hollywood’s prestige talents. Like its forebearers, Skins and Gossip Girl (fellow YA shows about troubled teens that were a launching pad for household names), in 10 years, a Euphoria rewatch will play back as a who’s who of the decade’s Academy Awards nominees and blockbuster-leading talents. But perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. Here are the cast members who pulled up at TIFF this weekend, and some background on what they were there to show off. And if you care, I did not end up meeting Jacob, but I did make prolonged eye contact with Sydney at the Four Seasons Toronto's annual "Road to the Golden Globes" party. Sometimes the universe answers.

Sydney Sweeney

Christy

Sydney was in town to debut the upcoming sports biopic Christy, which is set to be released nationwide on November 7. She plays the famous boxer Christy Martin, and the film documents the athlete’s rise to fame in the 90’s. A lot of the film's on-the-ground festival chatter questioned whether it’ll represent Ms. Sweeney’s official turn as a Serious Actress™, given the way she physically transformed for the role. (She revealed that she gained 30 pounds while prepping to play Christy.) I’d argue that Cassie Howard’s season 2 bathroom crash out on Euphoria was a solid early attempt to mark that progression.

Maude Apatow

Poetic License

Maude's directorial debut, Poetic License, premiered at TIFF this week. The comedy film stars Nico Parker, Cooper Hoffman, Andrew Barth Feldman, and Maude’s mother, Leslie Mann. Leslie plays a soon-to-be empty-nester who becomes the center of a battle for her affection between two college-aged best friends. Maude told the Los Angeles Times that directing her mom was “amazing.” “Because we’re so close, [it] was almost like she could read my mind, and we were always on the same page.” While this story isn’t an adaptation of Maude’s real-life experiences (a la the stage production her character produced in Euphoria), directing is quite a Lexi Howard thing to do.

Barbie Ferreira

Mile End Kicks

Though she won’t be returning as Kat Hernandez for Euphoria season 3 next year, Barbie *will* be busy promoting the wide release of Mile End Kicks, which had its TIFF premiere on September 4. The story takes place in Montreal’s 2011 indie music scene (and thus the indie sleaze revival persists). Barbie plays a music critic who becomes romantically involved with two members of a local band, so basically the plot is extremely Wattpad fan fiction-coded.

Jacob Elordi

Frankenstein

Jacob’s on a global tour promoting Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming Frankenstein adaptation. It premiered at the Venice International Film Festival on August 30, but was also screened at TIFF as part of the festival’s Special Presentations programme. Assuming you can’t make it to the film’s next showing at the Busan International Film Festival, you’ll be able to catch it on Netflix on October 17. Reviews have called Jacob’s performance as Frankenstein, aka “The Creature, “marvelous." This comes as no shock to me, given that the character of Nate Jabobs was quite the on-screen monster too. Jacob’s been preparing for this moment for quite a while.