Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Names and faces
■ Louis
C.K. on Saturday debuted his new film at the Toronto International
Film Festival: a very Woody Allen-esque comedy that simultaneously comments on Allen — and C.K.’s — controversies. C.K. shot the film, I Love You, Daddy, earlier this year in secret. He financed its production himself and shot it in black and white and on 35mm. Little was known about it before it premiered Saturday, so audiences were at turns delighted, surprised and uncertain about the result. The New York-set, lushly scored movie often takes after Allen’s 1979 film Manhattan and includes a character that the cast on Saturday acknowledged was modeled after Allen. John Malkovich plays a legendary film director who’s rumored to have molested a young girl decades earlier. At the premiere, C.K. — who co-starred in Allen’s Blue Jasmine — said he and co-writer Vernon Chatman wanted to make a movie about beloved artists who are trailed by murmurs of scandal. “Vernon and I were talking about the fascination with people that there’s these stories about and stuff — people that you love in their work,” C.K. told the audience after the screening. I Love You, Daddy could also be seen as C.K.’s response to his own controversies. Allegations of questionable sexual behavior have long dogged C.K. Most recently, comedian (and previous C.K. collaborator) Tig Notaro advised C.K. to “handle” the rumors. ■ Beyonce returned to her hometown of Houston to provide comfort to those affected by Hurricane Harvey, telling them, “This is a celebration of survival.” Accompanied by her mother and former Destiny’s Child bandmate Michelle Williams, Beyonce visited with evacuees Friday at the St. John’s Church, where she grew up singing. She wiped away tears as she listened to their stories, including from a family of 16 that fled to Houston after Hurricane Katrina and this time escaped their home through a picture window. Beyonce told them, “The things that really matter are your health and your children, and your family and your life.” Among the other celebrities who visited evacuees at shelters Friday were Janet Jackson, comedian Kevin Hart and actress Jennifer Garner.