Rob Ford-inspired film premieres at SXSW
The movie that features Damian Lewis, star of TV’s Billions and Homeland, as late Toronto mayor Rob Ford will make its world premiere in March at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas.
Run This Town was filmed in Toronto but written and directed by South African Ricky Tollman, who has stressed in the past that Ford — remembered for his scandals including crack cocaine use during his 2010-14 term of office — is a minor character in the movie.
“This isn’t the Rob Ford story,” Tollman told the Star in 2018, adding that he wants to create a “sympathetic portrait” of the late mayor. The movie’s lead is said to be 25-year-old Tony Award-winning Broadway actor Ben Platt, portraying a young journalist.
The SXSW website describes the tale this way: “After graduation, Bram gets his dream job at a local newspaper … After the paper is hit with another round of layoffs, Bram stumbles upon a potentially explosive story involving the city’s controversial mayor. But he needs to beat the mayor’s smooth talking aide, Kamal, to the punch. This could be Bram’s big break — if he had any idea how to be a real journalist.”
Ford, who died in 2016, had a history of public intoxication and substance abuse, culminating in his being recorded smoking crack, as reported in Star investigations. According to media reports, Lewis used prosthetics to bulk up for the role, “getting his face and head completely covered in silicon strips, breathing through a small hole near the nose,” according to Kit Magazine.
Others in the cast include Canadians Nina Dobrev ( The Vampire Diaries), Scott Speedman ( Animal Kingdom) and Mena Moussad (who will star in Disney’s live-action remake of Aladdin later this year).