Shia LaBeouf says learning tennis legend John McEnroe鈥檚 style was like rehearsing a ballet.
LaBeouf stars opposite Sverrir Gudnason in 鈥淏org/McEnroe,鈥� a film that recreates the match between McEnroe and Bjorn Borg at the 1980 Wimbledon Championships.
LaBeouf says the action scenes in the film were carefully scripted and choreographed to resemble the famous match.
Director Janus Metz added that some moviemaking 鈥渕agic tricks鈥� were used to 鈥渟ell鈥� the actors鈥� performances, given they had never played tennis prior to the film shoot.
Although he spent countless hours learning about the sport, LaBeouf felt he never truly learned how to play.
The world premiere of 鈥淏org/McEnroe鈥� officially kicked off TIFF on Thursday, which runs through Sept. 17. Canadian tennis phenom Denis Shapovalov was set to walk the red carpet along with the film鈥檚 stars for the gala screening.
鈥淲e rehearsed things like a ballet, including [McEnroe鈥檚] outbursts. I would literally play them on a screen right before we would film and look at where everything was, and it was very paint-by-the-numbers in a way,鈥� LaBeouf said at a press conference.
鈥淵ou could鈥檝e given me 20 years and I would鈥檝e never played like McEnroe鈥�. I started learning it like a dance, I never actually played tennis, it was something different.鈥�
About 340 films will screen at this year鈥檚 fest, which is a smaller number than in recent years 鈥� a result of a TIFF mandate to trim the overall number of titles by 20 per cent. Organizers said they made the changes in response to feedback from audiences, the industry and the media.
Among the first celebrities to arrive in Toronto for the fest were Charlie Hunnam of 鈥淪ons of Anarchy鈥� fame, who stars in 鈥淧apillon鈥� with Rami Malek of 鈥淢r. Robot,鈥� Armie Hammer of 鈥淐all Me By Your Name,鈥� and supermodel and musician Grace Jones, who is promoting a documentary about her life.
Other films in the lineup include 鈥淪uburbicon,鈥� directed by George Clooney, Darren Aronofsky鈥檚 鈥渕other!鈥� starring Jennifer Lawrence and Alexander Payne鈥檚 鈥淒ownsizing.鈥�
About a third of the films in the lineup are directed by women, including Angelina Jolie鈥檚 鈥淔irst They Killed My Father.鈥�
Other stars expected to attend the festival include Denzel Washington (鈥淩oman J. Israel, Esq.鈥�), Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba (both of 鈥淢olly鈥檚 Game鈥�) and Steve Carell and Emma Stone (co-stars of another tennis movie, 鈥淏attle Of The Sexes鈥�).
Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian Press
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