“The Life of Chuck,” a story in reverse, wins the Toronto International Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award handing Mike Flanagan’s Stephen King adaptation to one of the most-watched prizes of the fall film festival circuit.
The award for “The Life of Chuck” was announced Sunday as North America’s largest film festival drew to a close. “The Life of Chuck,” based on King’s 2020 novella of the same name, features Tom Hiddleston as Charles “Chuck” Krantz, an ordinary man living through an apocalyptic catastrophe Mark Hamill, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, and Jacob Tremblay as co-stars.

TIFF’s People’s Choice Award is regarded as a reliable Oscar herald. Since 2012, every festival’s top prize winner has gone on to be nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards. Last year, Cord Jefferson’s “American Fiction” won, and became a major awards competitor.
Now “The Life of Chuck” outshined the track record. The film is up for sale and doesn’t yet have distribution. It could be acquired and quickly geared for its release this fall, or it might end up being a 2025 release. “The Life of Chuck” drew mixed reviews that are lesser negative but majorly positive out of Toronto, though audiences were charmed by the enlivened drama.

Runners-up for the People’s Choice Award, which is voted by the festival attendees, were both the films that first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May. The first was Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez.” The second runner-up was Sean Baker’s “Anora,” the Palme d’Or winner at Cannes.
The audience award for top documentary went to Mike Downie’s “The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal.” During the festival’s Midnight Madness, the prize went to Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance,” starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley.