''Run This Town'' is a 2019

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written and directed by Ricky Tollman. It stars

Ben Platt Benjamin Schiff Platt (born September 24, 1993) is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He began his acting career in musical theater as a child and appeared in productions of ''The Sound of Music'' (2006) and ''The Book of Mormon'' (201 ...

Mena Massoud Mena Mansour Massoud ( ar, مينا منصور مسعود; born September 17, 1991) is an Egyptian-born Canadian actor known for starring as the title character in the Disney fantasy film ''Aladdin'' (2019). He also starred as Jared Malik in the C ...

Nina Dobrev Nikolina Kamenova Dobreva ( bg, Николина Каменова Добрева, ; born January 9, 1989), credited professionally as Nina Dobrev ( ), is a Canadian actress. She is best known for portraying Elena Gilbert and Katherine Pierce on ...

Scott Speedman Robert Scott Speedman (born September 1, 1975) is a British-Canadian actor. He is known for portraying Ben Covington in the coming-of-age drama television series '' Felicity'', Lycan–Vampire hybrid Michael Corvin in the gothic horror–actio ...

Gil Bellows Gil Bellows (born June 28, 1967) is a Canadians, Canadian actor, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for the roles of Tommy Williams in the 1994 movie ''The Shawshank Redemption'', Billy Thomas in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox televi ...

Jennifer Ehle Jennifer Anne Ehle (; born December 29, 1969) is an American actress, the daughter of English actress Rosemary Harris and American author John Ehle. She gained fame for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 BBC miniseries ''Pride and Prejudice ...

, and

Damian Lewis Damian Watcyn Lewis (born 11 February 1971) is an English actor, presenter and producer. He is best known for portraying U.S. Army Major Richard Winters in the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers'', which earned him a Golden Globe nomination ...

. It had its world premiere at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

on March 9, 2019. It was released in the United States and Canada on March 6, 2020, by

Oscilloscope An oscilloscope (informally a scope) is a type of electronic test instrument that graphically displays varying electrical voltages as a two-dimensional plot of one or more signals as a function of time. The main purposes are to display repetiti ...

and

Elevation Pictures Elevation Pictures is a Canadian film distribution and production company founded in 2013 by Laurie May and co-led by Noah Segal. The company made its debut at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. Distribution Since its debut in late 20 ...

Premise

The film details the turbulent final year of

Rob Ford Robert Bruce Ford (May 28, 1969 – March 22, 2016) was a Canadian politician and businessman who served as the 64th mayor of Toronto from 2010 to 2014. Before and after his term as mayor, Ford was a city councillor representing Ward 2 Etobi ...

's tenure as the mayor of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Cast

as Bram Shriver *

as Kamal Arafa *

as Ashley Pollock *

as David *

as Detective Lowey *

as Judith *

Emmanuel Kabongo Emmanuel Kabongo (born December 25, 1986) is a Canadian actor and producer. Born and raised in Zaire before it became the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kabongo immigrated to Canada with his family in the 1990s. He began his acting career as a ...

as Abe *

Hamza Haq Hamza Haq (born October 27, 1990) is a Canadian actor, best known for his leading role in the television series '' Transplant''. Early life Hamza Haq was born to Pakistani parents in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, before immigrating to Canada when he w ...

as Detective Sharma * Justin Kelly as Neil *

Tanner Zipchen Tanner Zipchen is a Canadian actor and host. From 2015 to 2020 he was the host of the Pre-Show for Cineplex Entertainment. Career In 2015, Zipchen applied to an open casting call from Canadian theatre chain Cineplex to host their pre-show; a ser ...

as Club Goer

Production

It was announced in March 2018 that

and

were cast in the film. Filming began the next month in

, along with the additions of

and

to the cast. Lewis, playing the role of Ford, was spotted on set in extensive makeup and donning a body suit.

Release

The film had its world premiere at

on March 9, 2019. It was released commercially in the United States and Canada on March 6, 2020.

Criticism

The film faced some criticism for excising the role of investigative journalists

Robyn Doolittle Robyn Doolittle (born 13 September 1984) is a Canadian investigative reporter for ''The Globe and Mail''. At the ''Toronto Star'', she gained notoriety for coverage of Toronto mayor Rob Ford's political and personal life, which led to her autho ...

and Kevin Donovan in exposing the scandal, instead replacing them with a fictional novice male journalist. Donovan was critical of the film's portrayal of the media, particularly scenes depicting a reporter paying for the Rob Ford video. Allison Smith stated that Doolittle's replacement with a male journalist was problematic, and the film "would have been more interesting if it had followed Doolittle". She stated that Doolittle may have been replaced because her book '' Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story'' had been

optioned In the film industry, an option is a contractual agreement pertaining to film rights between a potential film producer (such as a movie studio, a production company, or an individual) and the author of source material, such as a book, play, or s ...

for a film or television production.

Joe Mihevc Joe Mihevc ( ; born February 24, 1954) is a Canadian politician who was appointed to represent Ward 10 Spadina—Fort York on Toronto City Council on June 1, 2022. He was previously elected to represent Ward 21 St. Paul's from 2000 to 2018, Ward ...

, formerly a councillor on

Toronto City Council Toronto City Council is the governing body of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario. Meeting at Toronto City Hall, it comprises 25 city councillors and the mayor of Toronto. The current term began on November 15, 2022. Structure The cur ...

, stated that the film misrepresents Ford's character, portraying him as a mean-spirited individual and omitting the "humanness of Rob" and the traits that attracted those who voted for him. The film was also praised by Donovan for its correct portrayal of the backroom politics, and by Smith for the depiction of reporters reconstructing a timeline of Rob Ford's activities based on postings to his

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

accounts.

Awards

The film received three

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...

nominations at the

8th Canadian Screen Awards The 8th annual Canadian Screen Awards were originally scheduled to be held on March 29, 2020, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2019.Best Art Direction/Production Design (Chris Crane),

Best Sound Editing This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow List of film awards, film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awa ...

( Nelson Ferreira, Dashen Naidoo, J.R. Fountain and Dustin Harris) and Best Makeup (Emily O'Quinn, Steve Newburn and Neil Morrill)."Écrans canadiens : Song of Names, The Twentieth Century et Antigone en tête des nominations"

Ici Radio-Canada ICI or Ici may refer to: Companies and organisations * ICI Homes, builder, Florida. US * Former UK Imperial Chemical Industries ** ICI Australia, later Orica * Independent Curators International, New York City, US * Indian Concrete Institute * I ...

, February 18, 2020.

References

External links

* * *{{Metacritic film *
Run This Town
' at

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...

2019 drama films 2019 films 2010s political drama films American films based on actual events American political drama films Canadian drama films Canadian films based on actual events Drama films based on actual events English-language Canadian films Films about journalists Films set in 2013 Films set in Toronto Films shot in Toronto Rob Ford 2010s English-language films 2010s Canadian films 2010s American films