'Joker,' Tom Hanks' Mr. Rogers pic among TIFF selections

An origin story about the Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix, a Mr. Rogers biopic with Tom Hanks and a film about strippers scamming Wall Street bankers with Jennifer Lopez and Cardi B are among the films premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

TIFF Artistic Director Cameron Bailey and Executive Director Joana Vicente announced 16 gala selections and 37 in the special presentation category Tuesday morning, including Todd Phillips' "Joker," Marielle Heller's "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" and Lorene Scafaria's "Hustlers." Iranian-born director Marjane Satrapi's Marie Curie film "Radioactive," in which Rosamund Pike plays the groundbreaking physicist, will close the festival on Sept. 15.

Bailey told The Associated Press that "Joker" is somewhat of a first for the festival.

"This is our first entry into the superhero world as far as I can remember," he said. "But it's a really original vision. It's disturbing, utterly compelling, really gripping from start to finish. ... And one of the most remarkable things is that Joaquin Phoenix, in a career of great performances, gives one of his very best."

Other standout performances the programmers love are Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx in Destin Daniel Cretton's civil rights drama "Just Mercy," Meryl Streep in Steven Soderbergh's investigative journalism drama "The Laundromat," Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson in Noah Baumbach's divorce saga "Marriage Story" and Renee Zellweger in the Judy Garland biopic "Judy."

"It's one of those career-best performances," Bailey said. "And that's coming from a guy who absolutely loves 'Jerry Maguire.'"

The Toronto selections often help define the looming awards race. Last year, TIFF's audience award winner "Green Book" went on to win the best picture Oscar.

"It's not the motivation, but it's always great to be a launchpad for films that will be part of the awards conversation," Vicente said.

Other high-profile films premiering include James Mangold's "Ford v Ferrari" with Christian Bale and Matt Damon, Kasi Lemmons' Harriet Tubman film "Harriet" starring Cynthia Erivo, Rian Johnson's star-studded ode to Agatha Christie "Knives Out," with Chris Evans and Daniel Craig, Edward Norton's adaptation of "Motherless Brooklyn," John Crowley's adaptation of "The Goldfinch" and the Bruce Springsteen concert film "Western Stars."

Some, a little less flashy, but just as worthy according to Bailey include the cancer drama "The Friend," from Gabriela Cowperthwaite with Dakota Johnson and Casey Affleck, the animated teen love story "Weathering With You," from Makoto Shinkai, the Japanese director of the anime breakout "Your Name," and Michael Winterbottom's "Greed."

Bailey said "Greed," about the economy of fast fashion, is "one everybody should see."

Steve Coogan plays a mogul in the fast fashion world and it is "very funny and very biting."

And then of course there is "Hustlers," with Lopez and Constance Wu, which Bailey said is "a great watch."

"It feels like 'Casino' or 'Goodfellas,'" he said. "But instead of gangsters killing, these are women just scamming these guys."

Although films aren't selected with any theme or agenda in mind, Bailey said some do emerge eventually.

"It became clear that although we're living in a complicated, difficult world with a lot of conflict, a lot of the films that really resonated the most this year were ones that were about empathy, about reaching out and across borders to other people," Bailey said. "Maybe most emblematic of that is 'A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,' but also 'Just Mercy,' a really tough film about the death penalty ... and 'Jojo Rabbit.'"

"Jojo Rabbit," from filmmaker Taika Waititi, is about a young member of a Hitler Youth group.

"But he grows, he changes, he learns," Bailey said. "And you begin to feel at least some empathy for the possibility of change."

Vicente added that it was "one of our favorites. It really surprises and we all kind of fell in love with it."

The festival kicks off Sept. 5 with the previously announced opening-night film "Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band." More films will be announced in the coming weeks.

Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia has circulated a U.N. resolution calling on all countries to take urgent action to prevent putting weapons in outer space “for all time” a week after it vetoed a U.S.-Japan resolution to stop an arms race in space.

The Russian draft resolution, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, goes further than the U.S.-Japan proposal, not only calling for efforts to stop weapons from being deployed in outer space but for preventing “the threat or use of force in outer space,” also “for all time.”

It says this should include deploying weapons “from space against Earth, and from Earth against objects in outer space.”

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council when he vetoed the U,S.-Japan draft that it didn’t go far enough in banning all types of weapons in space.

The vetoed resolution focused solely on weapons of mass destruction including nuclear arms, and made no mention of other weapons in space.

It would have called on all countries not to develop or deploy nuclear arms or other weapons of mass destruction in space, as banned under a 1967 international treaty that the U.S. and Russia ratified, and to agree to the need to verify compliance.

Before the U.S.-Japan resolution was put to a vote on April 24, Russia and China proposed an amendment that would call on all countries, especially those with space capabilities, “to prevent for all time the placement of weapons in outer space, and the threat of use of force in outer spaces.”

The vote was 7 countries in favor, 7 against, and one abstention and the amendment was defeated because it failed to get the minimum 9 “yes” votes in the 15-member Security Council required for adoption.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council after the vote that Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space.

“Today’s veto begs the question: Why? Why, if you are following the rules, would you not support a resolution that reaffirms them? What could you possibly be hiding,” she asked. “It’s baffling. And it’s a shame.”

Putin was responding to White House confirmation in February that Russia has obtained a “troubling” anti-satellite weapon capability, although such a weapon is not operational yet.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said after casting the veto that the U.S.-Japan resolution cherry picked weapons of mass destruction.

He said much of the U.S. and Japan’s actions become clear “if we recall that the U.S. and their allies announced some time ago plans to place weapons … in outer space.”

Nebenzia also accused the U.S. of blocking a Russian-Chinese proposal since 2008 for a treaty against putting weapons in outer space.

Thomas-Greenfield accused Russia of undermining global treaties to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, irresponsibly invoking “dangerous nuclear rhetoric,” walking away from several of its arms control obligations, and refusing to engage “in substantive discussions around arms control or risk reduction.”

Much of the Russian draft resolution is exactly the same as the U.S.-Japan draft, including the language on preventing an arms race in space.

It calls on all countries, especially those with major space capabilities, “to contribute actively to the objective of the peaceful use of outer space and of the prevention of an arms race in outer space.”

Thomas-Greenfield said the world is just beginning to understand “the catastrophic ramifications of a nuclear explosion in space.”

FILE - U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Tokyo. The U.N. Security Council is set to vote Wednesday, April 24, 2024, on a resolution announced by Thomas-Greenfield, calling on all nations to prevent a dangerous nuclear arms race in outer space. It is likely to be vetoed by Russia. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool, File)