O'Toole Continues to Own T.I.F.F. from Afar...
From this review at the Star-Telegram:
"And then there's the case of 74-year-old Peter O'Toole, who had to cancel a planned visit to Toronto due to illness. Nonetheless, he's turning out to be the star of the festival, for his widely beloved turn as an aging actor who falls in lust with a teenage girl in Roger Michell's Venus. Truth be told, I sat through the film grinding my teeth in irritation -- movies featuring randy old codgers who crack jokes about their failing prostates are definitely not my thing. But Venus played like gangbusters at its premiere here on Saturday night, and even those of us who didn't care for the film have to acknowledge that O'Toole's performance, with its mixture of slapstick and sentimentality, is the stuff of which long-overdue Best Actor Oscars are made."
"The 74-year-old O'Toole, who is tied with Richard Burton for the most Oscar nominations without a victory, seven, is being touted as a certain nominee for his work as an aging English actor who falls for the grandniece of a friend.The Hollywood Reporter said the film "hands the accomplished actor one of his best roles in years and he masterfully runs with it."And when O'Toole canceled a trip to Toronto, many worried if he would turn out to be as ill and frail as he looked in the film. A spokesman said it was only a minor problem."