'The Imitation Game' captures the top award at the Toronto Film Festival
'Game' stars Benedict Cumberbatch as mathematician and World War II code-breaker Alan Turing. The movie will be released in theaters on Nov. 21.
'The Imitation Game' stars Benedict Cumberbatch (second from l.).
Jack English/The Weinstein Company/AP
"The Imitation Game," a biopic about British mathematician and World War Two code-breaker Alan Turing, won the top prize at the聽Toronto聽International Film Festival on Sunday.
The film, which stars聽Benedict Cumberbatch聽as Turing, took the Grolsch People's Choice award for best film at the 39th edition of the festival.
Accepting the award on behalf of director聽Morten Tyldum, Elevation Pictures'聽Noah Segal聽said simply, "Yummy, delicious," a reference to an audience member who had declared the same about Cumberbatch during a question-and-answer session following the film's screening during the festival.
"It was unnerving, but true," said Segal.
The award, which is chosen by audience members and has in the past gone to Oscar best picture winners such as "Slumdog Millionaire" and last year's "12 Years a Slave," will likely ramp up the buzz around the film.
In the movie, Turing is the brilliant mathematician who breaks the Germans' Enigma code, helping to bring the war to an end. He took his own life at 41 after he was convicted for being a homosexual.
Cumberbatch, one of the most sought-after actors in film and television, gave an immediate "yes" to playing Turing, he told Reuters last week.
"There is a huge burden, an onus of responsibility," the 38-year-old Englishman said. "This was an extraordinary man and sadly, bizarrely not that well known [for] a man of his achievements."
The runner-up for the prize was "Learning to Drive," a film about a Manhattan writer, played by聽Patricia Clarkson, who finds comfort in her lessons with a Sikh driving instructor, played by聽Ben Kingsley.
"St. Vincent," starring聽Bill Murray, took second runner-up.
The People's Choice award for top film in the Midnight Madness program, which often showcases horror and offbeat films, went to "What We Do in the Shadows," a mockumentary about vampires living in a聽New Zealand聽suburb.
"I'd like to use this forum to bring attention to a more serious matter: the disgusting sport of vampire hunting," said co-director and co-star聽Jemaine Clement.
The People's Choice award for top documentary went to "Beats of the聽Antonov," which follows refugees from the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains in聽Sudan.
Started in 1976, the聽Toronto聽festival now ranks with聽Cannes聽and聽Sundance聽as one of the world's top movie gatherings. The festival often serves as a launching point for films and performances that go on to win Academy Awards as well as international films seeking distribution deals.
This year saw the festival's highest film sales after a bidding war ended with Paramount buying聽Chris Rock's "Top Five" for a reported $12.5 million, organizers said. Forty-one film sales have been announced so far, including 24 major sales to U.S. distributors.