TORONTO - There's a rock 'n' roll soundtrack to this year's Toronto International Film Festival -- which kicks off Thursday with the help U2 documentary "From the Sky Down" -- but Hollywood heavyweights will no doubt be making the most noise on the circuit, with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Fassbender and Glenn Close among the A-listers anchoring big-screen Oscar bait.

Several luminaries are actually offering up more than one project at the 11-day movie marathon: Clooney, Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, Gerard Butler, Michael Shannon and Mia Wasikowska each appear in at least two films unspooling through Sept. 18.

Ditto that for Canadians Ryan Gosling, Scott Speedman, Nick Stahl and Seth Rogen.

So far, hotly anticipated titles include the Clooney-Gosling political thriller "Ides of March," Pitt's baseball drama "Moneyball," Rogen's cancer dramedy "50/50," Madonna's sophomore directing bid "W.E.," auteur Guy Maddin's "Keyhole," Fiennes' Shakespearean actioner "Coriolanus," director David Cronenberg's psychological study "A Dangerous Method" and director Sarah Polley's relationship drama "Take This Waltz."

Despite the festival's reputation as a harbinger for awards season success, co-director Cameron Bailey was reluctant to forecast what's in store for this year's crop.

"I leave the predictions to our audience, they seem to have a very good sense of what's going to work for months and months and what are going to be the biggest films of the year," says Bailey, noting that the past three people's choice picks at the fest have gone on to compete for a best picture Oscar.

"Last year 'The King's Speech' was given its first prize here by our audience, the year before that it was 'Precious' and the year before that it was 'Slumdog Millionaire.' So I'll wait to see what they warm to and as the days of the festival pass on I think we'll really come to understand which films are exciting them most."

Fest director Piers Handling was more game, pointing to "Moneyball" and "Ides" as the most likely crowd-pleasers, and Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method" as the auteur's "most accessible" film yet.

Standout performances include Woody Harrelson in the rogue cop movie "Rampart" and Gosling as a steely wheelman in "Drive," he adds.

Although many of the features headed here have already courted audiences at other festivals, it's a whole new game once they arrive in Toronto, says veteran filmmaker Norman Jewison.

That largely has to do with the fest's key calendar position in the fall, when serious dramas begin to flood theatres and the intense Oscar race begins, he says.

"Everything is timing," Jewison says.

"When the Toronto film festival started, the one smart thing they did was say: 'September. We're going to have our festival in September.' And why they did that was because the major distributors of film throughout the world -- the MGM, the Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, all these distributors and all the European distributors worldwide -- made the most important films in the fall.... Cannes, unfortunately, is in the spring -- disastrous choice of timing."

Still, Toronto's heavyweight slate does include notable gaps -- veteran director Clint Eastwood chose to skip Toronto as he readies his Leonardo DiCaprio vehicle "J. Edgar" for theatrical release, while favourite son Jason Reitman is bypassing the fest as he readies the Charlize Theron dramedy "Young Adult."

Handling says each film has its own marketing plan.

"Paramount and Jason decided that this film was not going to go to festivals, they made that decision, we're totally respectful of that decision," he says.

"We fought tooth and nail for every single film that's out there that's not in this festival and they decided to go ahead with a different release strategy."

He notes that while not every film is suited to the Toronto festival, neither is the festival suited to every film.

"There's a huge financial investment at play here and some people just decide that it's best to go (straight) into release day," he says.

"They don't want to build up the press twice -- come to Toronto, do the big press hit, pay for everyone to come up and then maybe two months later try and regenerate that activity when their film actually goes into the marketplace. For other films, of course, they have no hesitation doing that, 'The King's Speech' being one of those examples."

A film without great commercial expectations stands to benefit most from Toronto's buzz-laden fest, while big films with heavyweight backers can more easily skip the festival, he explains.

"Clint Eastwood is a director who's very, very well-known. He's extremely particular. He goes to festivals with some of his films, he doesn't go to festivals with others of his films. Martin Scorsese is another one of those directors," Handling says.

"It really is filmmaker by filmmaker -- it depends on the time of their career, whether they are early in their career, late in their career, whether they are established.... You have to almost restart and every single year is a new festival, a new series of relationships."

New for the festival this year is the selection of a documentary to open the 11-day showcase.

Davis Guggenheim's "From the Sky Down" examines U2's musical reinvention with 1991's "Achtung Baby" and is said to feature intimate interviews, archival footage and live performances.

With members of the band expected to walk the red carpet Thursday, festival organizers promise a raucous opening night gala that will set an exuberant tone for the fest.

Other music-related films feature music gods Pearl Jam (in Cameron Crowe's "Pearl Jam Twenty"), Neil Young (in Jonathan Demme's "Neil Young Journeys") and Paul McCartney (in Al Maysles' "The Love We Make").

"I just hope none of these rock stars trash our red carpet," joked Bailey.

"Last year, of course, we had Bruce Springsteen in town for the festival and I think this year we're lucky enough to have these incredible musicians.... It's a natural relationship, I think, between movies and music and it's great that we have them both going on this year."

This year's marathon will also establish film festivities more firmly in the festival's new home, TIFF Bell Lightbox. The gleaming facility features state-of-the-art soft-seat theatres, high-end eateries and window-lined conference space.

Bailey predicted the new venue would bring the film community closer together, since events will be more tightly clustered in a denser section of downtown.

"You're going to have people bumping into each other, rubbing shoulders a little bit more as filmmakers are rushing to their screenings in this neighbourhood and audiences are rushing to catch the next movie," he says.

"I'm hoping that it'll feel more like kind of a block party, all 11 days long."

The fest concludes Sept. 18 with David Hare's spy thriller "Page 8."