'The Imitation Game' Wins People's Choice Award At TIFF

Benedict Cumberbatch’s newest film The Imitation Game won the Grolsch People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival, making it an automatic Oscar frontrunner.

In The Imitation Game, Cumberbatch plays Alan Turing, a British mathematician who worked to break the Nazi Enigma code in World War II. The film, directed by Morten Tyldum, also stars Keira Knightley and Matthew Goode.

TIFF’s People’s Choice Award is commonly used as an indicator of the Best Picture winner at the Oscars. 12 Years A Slave, which Cumberbatch also appeared in, won the award last year before taking home the Best Picture Oscar, and other winners include The King’s Speech and Slumdog Millionaire.

The Imitation Game screened at TIFF, inspiring glowing reviews and earning buzz for its lead actor Cumberbatch, who appears to be an early favorite for a Best Actor nominee.

“Dominating it all is Cumberbatch, whose charisma – tellingly modulated – and naturalistic array of eccentricities, Sherlockian talent at indicating a mind never at rest, and knack for simultaneously portraying physical oddness and attractiveness combine to create an entirely credible portrait of genius at work,” wrote The Hollywood Reporter’s Todd McCarthy.

The first runner-up for the top audience award was Learning to Drive, starring Ben Kingsley and Patricia Clarkson, and St. Vincent starring Bill Murray was the second runner-up.

The Imitation Game will hit theaters on Nov. 21.