Toronto Film Festival 2015: Eddie Redmayne and Julianne Moore aim for double Oscar success

Oscar-winning actors Eddie Redmayne and Julianne Moore will launch their effort to become double Oscar winners at this year's Toronto Film Festival.

The pair, who collected Academy Awards in February, each have films screening at the festival which is seen as the launch pad for awards season.

Redmayne appears as a transgender pioneer in The Danish Girl, while Moore stars in gay rights drama Freeheld.

Jake Gyllenhaal drama Demolition will open the festival on 10 September.

Directed by Canadian Jean-Marc Vallee - who previously directed Dallas Buyers Club and Wild - Gyllenhaal stars as an investment banker whose life unravels after his wife dies in a car crash.

Jake Gyllenhall stars in Demolition

Oscar buzz for both Redmayne and Moore began last year after their films The Theory of Everything and Still Alice premiered at Toronto.

Redmayne went on to collect the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of physicist Stephen Hawking, while Moore won best actress for her role as a college professor with Alzheimer's.

This year, the actress stars in the real life story of New Jersey police detective Laurel Hester, who after being diagnosed with cancer fights to leave her pension to her partner, Stacie Andree.

Freeheld also stars Ellen Page and Steve Carell as a gay rights activist.

Juno star Ellen Page stars opposite Julianne Moore in Freeheld

Moore also has a second film premiering at the festival - Maggie's Plan - a romantic comedy also starring Greta Gerwig and Ethan Hawke.

Redmayne stars in Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper's The Danish Girl, playing another real life character - artist Lili Elbe, one of the first recipients of sex reassignment surgery.

The film is listed as being a North American premiere, which suggests it will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival at the beginning of September.

Eddie Redmayne plays artist Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl

Other films receiving their world premieres at the festival include Stephen Frears' Lance Armstrong film The Program, Ridley Scott's sci-fi The Martian starring Matt Damon and biopic Trumbo, about US screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (played by Bryan Cranston) who is blacklisted from Hollywood for his political beliefs.

Johnny Depp film Black Mass, Jason Bateman's second directorial effort The Family Fang, western Forsaken - starring Donald and Kiefer Sutherland - and Afghan war film Hyena Road will also premiere.

Among the other British stars who have films screening at the festival who will likely attend include Dame Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman, Emma Watson, Idris Elba, Kate Winslet and Jeremy Irvine.

Tom Hardy film Legend, in which he plays the notorious Kray twins, will also receive its international premiere following its UK premiere on 9 September.

A full list of film premieres announced on Thursday is available on the Toronto Film Festival website.

Source: BBC