Rebel Wilson to Taron Egerton: Hollywood stars reveal the films that mean most to them

This year's Toronto International Film Festival featured a host of talent – and, at the BBC's exclusive photo studio, they discussed the projects that define their life and careers.

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The Face of Horror – stars Kristine Froseth and Jonah Hauer-King

What is the film in your career that means most to you?

Kristine: Sharp Stick, a film directed by Lena Dunham. It was a very personal story to her, but to me as well. I play this girl named Sarah Jo, who has arrested growth because of some trauma that she's experienced in her life. I'm very interested in exploring trauma and the ways people cope with it, and [doing that film] to me was healing in its own way.

Jonah: A film I made this time last year called The Eden Express. It's about Kurt Vonnegut's son Mark and his descent into psychosis. The reason I mention it is because it isn't out yet, so it's all about my experience of making it and the process. It's a really beautiful thing when a film goes out into the world, because then it becomes other people's. But at the moment it still belongs to [all of us who worked on it] in a way, which is really nice. 

Bedford Park – director and writer Stephanie Ahn 

What does this film Bedford Park mean to you?

It's semi-autobiographical, and it's incredibly meaningful to me because it says so much about who I was up until a certain point when I became a mother. It explores the conflicts I had growing up as a Korean American and what I went through in coming to terms with two very different cultures and finding synchronicity in that. It was a very challenging and painful process at times, but I finally got to a point in my life where [with this film] I can look back on and really examine it, and that was very cathartic. 

Faith – star James McAvoy 

What is the film in your career that means most to you?

I think the [two] films that have meant most were probably Filth, because it was strangely quite a personal experience and character and exploration of mental health. And then Atonement, because those two characters that myself and Keira [Knightley] played just absolutely broke my heart and stayed with me. Atonement was also about the abuse of somebody from a low-income background, and the dangers of social mobility – mixing with posh people [laughs] – and I've experienced my [own] much more mundane versions of that. 

Everybody Wants to F*ck Me – stars Taron Egerton, Jessica Henwick and Charly Clive

What is the film in your career that means most to you?

Taron: [Elton John biopic] Rocketman was a time in my life where I really felt a sense of being able to expand into my own creativity. Prior to then, I felt the model of a leading man in film should be kind of unimpeachable and perfect and slightly veneered, and playing Elton, the way the character was written on the page, it was all about shadow – your fallibility, the things that you're scared that you are, and the things that you're scared you aren't. It was a really important step on my journey to realising that the things that you perceive about yourself to be your weaknesses actually end up being your greatest strength. 

Jessica: A film I did a few years ago called The Royal Hotel. I had been a fan of the director Kitty Green for a long time, and [it was incredible] to work with her on a project that really felt like it had something to say. It's a brilliant study into power dynamics – specifically sexual power dynamics – and binge drinking culture in remote Australia. It had a shoestring budget, and we were in the Australian outback pretending it was summer in our bikinis, and getting blasted by freezing cold winds and sand. So it was a challenge, but I loved everything about it. 

Charly: This one, written and directed by Jonathan Schey. I think it's just properly British, funny, mad, intelligent, and interesting cinema, and I don't think we've had a film like it maybe ever – and it rocks.

Girl Group – director and star Rebel Wilson 

What is the film in your career that means most to you?

Probably my first job in........

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