Jodie Comer gets her wish with taxidermy musical Stuffed at TIFF
Jodie Comer finally got her musical. It involves taxidermy, romance and song.
The British actor stars with Harry Melling in Stuffed, which had its first screening on Thursday September 10 at the Royal Alexandra Theatre during the Toronto Film Festival, according to Deadline. The pair then walked the premiere at the TIFF Lightbox that same evening in Toronto, and Comer appeared at Deadline’s Studio at the Bisha Hotel on September 11.
The film is the feature debut of British director Theo Rhys, who wrote the script with Joss Holden-Rea. The team describes it as a mix of dark comedy, offbeat romance and twisted musical. It centres on Araminta, an isolated mortician and taxidermist, and Bernie, a lonely factory worker.
Comer plays Araminta. When the project was first announced, her character was described as a brooding taxidermist with a secret ambition to stuff a human specimen, according to Deadline. TIFF’s film page lists the role as fiercely independent. Melling plays Bernie.
Speaking alongside Rhys and Holden-Rea in Deadline’s TIFF Studio, Comer said she loves musicals and had always wanted to do one. She added she had spent years saying she wanted to do a musical without doing the work to be ready for one.
Stuffed began life as Rhys’s 2021 short film of the same name before being expanded to feature length. It was selected among the Discovery titles to screen at TIFF 2026, the festival sidebar for emerging film-makers, according to Deadline. Sales agent Cornerstone Films is handling the title.
Early coverage has leaned into the odd premise. Variety, which published its review on September 10, called it an odd and oddly touching taxidermy musical in which Comer and Melling sing, according to Variety. Deadline reviewed it at the festival as a macabre musical comedy.
For fans, this means a sharp change of pace. Comer is known for screen roles including The End We Start From, which screened at TIFF in 2023. Here she sings. That is the news.
