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Clive Owen's moustache upstages 'Words and Pictures' premiere

While Juliette Binoche cut off her hair for TIFF, her "Words and Pictures" co-star Clive Owen grew his -- on his face, that is.

The 48-year-old British star showed up to Roy Thompson Hall on Saturday at Roy Thomson Hall with a new moustache in tow for the TIFF premiere of his film. In the Fred Schepisi romance, Owen sports some serious scruff (though not quite as upper-lip-heavy) to play an English teacher who challengers his prep school's art teacher (Binoche) to a competition of words versus paintings.

"Clive, he has a quite a diversity of work behind him, and sometimes you see him as an action star. But if you go back to his earlier pictures, and some others as well, he really does great performances in drama," Schepisi told IndieWire last week. "He's not necessarily so much in comedy as I'm aware of, but I think you'll see a very, very different side to him in this film. It's an extraordinary performance that you may not expect to see."

Owen is also at the festival promoting "Blood Ties," a 1970s-set crime drama. But no, he doesn't have a 'stache in that film either, though it would be era-appropriate.

The facial hair comes as a bit of a surprise considering just one month ago, Owen attended a Ladies Day event in the U.K. on Aug. 1 clean shaven. So, what gives?

It could be something to do with the mini-series he is currently working on, Stephen Soderbergh's "The Knick." The show follows the lives of the staff at a New York hospital at the start of the 20th century.

Or maybe Owen's upper lip just got cold -- it's no longer summer in Toronto, after all.

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