The red carpet is unfolding in front of the newly renovated Palazzo del Cinema in Lido. Here, stars will quickly squeal for paparazzi and screaming fans as the Venice Film Festival begins on Wednesday.
This year’s 82nd edition is set to celebrate the film’s highest wattage in Lido in recent memory, with a treasure trove of expected films led by top talent from August 27th to September 6th.
Julia Roberts, first in Venice, Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebili (“Bear”) have all been confirmed to be present in Luca Guadagnino’s #metou-themed drama “After the Hunt.”
Emma Stone has been confirmed to be tied down to her latest collaboration with Yorgos Lantimos, the Lido of “Bagonia.”
Dwayne Johnson and Emily Brandt will make Benny Safdy’s “The Smashing Machine” trekking with Johnson as two-time UFC heavyweight champion Mark Kerr and Brant as wife Dawn. Jacob Elordi and Oscar Isaac are also coming to Guillermo del Toro’s new take on “Frankenstein.” Isaac also holds a double duty as he also toplines Julian Schnabel’s time-travel thriller Dante’s Hand.
Netflix has a robust Venice presence, all in a competitive trio, as has been in the past. The launch of streaming giant Lido consists of “Jay Kelly,” “Frankenstein,” and “Kathryn Bigelow’s politically charged “Dynamite House,” set amid the fictional national security crisis at the White House.
Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera said in a wide range of interviews with Variety that almost every major cast member of the selected film is expected. One notable exception is Israeli Galgadot, who appears in “The Hand of Dante.” Al Pacino, who plays a smaller role in the film, also misses the premiere. Pacino also starred in Gus Van San’s film “The Wire of the Deadman,” where he competes from the competition at Lido.
Gadot has been at the heart of the controversy following Disney’s “Snow White” box office failure, and during its promotion, coinciding with pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protests, prompting debates about support for Israel. The festival did not comment on why Gadot is making mistakes in Venice.
In this year’s elevated glamour, politics plays prominently in the Lido.
Barbera said she expects pro-Palestinian demonstrations. One of them is planned by a local activist on August 30th. Another moment of solidarity with Gaza at the Fest was attacked over the murder of Panetin, a five-year-old Parent Paletin, who attacked the voices of Tunisian director Benhania’s hot button political drama “Voice of Hindrajab.” It was revealed that he died in Gaza’s Israeli army and later.
Olivier Assayas’ timely political thriller, The Wizard of the Kremlin, depicts the rise of Vladimir Putin, played by Jude’s laws in heavy prosthetics, bound to reinforce Stoke, or at least Russian sentiment. Similarly, Oscar-nominated producer and director Alexander Rodnyansky’s “True Criminal Notes” were sentenced by a Moscow court last year to eight anti-war statements, and documents relating to his sentence being sentenced to five years. Rodnyansky, a Kyiv-born who lived and worked in Russia for nearly 30 years, has been an outspoken critic of the war in Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Politics has been able to warm things up, but the actual weather in Venice is expected to be cooler than last year.
Lido’s forecast for the next 11 days is high in the mid-70s and may occasionally rain, but it makes me feel even less sweaty.
Start your Venice luxury.
