In the opening credits for #Metoo-themed thriller “After the Hunt,” director Luca Guadagnino evoked Woody Allen’s film aesthetic, choosing to format the actor’s names alphabetically on a single card.
When asked at the film’s official Venice Film Festival press conference, Guadanino didn’t write his words down as to why he paid tribute to Allen, who was accused of sexual assault by his adopted child, Dylan Farrow.
“The answer to the class was, ‘Why not? There was a canon I grew up in, and when I started thinking about this film with my collaborators, we couldn’t stop thinking about ‘crimes and misdemeanors’.
or “another woman” or “Hanna and her sisters.” The storylines that felt linked to Woodyan’s great works from 1985 to 1991 had infrastructure.
He said, “And by the way, it’s a classic, such a font. It’s now more than Woody.”
Set in the world of higher education, “After the Hunt,” stars Julia Roberts as a professor at a beloved university and finds herself at a personal and professional intersection when her mentee (Ayo Edebili) accuses her friend and colleague (Andrew Garfield) of crossing the line. As she navigates the situation, she threatens to uncover a dark secret from her own past.
In explaining “after the hunt,” Guadanino says, “we are looking at the people of truth. It’s not that one truth is the most important, it’s a way of looking at the conflict of truth, and seeing these boundaries of truth together is not creating a manifesto to revive old-fashioned values.”
Meanwhile, screenwriter Nora Garrett addressed the challenges of tackling complex, hot button issues like script cancellation culture.
“Imagine that we have completely moved to another wave of feminism undermines what is actually happening and the reality that we exist with each other in society,” she said. “We are trying to bring something true and authentic.”
At a heated press conference, Roberts defended “After the Hunt” after being asked if the film was undermining the feminist movement. The journalist who raised the question said the film “stolen controversy” among the audience. He felt it would “revive the old debate” about believing a woman who spoke about allegations of sexual assault.
“It’s not uncomfortable because it’s not my nature,” Roberts said with a laugh. I don’t think it just revives the argument that they are against each other or that they don’t support each other.
Roberts continued. “The best part about your question is that it came out of the theatres you guys are talking about it, and that’s how we wanted to feel.
Later in the press conference, Roberts lamented that society “now has lost the art of human conversation.”
“If we’re making this film, it’s the most exciting thing we can achieve, for everyone to talk to each other,” she said.
