The fall film festival circuit is forever a magnet for A-list talent, as it signals the start of awards season by delivering first looks at a crush of prestige big-screen content. But when Italy’s Venice Film Festival unveiled the lineup for its 81st edition, it telegraphed something else: Movie stars are back, baby. The Lido will be packed with big names, many with “Oscar winner” in front of their monikers, making it one of the most anticipated fests of the season.
Leading the pack are Wolfs stars Brad Pitt and George Clooney in the action drama from Jon Watts. Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix will sing and slither their way back to Venice as DC villains in Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux. Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore will return to the canals for The Room Next Door, Pedro Almodóvar’s English-language debut. Daniel Craig toplines Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, which also stars Lesley Manville and Drew Starkey. Nicole Kidman is in Babygirl opposite Harris Dickinson and Antonio Banderas for filmmaker Halina Reijn. Cate Blanchett stars in Alfonso Cuarón’s small-screen series Disclaimer opposite Kevin Kline and Sacha Baron Cohen for Apple TV+. We can’t fail to mention Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Tim Burton’s return to the underworld with a stacked cast featuring Michael Keaton, Jenna Ortega, Winona Ryder, Willem Dafoe, Catherine O’Hara and Italian legend Monica Bellucci. A few more: Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist will bring Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones and Joe Alwyn; Justin Kurzel’s The Order will give us Nicholas Hoult, Jude Law, and Tye Sheridan; and Volpi Cup best actor winner Peter Sarsgaard returns to Venice in Tim Fehlbaum’s September 5.
There’s one more A-lister who requires a special mention, as her name highlights another festival trend. Not only will stars be delivering the glitz and the glamour this year, but some also will arrive with a fair amount of heat (read: controversy) that could make for lively (read: fiery) news conferences. Angelina Jolie, who is engaged in a bitter, years-long divorce with Pitt, will walk the red carpet for the world premiere of Pablo Larraín’s Maria, a biopic of famed opera diva Maria Callas in the final days of her life. Though it seems unlikely that the exes will cross paths — organizers have given plenty of breathing room between the two films, with Maria debuting Aug. 29 and Wolfs bowing Sept. 1 — they may have a hard time avoiding personal questions on press lines. One well-positioned veteran publicist shrugged it off by saying, “The festival knows how to schedule their events to avoid all of that.”
Other subplots seem more certain. Phoenix will have a hard time dodging questions about why he dropped out of Todd Haynes’ untitled gay romance project just days before shooting began in Mexico, a decision that reportedly cost millions and could lead to a lawsuit. (Producer Christine Vachon weighed in with a now-deleted post on Facebook calling the situation “a nightmare.”) The gambling crowd might want to put a wager on Clooney being asked about his recent sharp-tongued response in GQ to “some shit” Quentin Tarantino said about him recently, that “he’s not a movie star,” prompting Clooney to tell the magazine, “All right, dude, fuck off.” It’s a roll of the dice, but it’s possible that Travis Scott might also breeze through Venice to check out Harmony Korine’s Baby Invasion, the follow-up to Aggro Dr1ft that stars the rapper (who was just arrested in Paris during the Olympics).
No matter what chatter happens at the pressers or what fluids are rumored to fly (remember Spitgate?), one thing’s for sure: There’s going to be lots of A-list action. Fest director Alberto Barbera recently told THR, “It looks like it will be the most crowded red carpet we’ve had in a decade.”
This story first appeared in the August 21 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
