Deluge of stars at Venice Film Festival after 2023 drought

[July 24, 2024]  By Crispian Balmer

ROME (Reuters) - Stars will bedeck this year's Venice Film Festival, as the beach-lined Lido bounces back from the 2023 actors' strike that deprived the red carpet of its usual glamour.

The 2024 edition, which runs from Aug. 28 to Sept. 7, will feature its usual roster of big blockbuster and auteur movies, both in and out of competition, looking to make a splash ahead of the major awards seasons.

Among the leading lights expected to delight the Venice fans are Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Lady Gaga, Joaquin Phoenix, Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Tilda Swinton and Adrien Brody.

One of the biggest draws will be "Joker: Folie ŕ Deux", the hugely anticipated sequel to Todd Phillips' original, dark supervillain origin story "Joker", which won the cherished Golden Lion award in 2019.

Phoenix will reprise his role as the crazed Arthur Fleck, while Lady Gaga joins the cast as Harley Quinn.

"I won't give anything away, because no-one can imagine what Todd and his screenwriter have come up with," the festival's artistic director, Alberto Barbera, said on Tuesday as he unveiled the line-up.

"Joaquin Phoenix does absolutely incredible things (with the role) while Todd Phillips confirms himself as one of the most original directors of contemporary American cinema."

Other movies likely to grab the limelight are Pablo Larrain's biopic "Maria" starring Jolie as the opera diva Maria Callas, and Luca Guadagnino's "Queer", with Daniel Craig playing the part of an American expat infatuated by a younger man.

"It seems to me he gives the performance of his life," Barbera said.

Venice films regularly throw up Oscar winners, including Emma Stone, who scooped an Oscar for her lead role this year in "Poor Things" and Brendan Fraser, for his headline-grabbing performance in "The Whale" in 2023.

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Hollywood royalty Pitt and Clooney will show their latest film "Wolfs" out-of-competition at Venice -- an action comedy written and directed by Jon Watts about two lone-wolf fixers who unwillingly have to join forces to cover up a crime.

79th Venice Film Festival - Premiere for the film "Blonde" in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Venice, Italy, September 8, 2022. Actor Brad Pitt attends. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane/File Photo

Also being shown out-of-competition is the latest feature by Japan's Takeshi Kitano, "Broken Rage", as well as two contrasting documentaries showing the reality of the Russian invasion of Ukraine from both sides of the front.

A total 21 movies will play in the main competition, including five Italian features. One, "Sicilian Letters", is loosely based on the mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, and his many years on the run, while another, "Diva Futura", looks at the rise of Italy's porn stars in the 1980s.

Acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar brings his first English-language film to the Lido, "The Room Next Door", starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, who headed the 2022 Venice jury.

France's Isabelle Huppert heads the main competition jury this time around and will be joined, amongst others, by fellow actor Zhang Ziyi and directors James Gray, Agnieszka Holland, Abderrahmane Sissako and Giuseppe Tornatore.

Dutch director Halina Reijn will premiere her erotic thriller "Babygirl", featuring Kidman and Antonio Banderas, while another thriller, "The Order" directed by Justin Kurzel and starring Jude Law, also gets a first showing in Venice.

The 81st edition of the world's oldest film festival kicks off with a screening of Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice", with Barbera announcing that most of its top cast, including Keaton, Ryder, Ortega and Willem Dafoe, will come for the launch.

Last year, a strike by Hollywood actors forced many stars to miss the festival, with unions telling their members not to promote their projects to put pressure on the big studios.

(Reporting by Crispian Balmer, Editing by William Maclean)

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