Some of the top names in film arrive by choppers or gondolas to the oldest fest’s B’Day party
By Jeffrey Jolson
VENICE, Italy (Hollywood Today) 8/29/07 – Hollywood is headed for the Sinking City as the Venice Film Festival opens today with star-powered US and & UK studio films designed to mark the fest’s 75th birthday and perhaps the last hurrah of its artistic director.
The oldest movie fest will serve up a paparrazi’s dream reminiscent of an Academy Awards ceremony including George Clooney, Susan Sarandon, Brad Pitt, Charlize Theron, Jude Law, Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Allen, Keira Knightly and Michael Caine.
Hit directors for the fest include Quentin Tarantino, Tim Burton, Bernardo Bertolucci, Brian DePalma, Kenneth Branagh, Ken Loach, Ang Lee and Peter Greenaway.
In fact there are so many high-profile visitors, Venice has unveiled a helicopter service from the airport to the posh hotels, though many stars may choose the photo op of arriving by gondola or speed boat.
A remarkable 51 films will be world premieres, including 15 of the 19 American selections.
In the main competition for the Golden Lion, nine of the 22 films – all world premieres — in the main competition are British or American, starting with the opener “Atonement” by young British director Joe Wright, based on the bestselling psychological drama by Ian McEwan and starring Keira Knightley, whom Wright also directed in “Pride and Prejudice.” Vanessa Redgrave, 70, plays Knightley’s character in later years.
“American and English cinema offers truly original works that risk everything, incredibly innovative and what’s more they are made with the stars of cinema,” the Mostra’s director, Marco Mueller, said as he unveiled the line-up last month in Rome.
Mueller is reportedly at odds with the sinking city and festival overseers about rebuilding the exhibition facilities and related festival grounds, which have long been in decay.
Other English-language headliners at the festival, which will run until September 8, include Kenneth Branagh’s mystery thriller “Sleuth” with Michael Caine and Jude Law, and Ken Loach’s “It’s a Free World.”
Ang Lee (“Brokeback Mountain,” which won in Venice in 2005) will be presenting his greatly anticipated spy thriller “Se, Jie” (Lust, Caution).
Clooney stars in “Michael Clayton” by Tony Gilroy, while Pitt plays Jesse James in Andrew Dominik’s “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.”
The war in Iraq inspired Brian De Palma’s “Redacted,” which portrays the rape and murder of an Iraqi teenager by US soldiers, as well as Paul Haggis’ “In the Valley of Elah,” in which a career military man played by Tommy Lee Jones investigates the disappearance of his son, a soldier in Iraq. Co-starring with Jones are Sarandon and Theron.
The out-of-competition menu will offer Allen’s latest film “Cassandra’s Dream,” a drama set in south London, “La Fille Coupee en Deux” by French veteran Claude Chabrol and a new comedy by Japanese director Takeshi Kitano, “Kantoku Banzai!” (Glory to the Filmmaker!).
All the jurors in this 64th Biennale di Venezia are directors, as was the case for the festival’s 50th anniversary edition.
Welsh director Peter Greenaway will offer “Nightwatching,” which revolves around Rembrandt’s most famous work, while Quentin Tarantino stars in Takashi Miike’s Japanese-style western “Sukiyaki Western Django.” Tarantino will also host a retrospective of spaghetti westerns featuring 30 examples of the genre.
The world’s oldest film festival, launched in 1932, was not staged during World War II, and several festivals were held without films in competition.
Italian filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci will receive an honorary Golden Lion to mark the 75th anniversary year of the festival. US director Tim Burton will receive a lifetime achievement award.
AFP contributed to this report