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Venice Film Festival moves into focus
2006-05-25
As Cannes heads into its closing weekend, Venice is looming low on the horizon. Oliver Stone's much-anticipated "World Trade Center" and Irwin Winkler's "Home of the Brave" are tipped as strong candidates for premieres at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival, which runs from August 30 to September 9. Both films screened extended trailers -- 26 and 38 minutes, respectively -- in Cannes. Stone's film stars Nicolas Cage in a story set against the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers. "Home of the Brave" revolves around three soldiers readjusting to life at home after returning from the war in Iraq. David Lynch's "Inland Empire" also seems an odds-on favorite for the lagoon after not showing up in Cannes as many had expected, apparently because it was not completed in time. The mystery stars Laura Dern, Harry Dean Stanton and Jeremy Irons. Other strong U.S. contenders include "The Wicker Man," starring Cage, and Darren Aronofsky's sci-fi drama "The Fountain," featuring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz; the adaptation of James Ellroy's crime classic "The Black Dahlia," directed by Brian De Palma; and "The Good Shepherd," directed by Robert De Niro, who also stars alongside Matt Damon, Joe Pesci, Angelina Jolie and Alec Baldwin. Also mentioned for a possible Venice slot is Ridley Scott's adaptation of "A Good Year," starring Russell Crowe as an Englishman who inherits a vineyard in Provence and then runs into a local woman who says the land is hers. At a briefing in Cannes unveiling plans for a retrospective of Russian films and a tribute to Brazilian Cinema Novo director and writer Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, Venice director Marco Mueller said the festival was likely to have a strong European lineup among the 50-plus films screened. Mueller is scheduled to visit the Netherlands in July to look at a couple of Dutch titles: Paul Verhoeven's return to Dutch-language filmmaking with World War II drama "Blackbook" and the black comedy "Ober" (Waiter), directed by Alex van Warmerdam. French octogenarian Alain Robbe-Grillet is thought to be a lock with "C'est Gravida qui vous appelle," starring James Wilby in a story about an archeologist who unearths the sculpture of a Roman girl in Pompeii and is then haunted by her ghost. Pascale Ferran's D.H. Lawrence adaptation titled "Lady Chatterley" also is a likely French choice, as is the untitled work from radical auteur vet Jean-Marie Straub. From Germany, the smart money is on Margarethe Von Trotta's psychological drama "I Am the Other Woman." The movie stars Katja Riemann, who won the best actress honor in Venice in 2003 for her role in "Rosenstrasse." Another Teutonic tip is the satire "Schroeder's Wonderful World," directed by Michael Schorr, whose "Schultze gets the Blues" won the special jury prize in Venice in 2003. Top of the list of British contenders is Roger Michell's "Venus," a tale about how two veteran actors have their lives turned upside down by a vivacious teenager. Emir Kusturica's "Maradona," a documentary about Argentinean soccer legend Diego Maradona, also is a good bet after missing the cut for Cannes. Asian titles are likely to include Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda's "Hana Yori Mo Naho," which centers on a young samurai warrior who seeks revenge for the death of his father. Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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