Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, George Clooney, Cate Blanchett and Emma Stone are among the rich roster of stars featured in hotly anticipated new movies expected to be launching from Venice Film Festival.
With one month to go until the Lido lineup is unveiled, Venice’s artistic director Alberto Barbera is racing against the clock to assemble the festival’s 82nd edition, slots for which are still in flux. But what’s clear is that there will be no shortage of the type of buzzy titles that make Venice a prime awards season driver.
Benny Safdie’s “The Smashing Machine,” featuring Dwayne Johnson as two-time UFC heavyweight champ Mark Kerr and Emily Blunt as his wife Dawn; Luca Guadagnino’s #MeToo-themed thriller “After the Hunt” starring Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri; and “Bugonia,” the latest collaboration between Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone — who were last at the fest in 2023 with the Oscar-winning “Poor Things” — are all likely to be set for a Venice sendoff.
Angelina Jolie, after being on the Lido last year with Pablo Larraín’s “Maria,” should also be back in Venice with Alice Winocour’s drama “Couture,” set in the Paris fashion world.
Netflix looks likely to be on the Lido with Noah Baumbach’s comedy-drama “Jay Kelly,” starring George Clooney as its enigmatic titular character, and also with Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” a new take on the classic monster movie with Jacob Elordi, Oscar Isaac and Mia Goth.
Another Netflix film that could surface at Venice is “A House of Dynamite,” the next feature by Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker,” “Zero Dark Thirty”) with a cast comprising Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Gabriel Basso and Jared Harris. The official logline reads: “When a single, unattributed missile is launched at the United States, a race begins to determine who is responsible and how to respond.”
As previously revealed by Mubi boss Efe Cakarel, Jim Jarmusch’s triptych picture “Father Mother Sister Brother,” starring Cate Blanchett and Adam Driver, is also believed to be up for a Lido competition slot. Mubi may also be launching Paolo Sorrentino’s new movie “La Grazia,” led by “The Great Beauty” star Toni Servillo, from Venice if it’s ready in time.
Italian titles considered shoo-ins for Lido competition debuts include “Duse,” Pietro Marcello’s biopic about legendary Italian stage diva Eleonora Duse, played by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi; and “Below the Clouds,” the new high-profile doc by Gianfranco Rosi whose “Sacro GRA” scooped the 2013 Venice Golden Lion. “A Year of School” by rising auteur Laura Samani, who made a splash with “Small Body” in 2021, is expected to surface somewhere in the official selection.
Titles in the mix from Asia include Fan Bingbing-starrer “Mother Bhumi” from Malaysian filmmaker Chong Keat Aun and Park Chan-wook’s new film “No Other Choice.”
As previously annouced, two-time Oscar winner Alexander Payne will preside over the main jury.
The 82nd edition of Venice will run Aug. 27-Sept. 6. The lineup will be announced on July 22.
Elsa Keslassy, Marc Malkin, Jazz Tangcay, Alex Ritman and Naman Ramachandran contributed to this report.