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The 81st Venice Film Festival kicks off tomorrow and it’s set to continue its legacy as a hotbed of dealmakers, party goers and luxury brand sponsorship. Our man on the inside gives the lowdown on what to expect this time around.
“The Ghost with the Most is Back” proclaim the Venetian billboards for Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. The Warner Bros film, starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Jenna Ortega will open the 81st Venice Film Festival tomorrow. Warner Bros will also premiere Joker: Folie a Deux with Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix. The original Joker won the festival’s coveted Golden Lion on its way to 11 Oscar nominations and $1bn at the box office. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav will be hoping that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Joker 2 will bring much needed box office revenues after announcing a $11.2 billion write-down this month.
The Venice Film Festival takes place on the island of the Lido, with the big deal-making and press junkets taking place at the glamorous Hotel Excelsior Venice Lido. If there were Oscars for Venetian hotels, the Excelsior would surely be deserving of Best Picture. Last year I sealed the financing deal for my new film, Oxbridge, at the Excelsior’s wonderful Adriatico terrace restaurant, which serves the best grilled seafood in Venice.
Unlike Cannes, tickets to the world premieres are on sale to the public. Venice attracts deep-pocketed sponsors including Armani Beauty, Mastercard and Cartier, who provide €5m of the festival’s €23 million running costs. Cartier has booked out the elegant Hotel Monaco & Grand Canal, owned by the Benetton family, and will host several star-studded events there during the festival.
VENICE DIVA HEAVEN
The Hotel Monaco is near the beautiful Teatro La Fenice opera house, so it’s fitting that Venice will host the world premiere of Pablo Larrain’s Maria, a film about the tragic opera singer Maria Callas, played by Angelina Jolie. The festival has wisely programmed it three days earlier than Brad Pitt’s new film to keep the warring ex-couple apart. The canny upstart A24, in which Chelsea owner Toddy Boehly has a stake, will bring Nicole Kidman’s Babygirl, to Venice. Kidman plays a high-flying CEO who has an affair with a much younger man, played by British actor Harris Dickinson.
WOLFS OF WALL STREET
The streamers usually have a big Venice Film Festival presence. But Netflix, having surprised Wall Street this month with a post-pandemic record of 8m new subscribers, has decided to sit out this year’s edition. Its tech rival Apple is bringing star power with Wolfs, headlined by Brad Pitt and George Clooney, an action comedy where two lone-wolf fixers are forced to work together after being hired for the same assignment. George Clooney has long been a Venice fixture, famously holding his wedding reception at the Aman Venice in 2014. He loved it so much he returned recently for a date night with his wife at the Aman’s divine Arva restaurant.
APPLE AT THE VENICE FILM FESTIVAL
Sony Pictures Entertainment, fresh from reporting a $73m drop in operating income, will launch Pedro Almodovar’s The Room Next Door, with Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore playing childhood friends who reconnect in later life. Daniel Craig will star in Queer adapted from William S Burroughs’ LGBTQ+ classic which is already generating Oscar buzz.
THE HOT SPOTS
The sumptuous new Nolinski Venezia hotel has been lovingly converted from the city’s former Stock Exchange. The piece de resistance is a gold mosaic indoor rooftop swimming pool with stunning Venetian views. Nolinski’s magnificent Palais Royal Restaurant will host several intimate film premiere dinners. Another hotspot is Antinoo restaurant in the historic Sina Centurion Palace Hotel in a spectacular terrace setting overlooking the Grand Canal. Arrive by vaporetto and try the sensational Wellington style lobster.
The Venice Film Festival’s hottest ticket is an exclusive fantasy-themed party at the Restaurant Terrazza Danieli in honour of Jury President Isabelle Huppert. Over the years Golden Lion winners like Gravity, Joker and Brokeback Mountain have gone on to Oscar glory. This year’s winner will be revealed by Isabelle Huppert on 7 September. As Beetlejuice would say: “It’s Showtime”.
• Dr Frank Mannion is a filmmaker and academic who is currently directing A Sip of Irish.
