Venice Film Festival
The notable films headed straight for the Oscars
Festival season is in full swing and the 76th Venice International Film Festival kicked off on August 28 showcasing an array of award-hopeful blockbusters and a fine list of celebrity guests to join them. Stepping off his charter boat as one of the first to arrive, Brad Pitt made a casual statement in a T-shirt and cap. The star, 55, was there to support the premiere of his space thriller, Ad Astra. Other highly anticipated films at the festival include DC Comics’ Joker – whose red carpet was led by actress Cate Blanchett’s first appearance and stars Joaquin Phoenix (as the Joker)
– as well as well as Noah Baumbach’s
Marriage Story, starring Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver and Laura Dern. The film focuses on a stage director (Driver) and his actress wife (Johansson) who are navigating the challenges of divorce. Baumbach told the media he spoke closely with the cast before writing the script. During a press interview, Johansson was asked about her preparation for her role. “I will say that when I met with Noah, I was going through a divorce and I didn’t know what we were meeting about … I think I probably blew into the room, ordered a glass of white wine and started complaining,” she revealed.
Johansson added that “[Baumbach] was listening and attentive, but also he said, ‘Funny you should be talking about this. It’s probably a project you’re either going to want to do or not want to see, we’ll see how you feel about it.’”
The actress conceded the film “came at just the right time” in her life.
Receiving an honourable first impression including an eight-minute standing ovation, the 2019 addition to the DC Comics’ universe, Joker, has already
received wide praise. Forbes contributor and screenwriter Mark Hughes called the blockbuster “one of the true masterpieces of the superhero cinema, and one of 2019’s greatest achievements”.
He said Phoenix’s portrayal of the Joker could compete with the late Heath Ledger, whose second last role was the Joker in 2008’s The Dark Knight. “Everyone is going to be stunned by what Phoenix accomplishes, because it’s what many thought impossible – a portrayal that matches and potentially exceeds that of The Dark Knight’s Clown Prince of Crime,” Hughes said.
Phoenix said at the film’s press conference: “I didn’t refer to any past iteration of the character. It just felt like something that was our creation in some ways.”
Also on the red carpet to promote a new film was actress Meryl Streep, whose biographical
comedy/drama The Laundromat premiered on September 1. Loosely based on the discovery of the Panama Papers in 2016, the film boasts an A-List cast starring alongside Streep, including Antonio Banderas and Gary Oldman.
Ahead of the film’s screening, Streep spoke of the hard work done by the investigative journalists who uncovered the story. “[The film] is an entertaining, flash, funny way of telling a very, very dark joke that’s being played on all of us. And many of the victims are journalists who got the word out,” she told the press in Venice. “People died and people die still to get the word out. This movie is fun and it’s funny but it’s really, really, really important.”
When asked about her character’s motives, Streep opened up about deeper issues. “Grief is a great motivator. The parents of the children shot at Parkland high school, the parents of the children shot at Newtown, Connecticut – those people don’t stop; they don’t stop in trying to change the world,” she said. “If it’s personal, you don’t stop, and we rely on those people, for whom it really counts, to save us all.”