Alberto Barbera is closing in on his Venice Film Festival selection, with buzz around Yorgos Lanthimos’ sci-fi Poor Things, starring Emma Stone, Matteo Garrone’s migrant drama Io Capitano and Pablo Larrain’s dark comedy El Conde about Augusto Pinochet for the Competition.
Also potentially Lido-bound are Michael Mann’s Ferrari with Adam Driver and Penélope Cruz, David Michod’s comedy Wizards! with Pete Davidson, Naomi Scott and Orlando Bloom, and Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers starring Zendaya and Josh O’Connor.
Michel Franco, a 2020 Silver Lion grand jury prize winner for New Order whose Sundown played in competition in 2021, could be making a return with his English-language Memory starring Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard. Also in the running are Saverio Costanzo’s 1950s-set Cinecittà drama Finalmente L’Alba with Lily James and Willem Dafoe, and Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla starring Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi.
Two films from Netflix’s awards season stable could make the cut. Leonard Bernstein-Felicia Montealegre love story Maestro from Bradley Cooper, whose A Star Is Born debuted on the Lido five years ago, stars Cooper and Carey Mulligan, while Annette Bening is the lead as marathon swimmer Diana Nyad in Nyad from Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (Free Solo).
The streamers might also be represented by Apple’s Napoleon directed by Ridley Scott and starring Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby, and Amazon Studios’ Emerald Fennell dark comedy Saltburn with Rosamund Pike, Mulligan, Barry Keoghan, Richard E. Grant, and Elordi.
Following a competitive year for French titles that saw buzzy films like Bruno Dumont’s The Empire, Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast and Ladj Ly’s Les Indesirables conspicuously absent from Cannes, these films could spill over into Venice.
Potential Venice titles from France also include female-driven stories such as Arnaud des Pallières’ period drama Party Of Fools, Vanessa Filho’s literary adaptation Consent, and Léa Domenach’s French first lady biopic Bernadette starring Catherine Deneuve.
Cédric Kahn could also make back-to-back festival appearances following Cannes Directors’ Fortnight opener The Goldman Case with his anticipated Making Of.
And then there is Holly from Flemish auteur Fien Troch, about the curious aftermath of a school fire.
Roman Polanski’s The Palace and Woody Allen’s Coup de Chance could also make a – likely controversial – appearance in the Venice line-up along with Luc Besson’s DogMan starring Caleb Landry Jones, which is scheduled for an end of September release in France.
From the UK, Luna Carmoon’s BBC Film-backed mother-daughter drama Hoard starring Hayley Squires and Joseph Quinn, Kevin Macdonald’s John Galliano documentary, Moin Hussain’s sci-fi Sky Peals, and Justin Anderson’s directorial debut Swimming Home with Ariane Labed and Christopher Abbott, could secure Venice berths.
Kenneth Branagh’s A Haunting In Venice looks a good bet to premiere out of competition while ongoing effects work could push Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two to a later 2023 festival berth, two years after the first instalment premiered in Italy.
Additional reporting by Rebecca Leffler, Mona Tabbara, Ben Dalton, and Jean Noh.
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