A movie producer’s guide to the 82nd Venice Film Festival
Even by its own towering standards, this year’s 82nd Venice Film Festival will be its most star-studded yet, as some of the world’s best filmmakers compete for the prestigious Golden Lion.
VENETIAN LOVE AFFAIR
Venice had a starring role in the wedding of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez. Their Venetian love affair will continue as Amazon MGM Studios will launch Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt, which follows a college professor, played by Julia Roberts, who gets caught up in a campus sex scandal.
RISE OF THE STREAMERS
A24 will bring the hotly tipped The Smashing Machine, the true story of the rise and fall of a UFC legend toplined by Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. Fresh from the Oscar success of The Brutalist, A24 has been valued at $3.5bn after Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital invested $75m last year. Sequoia Capital led a $100m investment in the London-based streaming service MUBI, valuing it at $1bn. But MUBI has faced a backlash from filmmakers angry at Sequoia’s alleged links to Israeli military.
MUBI will present the festival opener Paolo Sorrentino’s mysterious La Grazia. Netflix, having surprised Wall Street by reaching 300m+ subscribers in Q1, is bringing star power with Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein with heart-throb Jacob Elordi and Noah Baumbach’s comedy drama Jay Kelly where George Clooney plays a famous actor having a midlife crisis with Adam Sandler as his long-suffering manager. These are two of eleven Venice titles shot in the UK.
THE TIMOTHEE CHALAMET FACTOR
The festival attracts major fashion sponsors like Armani Beauty and the Richemont-owned Cartier. Richemont announced in January an 11 per cent sales increase of Cartier jewellery, partly due to the impact of Angelina Jolie, Isabelle Huppert and their brand ambassador Timothee Chalamet blinging it up on the red carpet. Marc by Sofia, Sofia Coppola’s documentary about Marc Jacobs, should keep the fashionistas happy.
STAR SPOTTING AT THE 5-STAR CA’ DI DIO
If the festival gave awards for Venetian hotels, the magnificent 5-star Ca’ di Dio would surely win the Golden Lion. Perfectly situated in-between San Marco and the Biennale, it is a gorgeous historic Venetian palazzo with a contemporary touch. Several of its beautiful 66 suites and deluxe rooms have iconic views of San Giorgio and the lagoon. Movie stars love the tasting menu at their superb VERO restaurant. I raised the financing for my new film Bubbles after a superb dinner there, with a famous movie star at a neighbouring table. A post-dinner Venetian gondola directly from the hotel is pure glamour!
VENICE HOT SPOTS
The sumptuous newly restored 5-star Hotel Gabrielli, in an historic 14th century Venetian palazzo just a short stroll from St. Mark’s Square, will host several star-studded festival events. Its red-brick façade with iconic Quadrifora windows was featured in the 70s classic Don’t Look Now.
It is home to the city’s most beautiful private gardens and the Presidential Suite is the most coveted at the festival. Expect to see Julia Roberts and Emma Stone (in town for Yorgos Lanthimos’ quirky Bugonia) having a sundowner at the stunning Gabrielli Rooftop terrace.
Another hotspot is the marvellous Aromi restaurant in the spectacular Hilton Molino Stucky Hotel on a glorious terrace overlooking Venice and the Giudecca Canal. Arrive by vaporetto and try the sensational tasting menu. The Hilton itself is in a dreamy location with stylish rooms and its Skyline Rooftop Bar – the highest in Venice – and the stunning rooftop swimming pool, have been the scene of many glamorous festival parties.
THE TRUMP FILM TARIFF
President Trump’s threat of 100 per cent tariffs on all foreign movie imports sent shockwaves in Europe and has been universally condemned. Ironically, it was the British government who first imposed film tariffs on American movie imports as far back as 1927 as a reaction to the dominance of Hollywood movies in the UK.
A century on, American movies still dominate, but thanks to our generous film tax credits, Hollywood has flocked to the UK with Netflix investing $6bn here in the last 5 years. When the Golden Lion winner is announced by Jury President Alexander Payne, there is a good chance it will have been filmed here. All will be revealed on 6 September.
• Dr Frank Mannion is a filmmaker and academic whose A Sip of Irish is available on digital platforms