The 83rd Venice Film Festival began on the Lido on Wednesday night, and for a British audience the opening film could hardly be closer to home. Danny Boyle’s Ink premiered in competition, telling the story of Rupert Murdoch’s 1969 purchase of The Sun and what happened to the British press afterwards.
Guy Pearce plays Murdoch. Jack O’Connell plays Larry Lamb, the editor Murdoch installed. Claire Foy also stars, and all three walked the carpet alongside Boyle, who said this is his first time competing at Venice and called the premiere a huge honour.
The festival runs until 12 September, with 21 films competing for the Golden Lion.
Boyle Refused to Turn Murdoch Into a Villain
Speaking to reporters earlier on Wednesday, Boyle explained the choice he made with the character, the same one he made with the stage version. He was careful not to “monsterize” Murdoch, because at the time Murdoch represented something new against a rigid British establishment.
His stated aim was that the audience should feel complicit rather than superior. Which, given what the paper became, is a harder sell to a British viewer than an American one.
The film is a Netflix production, and it arrives at a festival where the big studios are largely absent, continuing a pattern seen at Cannes earlier this year.
Clooney Took the Golden Lion and Then Took Aim
George Clooney received the honorary Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the opening ceremony, presented by Laura Dern after a career-spanning reel.
Dern read tributes from Brad Pitt, Adam Sandler, Steven Soderbergh, Alexander Payne, Noah Baumbach and CAA’s Bryan Lourd. Clooney and his wife Amal were both visibly emotional.
His accepting statement to the Biennale was characteristically dry: “It also probably means I’m old, but I’ll take it.”
The speech itself was not. Clooney told the room that the people in charge and the people with the most money are telling everyone to fear one another, and argued that history teaches otherwise. He said stories are dangerous to anyone who trades on fear, and that such people are never the heroes when the history gets written.
At a press conference beforehand he was asked about the pending Paramount and Warner Bros merger, and about Mark Ruffalo’s criticism of it. He backed Ruffalo’s right to speak, and said he could not see how the deal makes financial sense for the people pursuing it.
Ellen Burstyn Receives Hers on Monday
The second lifetime achievement Golden Lion goes to Ellen Burstyn, who is 93, on Monday 7 September. She has a masterclass scheduled alongside it.
Burstyn is also working. She appears in Kornél Mundruczó’s out of competition title Place to Be with Taika Waititi and Pamela Anderson, and in a short directed by the jury president.
The Jury President Has a Film in the Festival Too
Maggie Gyllenhaal chairs the international jury, joined by Kaouther Ben Hania, Daniel Blumberg, Francesco Casetti, Xavier Giannoli, Shahrbanoo Sadat and Johnnie To.
She is also screening Flesh Impact, a short marking Marilyn Monroe’s centenary, starring Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard, Sepideh Moafi and Burstyn.
Barbera’s Answer on Female Directors Is Already the Story
Artistic director Alberto Barbera was asked why the main competition contains so few films by women.
His answer was that the selection committee saw many interesting films from female directors and programmed a number of them across the sidebars, but did not find any strong enough for the main competition. It is the sort of explanation that generates a week of coverage on its own, and it has.
Who Is in Competition
An auteur list rather than a star vehicle list.
- Casey Affleck, Company, a 1970s-set gothic mystery with Nick Nolte and Ben Mendelsohn.
- Werner Herzog, Bucking Fastard.
- Hirokazu Kore-eda, Look Back.
- Lee Chang-dong, Possible Love.
- Martin McDonagh, Wild Horse Nine.
- Florian Zeller, Bunker.
- Nanni Moretti, Succederà Questa Notte.
- Lance Oppenheim, Primetime, featuring Phoebe Bridgers in her first acting role.
- Ali Asgari, A Bit of Light.
- Ilya Khrzhanovsky, Dau.
Five Italian films are in the running, including Paolo Strippoli’s L’Estranea and Marco Bechis returning to the Argentine dictatorship with Ritorno a Buenos Aires.
The Documentaries Are Doing the Heavy Lifting
Two will pull attention well beyond the Lido.
Noel and Liam Gallagher are due in Venice for a documentary on the Oasis reunion tour, Don’t Look Back in Anger. Alex Gibney brings his long-gestating film on Elon Musk.
Laura Poitras is also premiering a short made with Rachel Mueller, They’re Here, carrying unseen footage of the protests in Minnesota against ICE raids.
Who Else Is Expected
Robert Pattinson, Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Susan Sarandon, John Malkovich, Pamela Anderson and Alicia Vikander are all expected across the eleven days.
Wednesday’s opening carpet took in Jonathan Bailey, Nicholas Galitzine, Nina Dobrev, Zazie Beetz, Chase Sui Wonders, Brittany Snow and Alessandra Ambrosio.
Greta Scarano and Nicolas Maupas are hosting the opening and closing nights. The festival poster is by the illustrator Manuele Fior, and a restored print of Tinto Brass’s 1967 Deadly Sweet played on Tuesday as the pre-opening film.
Giovanni Veronesi’s Dio ride closes proceedings out of competition on 12 September.