Venice Film Festival lineup: ‘Joker 2,’ films with Pitt, Clooney, Jolie, more

Five years after “Joker” clinched the top prize at the Venice Film Festival, filmmaker Todd Phillips returns with its sequel, “Joker: Folie à Deux.” The film is set to compete with 20 other titles, according to festival organizers.

The eagerly awaited follow-up stars Joaquin Phoenix reprising his role as Arthur Fleck and Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn.

The 81st edition of the festival, announced Tuesday, features an impressive lineup. Films starring Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, and Jude Law are set to premiere.

Joining “Joker 2” in the competition is Pablo Larraín’s “Maria.” Starring Angelina Jolie, it chronicles the life of Maria Callas. Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here” and the erotic thriller “Babygirl,” featuring Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson, also eye the prize.

Luca Guadagnino’s adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ “Queer” includes performances by Daniel Craig and Jason Schwartzman. Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language film, “The Room Next Door,” stars Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, and revolves around an imperfect mother and her resentful daughter in New England.

In Justin Kurzel’s 80s-set crime thriller “The Order,” Law appears as an FBI agent dealing with a white supremacist group. Nicholas Hoult and Jurnee Smollett also feature in the cast. Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” starring Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones, and Joe Alwyn, will vie for the top prize. Shot on 70mm, the 215-minute epic tells the story of a Hungarian Auschwitz survivor who rebuilds his life in the United States.

Out of competition, Pitt and Clooney reunite in Jon Watts’ “Wolfs,” an adrenaline-filled action-comedy about a group of fixers.

Films in the Horizons Extra section include “September 5,” about Munich Olympics’ live TV coverage, starring Peter Sarsgaard; John Swab’s “King Ivory,” with Ben Foster and James Badge Dale; and Alex Ross Perry’s look at Stephen Malkmus’ California rock band Pavement.

Peter Weir’s 2003 epic “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” will be screened in conjunction with his lifetime achievement award.

Seven episodes of Alfonso Cuarón’s psychological thriller series “Disclaimer” will premiere as well. The AppleTV+ show, based on a novel about a documentary journalist hiding a secret, stars Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline and is set to debut on the streaming platform in October.

Nonfiction titles out of competition include Kevin Macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards’ “One to One: John & Yoko,” which revisits the New York years of John Lennon and his wife. Errol Morris’ “Separated,” about the separation of immigrant children from their parents in the U.S., also features. Anastasia Trofimova’s “Russians at War”; Göran Hugo Olsson’s “Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989”; “Riefenstahl,” about the German propagandist; and another Beatles-focused documentary, “The Things We Said Today,” capture significant historical moments.

Last year, the festival occurred amidst the actors’ strike. Some stars, like Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz, attended under interim agreements for their films “Ferrari” and “Priscilla,” but overall, the festival lacked its usual star power. Even so, the awards season influence was undeniable; seven Venice world premieres amassed 24 Oscar nominations and five wins, including four for “Poor Things” and one for Wes Anderson’s “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.”

Venice has long served as an important stage for awards hopefuls, marking the first major stop in the busy fall film festival season, closely followed by Toronto, Telluride, and New York Film Festivals.

The 81st edition begins on August 28 with the world premiere of Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.” Michael Keaton and the rest of the main cast are expected to walk the red carpet. The Venice Film Festival runs through September 7.

Source: Associated Press