The Venice Film Festival kicked off Wednesday with a devilish debut of Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice sequel and a surge of star power for the glitzy competition on the sun-splashed Lido.
The return of big-budget Hollywood pizzazz – after a low-key edition last year due to the Hollywood writers’ strike – was on full display Wednesday with the out-of-competition world premiere of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
The film again features Michael Keaton as a chaos-causing ghoul, alongside Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Monica Bellucci and young star Jenna Ortega – who sported a backless red gauze confection that matched the red carpet.
For Tim Burton, the acclaimed aficionado of the strange and ghoulish, his latest fantastical romp into the afterlife was a project “from my heart”.
“In the past few years I got a little bit disillusioned with the movie industry,” Burton told journalists ahead of the opening.
Soul-sucking creature With Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Tim Burton fans get to revisit the madcap world of his 1988 cult classic 36 years later.
It also features a star turn from Monica Bellucci, playing Delores, the avenging, soul-sucking ex-wife of Beetlejuice, who brandishes a stapler in a memorable opening scene.
Asked by a reporter whether another sequel about the prankish, irreverent ghoul could be on the cards, Burton joked: “Well, let’s do the math.”
The roster also includes US director Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, featuring Adrien Brody as a Hungarian Jewish architect and a life-changing project.
Sweden’s Goran Hugo Olsson, meanwhile, said his documentary, Israel Palestine on Swedish Television 1958-1989, based on 30 years of public broadcasting archives, was his “most painful film” to date.
With the sinister premiere of Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice sequel and a star-studded lineup for the glamorous competition on the sun-drenched Lido, the Venice Film Festival got underway on Wednesday. During the next ten days, a number of A-list celebrities are anticipated in Italy’s watery city for La Mostra, the world’s longest-running film festival. These celebrities include Lady Gaga, Brad Pitt, Julianne Moore, George Clooney, and Daniel Craig. With the world premiere of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice on Wednesday, out-of-competition, the return of big-budget Hollywood pizzazz was evident, following a low-key version last year due to the Hollywood writers’ strike.
Alongside Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Monica Bellucci, and rising star Jenna Ortega—who wore a backless red gauze gown that matched the red carpet—Michael Keaton reprises his role as a chaos-causing ghoul in the movie.
The well-known enthusiast of the weird and macabre, Tim Burton, said that his most recent imaginative adventure into the afterlife was a project “from my heart.”.
“In the past few years I got a little bit disillusioned with the movie industry,” Burton told journalists ahead of the opening.
“It felt like a refreshing movie that helped me rediscover my passion for the things I love to do, the people I love to do them with, and how I love to do them,” the man stated.
Creature that drains the soul.
Tim Burton fans can relive the hilarious world of his 1988 cult classic 36 years later with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
In this bizarre family drama, Lydia (Ryder), a TV host with a focus on the paranormal, finds it difficult to relate to her rebellious teenage daughter Ortega, whose unearthing of a mystery in the attic unintentionally causes chaos for the Deetz family once more.
The fantastical world of the sequel is home to demonic babies, a Soul Train that takes the dead to the afterlife to the sounds of a funky 1970s soundtrack, and a gloomy basement waiting area where the recently deceased are kept while they undergo bureaucratic processing.
In addition, Monica Bellucci gives a standout performance as Beetlejuice’s vengeful, soul-sucking ex-wife Delores, who wields a stapler in a pivotal opening sequence.
Monica Bellucci remarked wryly, “She’s more than a monster, she’s a creature.”. When a reporter asked if a follow-up starring the cheeky, irreverent ghoul might be in the works, Burton responded with a joke, “Well, let’s do the math.”. “. .
For a third, I will be over 100 years old. It took 35 years to complete this sequel. Although I don’t think so, I suppose it’s possible given the state of medical science today. “.”.
The Joker and Callas.
Sigourney Weaver accepted a lifetime achievement Golden Lion at Wednesday’s opening ceremony. The Alien star referred to the award as “jet fuel of encouragement.”.
On Thursday, the festival’s focus will shift to Maria, Pablo Larrain’s biopic about the opera diva’s troubled life starring Angelina Jolie. Maria is one of 21 films vying for the top Golden Lion, which will be given out on September 7.
The highly awaited sequel to US director Todd Phillips’ 2019 Venice-winning film, Joker: Folie a Deux, is a dark psychological thriller set in a gritty Gotham City and loosely based on the DC Comics characters.
Lady Gaga plays Joaquin Phoenix’s love interest and sidekick, Harley Quinn, in the movie. Joaquin Phoenix won an Oscar for his portrayal of the failed clown spiraling into mental illness.
James Bond actor Daniel Craig stars in Queer, the Italian film director Luca Guadagnino’s adaptation of the William Burroughs novel set in Mexico City in the 1940s, while Jude Law plays an FBI agent in Justin Kurzel’s Australian film The Order, which is directed by Kurzel and is set in the Pacific Northwest and stars Jude Law as an FBI agent.
While Dutch director Halina Reijn’s erotic thriller Babygirl stars Nicole Kidman and Antonio Banderas, Pedro Almodovar returns to Spain with The Room Next Door, his first full-length English film starring Moore and Tilda Swinton.
The Brutalist, directed by American Brady Corbet, which stars Adrien Brody as a Hungarian Jewish architect working on a project that will change his life, is also on the schedule.
The documentaries “Russians at War,” directed by Canadian-Russian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova while she was embedded with a Russian army battalion in eastern Ukraine, and Songs of Slow Burning Earth, directed by Olha Zhurba, both screen out of competition.
Goran Hugo Olsson of Sweden, on the other hand, claimed that his documentary Israel Palestine on Swedish Television 1958-1989—which drew from thirty years’ worth of public broadcasting archives—was his “most painful film” overall.
