The Venice Film Festival Lures James Franco and Lindsay Lohan
On the heels of the announcement of the lineup for the Toronto Film Festival comes the the significantly stranger list of titles that will be appearing at the Venice Film Festival, which includes a Terry Gilliam movie and a James Franco-directed Cormac McCarthy adaptation in competition, and the movie Lindsay Lohan made with a porn star out of competition.
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While all of the fall festivals are considered important for the awards season race, the track record for Venice isn't as good as, say, Toronto. Last year, for instance, The Master had the best shot coming out of Venice—despite losing the Golden Lion prize on a technicality. When Oscar time rolled around it wasn't even nominated for best picture.
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But there are a number of films to keep an eye on in the lineup. We'll be interested to see just how bizarre Gilliam's The Zero Theorem, staring Christoph Waltz is, and how Franco's Child of God came out. Japanese animation auteur Hayao Miyazaki will debut his Kaze Tachinu on the Lido, as well.
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Films that will show both in Venice and Toronto include Stephen Frear's Judi Dench-starrer, Philomena, and John Glazer's Under the Skin, which features Scarlett Johansson as an alien. Also at both festivals: David Gordon Green's Joe with Nicolas Cage. As Nancy Tartaglione points out at Deadline other films could still be added to the festival, which will open with Alfonso Cuarón's out of competition Gravity. Last year, she explains, The Master was added "about two weeks after the initial lineup was unveiled."
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There are also still some Oscar-bait films missing from the festival lineups. Following the announcement of Toronto's, Pete Hammond at Deadline wondered where films like Tom Hanks' Somali pirate drama Captain Phillips and Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street will pop up.
