Venice Film Fest Offers Premiere Slots to Alleged Abusers Roman Polanski, Woody Allen
The 2023 Venice Film Festival will boast the premieres of new movies from an array of top filmmakers, including Sofia Coppola, David Fincher, and Bradley Cooper. It’s also decided to offer a platform to some more controversial directors, with both Woody Allen and Roman Polanski securing out-of-competition premieres for their new pictures.
Polanski’s new film, The Palace, has been described as a black comedy set at a luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps. Its cast primarily comprises European actors, though both Mickey Rourke and Monty Python’s John Cleese will appear in the film. Allen’s new movie, Coup de Chance, has been described as a “poisonous romantic thriller.” It’s Allen’s first French-language film and stars Valerie Lemercier and Niels Schneider.
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Both Allen and Polanski have faced allegations of sexual abuse. Allen was accused of sexual abuse by his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, a claim he’s denied. In 1977, Polanski pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful sex with a minor, but fled the U.S. before he was sentenced, making him a fugitive. Polanski has said he fled because he didn’t believe he was getting a fair deal from the judge after his plea; recently unsealed documents suggest the judge presiding over the case planned to give him a stiffer sentence than originally agreed upon.
Outside those controversial picks, though, the 2023 Venice Film Fest lineup — both in and out of competition — features a strong selection of likely Oscar contenders. In competition, there’s Coppola’s Priscilla, which will highlight Priscilla Presley’s perspective on her turbulent romance with Elvis (the Elvis estate is reportedly wringing its hands over the film, while Priscilla herself has expressed her excitement). And Cooper will return with Maestro, his film about Leonard Bernstein, in which he’ll also play the storied composer and conductor (it’ll be the first film Cooper has directed since A Star Is Born).
Also in-competition will be David Fincher’s new thriller, The Killer; Ava DuVernay’s Origin, an ostensibly dramatic take on Isabel Wilkerson’s celebrated nonfiction book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents; and Michael Mann’s Ferrari, a biopic starring Adam Driver as Enzo Ferrari. There will also be new films from celebrated Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car) and Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite).
Out-of-competition, the festival will feature new movies from William Friedkin (The Cain Mutiny Court Martial, starring Kiefer Sutherland) and Richard Linklater (Hit Man, starring Glen Powell). Wes Anderson will debut a 39-minute comedy short, as well, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which is based on a Roald Dahl story and stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel, and Ben Kingsley.
And Travis Scott will head to the Lido, with the rapper starring in Harmony Korine’s Aggro Dr1ft. Little is known about the movie (though it’s Harmony Korine, so you can probably make some assumptions), which will also star Jordi Molla. The movie will mark Korine’s first in four years, following 2019’s The Beach Bum.
While the Venice Film Festival will go ahead as scheduled this year, it could be a much more muted affair if the SAG-AFTRA strike continues and stars are prevented from promoting their pictures. Promotional considerations have already cost the festival its big opener: Luca Guadagnino’s tennis romance/drama Challengers, starring Zendaya. (That also significantly diminishes the odds of another Don’t Worry Darling-style hurricane of a press tour.)
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