But I have to say, I’m more struck by the titles that are still seeking distribution, ones that could—if they land in a major way—really shake up the end-of-year calendar and awards season. You and I have both heard rumblings about this being a relatively quiet fall season, which means there’s room for expansion on a few slates. And in this Venice lineup, the buzz has been deafening around both Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, an ambitious adaptation starring Daniel Craig, and Pablo Larraín’s Maria, said to feature a superb Angelina Jolie as the opera singer Maria Callas. These filmmakers tend to deliver—hell, Guadagnino already has a contender this year in Challengers—and both movies have the ingredients to be something special. But are studios in the mood to roll the dice this year?
Ford: That’s a good question, David. I often feel like a quick acquisition at Venice, on the eve of awards season, can be a risk because, as we’ve both seen before, festival hype doesn’t always last. At any festival (but I think especially Cannes and Venice), films often get intense applause and praise—but when they’re actually released a few months later, they are met with confusion and raised eyebrows. There weren’t a lot of splashy buys last year (Netflix bought Hitman, but that wasn’t an awards play in the end), but I do agree that the films you’ve mentioned feel like they could be hot commodities this year.
Along with Jolie and Gaga, we’re set to see quite a few more A-listers on the Lido this year, and perhaps follow them to awards season. As you mentioned, Almodóvar’s first English-language film The Room Next Door stars Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. Nicole Kidman stars in the erotic thriller Babygirl opposite rising star Harris Dickinson, and we can expect to see Brad Pitt and George Clooney reunite as they star in Jon Watts’ Wolfs. It’s an action-comedy and screening out of competition, so that to me feels more like a “let’s get these big stars here” play rather than a serious Oscar contender. After last year’s muted festival due to the actors and writers strikes, it’ll be fun to see so many sunglass-clad stars out and about in Venice this year.
Canfield: Wolfs felt so TIFF—a big, star-studded fall movie not exactly gunning for best picture that plays great to a crowd—that its presence here and not on the Toronto lineup is throwing me. But perhaps this is as good a point as any to transition to the Canadian festival, which last year debuted a major contender in American Fiction.
Last year’s TIFF was a strange affair that also left room for some intriguing discoveries. Nobody was talking about Sing Sing or His Three Daughters going into the festival, but after splashy pickups by A24 and Netflix, respectively, they’re both Oscar contenders this cycle. There are so many mystery titles on a given Toronto list that it’s impossible to say which of those will break out, but in addition to the major titles we’re about to get into, it’s worth remembering the smaller gems premiering between them.