The latest films by Roman Polanski,
Woody Allen, Michael Mann and Sofia Coppola are among the most
eagerly awaited offerings at the Venice Film Festival on August
30-Septemver 9, artistic director Alberto Barbera announced
Tuesday.
Polanski and Allen's pics come with the inevitable controversy
stemming from historical sexual abuse charges - upheld in
Polanski's case, dismissed in Allen's - against the two veteran
greats.
Allen's first French language outing, Coup de Chance, will be
likened to his 2005 hit Match Point, said Barbera.
Polanski's The Palace is reportedly full of weird imagery.
Among the 23 films contending for the Golden Lion, including six
Italians, are Luc Besson's Dogma; Bradley Cooper's second
directorial effort after A Star Is Born, Maestro, about
legendary American composer Leonard Bernstein; Coppola's take on
Elvis Prseley's wife, Priscilla; The Killer, a new thriller by
Fight Club director David Fincher with Michael Fassbender; Poor
Things by The Favourite helmer Yorgos Lantimos with Emma Stone
as a Frankenstein-like creature with insatiable sexual voracity;
Pablo Lorrain's El Conde featuring a vampire Pinochet; and
Mann's Ferrari, a biopic on the F1 legend with Adam Driver and
Penelope Cruz.
'L'ordine del tempo' (The Order of Time) by 90-year-old Night
Porter director Liliana Cavani will be out of competition, in
the Fuori Concorso section.
Barbera said he hoped the Hollywood actors and writers strike
would not prevent stars from appearing on the red carpet at the
Lido.
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