July 23, 2002
The Hollywood Reporter
After scramble, de Hadeln lands big titles for Venice
by Nick Vivarelli and Stuart Kemp

LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- In a race against the clock, new Venice International Film Festival artistic director Moritz de Hadeln has secured several high-profile English-language titles for the event's upcoming 59th edition.

With five weeks to go before the curtain rises -- the festival's lineup will be announced July 30 -- it appears that the grande dame of European festivals has capitalized on its position in the calendar (Aug. 29-Sept. 8) as a launching pad for the fall season.

Seeming assured of a Lido liftoff are the European bows of "Road to Perdition," the gangster melodrama starring Tom Hanks and Paul Newman and produced by DreamWorks and 20th Century Fox, which Fox is distributing abroad; United International Pictures' "Red Dragon", , "The Silence of the Lambs" prequel starring Anthony Hopkins and Edward Norton; and the Russian nuclear submarine thriller "K-19: The Widowmaker," starring Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson from Paramount Pictures and Intermedia. Stars and directors are likely to make the trek to Venice in support.

New Line's "Simone," starring Al Pacino, also is likely to be launching from the lagoon.

De Hadeln, 62, a former longtime Berlin boss, has scrambled to put together a lineup ever since he was appointed in late March to replace Alberto Barbera as Venice director, following a protracted power vacuum caused by political bickering. Barbera was forced to resign by Italy's recently installed conservative government.

While concerns remain over de Hadeln's late start, indications are that the expert festival assembler has attracted some tasty auteur titles in addition to the quality Hollywood fare.

British actor Peter Mullan's directorial debut, "The Magdalena Sisters," is among the highly anticipated pictures strongly believed to be vying for a Golden Lion. Mullan won the 1998 best actor award at Cannes for his role in Ken Loach's "My Name Is Joe."

Nearly certain to be in de Hadeln's bag of goods are Neil Jordan's "The Good Thief" (aka Double Down), starring Nick Nolte; veteran Italian director Liliana Cavani's thriller "Ripley's Game," starring John Malkovich; and, if it is completed in time, Stephen Frears' "Dirty Pretty Things," starring Audrey Tautou ("Amelie").

Debut director Edoardo Ponti's drama "Between Strangers," starring Italian icon Sophia Loren -- who is Ponti's mother -- and Mira Sorvino, likely will screen out of competition. The film is produced by Italy's Elda Ferri and Mediatrade.

After a sparse presence on Cannes and Locarno competition rosters earlier this year, Italian films are expected to feature prominently in Venice. Seemingly assured a competition berth is Michele Placido's "Un Viaggio Chiamato Amore" (A Journey Called Love). Starring Laura Morante ("The Son's Room"), it depicts the scandalous love life of early 2Oth century Italian poet Sibilla Aleramo.

Other local titles likely to be Venice-bound are Pasquale Squittieri's social drama "L'avvocato De Gregorio"; Mimmo Calopresti's "La Felicita non Costa Niente," starring Francesca Neri ("Collateral Damage"); and Carlo Mazzacurati's jailbreak comedy "A Cavallo Della Tigre."

The late appointment of de Hadeln -- who stepped down from Berlin in 2001 amid reports that he was forced to quit by local municipal authorities who disliked his allegedly pro-Hollywood bent -- at first angered many Italian producers who, more than anything else, resented the fact that he is not Italian.

Some aversion to the new Venice chief also reverberated across Europe. The festival is still faced with boycott calls from a number of European distributors and sellers -- who do not wish to be named -- just weeks before the event is set to start. It seems, however, that their calls to premiere movies at Spain's San Sebastian Film Festival in the fall or even to give titles to the noncompetitive Edinburgh International Film Festival in August have largely fallen on deaf ears.

"Venice still has an enormous amount of clout," BBC Films chief David Thompson said. "I think it is still a very prestigious festival, and the international distributors -- along with the U.S. heavyweights -- notice what goes on there."

A clear sign that de Hadeln is courting Italy's film community is his choice to award the career Golden Lion to director Dino Risi, who is considered the godfather of Italian-style comedy. His choice to Lionize Risi still needs ratification by the fest's parent organization, the Venice Biennale, but that is considered a formality.

Risi, 85, has made more than 60 films, including such Italian cinema classics as "Il Sorpasso" (The Easy Life) and the 1974 "Scent of a Woman," the 1992 U.S. remake of which, directed by Martin Brest, won Al Pacino an Oscar.

Venice will also mark the 90th birthday this year of revered Italian auteur Michelangelo Antonioni, whose recently shot short "Eros" -- part of a three-part ensemble featuring segments from Pedro Almod—var and Wong Kar-wai -- will screen as a special event. A retrospective of such recently restored Antonioni classics as "Blowup," "The Passenger" and "Red Desert" also is in the works.

Nick Vivarelli reported from Rome; Stuart Kemp reported from London

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