July 31, 2002
The Hollywood Reporter
Venice canvas includes 'Frida'
by Nick Vivarelli and Stuart Kemp

ROME (The Hollywood Reporter) --- The Venice International Film Festival's new director, Moritz de Hadeln, unveiled a rich assortment of titles Tuesday featuring an ample selection of English-language films as well as Italian, European and Asian fare.

The lagoon fest's 59th edition will kick off with the competitive screening of U.S. director Julie Taymor's biopic "Frida," starring Salma Hayek as renowned Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. The Miramax title will open Oct. 25 in New York and Los Angeles.

Two other U.S. entries vying for the Golden Lion are from British directors. Stephen Daldry's highly anticipated "The Hours," also from Miramax, will screen In Competition, as will Fox/DreamWorks' gangster melodrama "Road to Perdition," directed by Sam Mendes and starring Tom Hanks and Paul Newman, which will be making its European bow. "Hours," which stars Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep and Ed Harris, is based on the book by Michael Cunningham -- which in part is loosely drawn from novelist Virginia Woolf's life. It will be released domestically by Paramount.

But festivalgoers will miss out on one U.S. treat. The much-anticipated "Red Dragon," from veteran Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis for Universal, has not carved its way onto the festival schedule. The picture, directed by Brett Ratner and starring Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, with Edward Norton and Ralph Fiennes, is in postproduction and will not be finished in time for the Lido.

"It is a great shame," said Randy Greenberg, Universal senior vp international marketing and distribution. "We (Universal, De Laurentiis and de Hadeln) all really wanted the picture to go to Venice, but our postproduction schedule just didn't allow us to get it there. We didn't want to show such an anticipated movie in anything other than its fully finished state."

Bowing out of competition will be Warner Bros. Pictures' Clint Eastwood-directed thriller "Blood Work," in which Eastwood stars as a retired FBI ( news - web sites) director with a heart transplant who is hunting a supposed serial killer, and the 1950s-set racial drama "Far From Heaven," starring Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid, from Focus Features. Launching into Europe from the Lido will be Kathryn Bigelow's Russian nuclear submarine thriller "K-19: The Widowmaker," starring Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson, from Paramount and being distributed in certain European territories by United International Pictures.

Noncompetitive berths have been secured by John Malkovich's terrorism-themed directorial debut, "The Dancer Upstairs," which stars Javier Bardem ("Before Night Falls") and Laura Morante ("The Son's Room") and for which Fox Searchlight has U.S. rights; and by "Naqoyqatsi," the newest nonconventional, music-propelled film from Godfrey Reggio ("Koyaanisqatsi"), this time centering on the topic of war and co-written with Philip Glass. Miramax has U.S. rights and will release it in October.

De Hadeln, longtime chief of the Berlin International Film Festival, has been scrambling to assemble his lineup since being chosen in late March to replace Alberto Barbera as Venice director. The appointment followed a protracted power vacuum after Italy's recently installed conservative government forced Barbera to resign.

"You need a miracle to accomplish what we have done in four months," de Hadeln said during a news conference at Rome's Excelsior Hotel. "We have added a bit more glamour and, at the same time, selected plenty of original auteur cinema. I am also glad we have been able to include 19 first works."

These include Scottish actor-writer-director Peter Mullan's "The Magdalena Sisters," to screen in the Competition section of Venice 59 (the umbrella title for the official selections this year), and Italian director Edoardo Ponti's drama "Between Strangers," starring Italian icon Sophia Loren -- who is Ponti's mother -- and Mira Sorvino, one Venice 59's out-of-competition special screenings. "Strangers" is produced by Italy's Elda Ferri and Mediatrade.

Stars expected to make the trek to the Lido include Ford, Loren, Moore, Hanks, Hayek, Jeff Daniels and Catherine Deneuve.

The yearly amFar gala, on Sept. 4, will be hosted by Lauren Bacall, Shirley Bassey and Milla Jovovich.

Venice's new chief emphasized that he has made "a big effort" to maintain the two-tier Competition format Barbera introduced last year "without giving the impression of there being a minor competition or a B competition, as some called it," he said.

To this end, as announced previously, de Hadeln has renamed Barbera's Lion of the Year as the San Marco prize. He also said Tuesday that he has added a special jury prize for the Upstream section, which replaces last year's Cinema of the Present.

De Hadeln also underlined his effort to start an official market in Venice. The first step this year will be to offer screening facilities to sellers, in addition to such Industry Office services as mailboxes and meeting facilities.

Competing in Upstream, which is dedicated to more unconventional fare, will be Steven Soderbergh's low-budget "Full Frontal," starring Julia Roberts, which Miramax will open Stateside on Friday. Larry Clark returns to Venice with "Ken Park," co-directed with Ed Lachman and co-written with writer-director Harmony Korine, with whom Clark wrote 1995's controversial "Kids."

The solidly stocked Upstream section also includes new works from such Venice regulars as Hong Kong filmmaker Fruit Chan, who is back on the lagoon with "Public Toilet"; French director Claire Denis, who returns with "Vendredi soir" (Friday Night); Mexican director Arturo Ripstein, who brings his "La Virgen de la Luxuria" to Venice; and Swedish director Lukas Moodysson ("Together"), who returns with "Lilja 4-ever."

Venetian veterans showing their works in the main Competition include another British director, Stephen Frears, with "Dirty Pretty Things," starring Audrey Tautou ("Amelie"); Australian director Rolf de Heer, with "The Tracker," produced by Italy's Domenico Procacci; Japanese director Takeshi Kitano, with "Dolls"; and French director Patrice Leconte, who brings "L'homme du Train" to Venice.

Besides Leconte, France is represented In Competition by Michel Deville's "Un Monde Presque Paisible" and by actress-director Tonie Marshall's "Au Plus Pres du Paradis," starring Deneuve and William Hurt.

Other established auteurs competing for a Golden Lion include Russians Sergei Bodrov with "Bear's Kiss" and Andrey Konchalovsky with "Dom Durakov," Polish-born director Agnieszka Holland's "Julie Walking Home" and German director Doris Dorrie's "Nackt."

Among the many Italian titles that made the cut are three competing films: "Un Viaggio Chiamato Amore" (A Journey Called Love), director Michele Placido's depiction of the scandalous love life of Italian poet Sibilla Aleramo, played by Laura Morante; debut director Daniele Vicari's "Velocita Massima," starring local A-list actor Valerio Mastandrea; and Piergiorgio Gay's "La Forza del Passato," which is based on a book by prize-winning author Sandro Veronesi.

Liliana Cavani's thriller "Ripley's Game," starring Malkovich, from New Line, and Paolo Virzi's comedy "My Name Is Tanino" will unspool out of competition. Produced by financially ailing Cecchi Gori Group, "Tanino" is in postproduction and may not be completed on time. Also from Cecchi Gori is actor-director Sergio Rubini's "L'Anima Gemella," starring Rubini, Valentina Cervi and Violante Placido, screening in the Upstream section.

"The fact that there are three Italian movies In Competition does not mean that we have done Italian cinema any favors," de Hadeln said. "It is an evident sign that Italian cinema is going through a positive phase."

But in addition to the strong Italian presence, an indication that the Swiss-born de Hadeln may indeed be courting Italy's film community is his decision to award the career Golden Lion to director Dino Risi, who is considered the godfather of Italian-style comedy.

Risi, 85, has made more than 60 films, including such classics as 1962's "Il Sorpasso" (The Easy Life) and the 1974 "Profumo di Donna" (Scent of a Woman), the U.S. remake of which, directed by Martin Brest, garnered an Oscar for Al Pacino in 1992.

Venice also will honor the 90th birthday of revered Italian auteur Michelangelo Antonioni with a complete retro of his recently restored classics, including "Blowup," "The Passenger" and "Red Desert."

As previously announced, Chinese actress Gong Li will preside over the festival's main jury. Other Venice jury members and the lineup of shorts will be announced next week, de Hadeln said. The fest runs Aug. 29-Sept. 8.