San Francisco Frontiers - Julia Roberts to make Venice debut in cancel culture drama

The "Pretty Woman" star will attend the world premiere of "After the Hunt", a cancel culture psychological drama from Italian director Luca Guadagnino, a Venice regular, which is playing out of competition.

In the film, Roberts plays a professor at an elite American university who is haunted by a secret from her past after a colleague is accused of sexual assault by a student.

Guadagnino -- the director of "Call Me By Your Name" which helped send Timothee Chalamet to stardom -- was in the main competition at Venice last year with "Queer," an adaptation of the William Burroughs novel of the same name.

Dealing with Gen Z culture and the generational divide between students and professors, the new Amazon-produced film has overtones of Todd Field's 2022 drama "Tar", which handed Cate Blanchett a best actress award at Venice.

"Not everything is supposed to make you comfortable," says Roberts' character in the film to a student.

Guadagnino told Vanity Fair this week that he found "upsetting" the idea of self-censorship on university campuses.

"The idea that something cannot be said, an idea cannot be used, a reference cannot be brought to light because there is a sort of unspoken impossibility of doing so and a self-censorship -— it’s so upsetting to me," Guadagnino told the magazine.

Also on the schedule Friday, the festival's third day, is the return to Venice after 20 years of South Korean director Park Chan-wook.

Park returns with "No Other Choice", a thriller about a laid-off paper company worker who becomes an ax murderer in order to eliminate other job seekers competing with him.

It is one of the 21 films in the main competition for Venice's top award, the Golden Lion.

The veteran cineaste won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2004 with "Old Boy".

- Contenders -

The two strongest early contenders for the top Golden Lion prize include opening night feature "La Grazia" by Italy's Paolo Sorrentino about an Italian president grappling with indecision about euthanasia.

On Thursday, Oscar winner Emma Stone sparkled again in Yorgos Lanthimos's latest darkly satirical production -- "Bugonia" -- about two conspiracy-obsessed misfits who kidnap a pharmaceutical company CEO.

Stone and Greek director Lanthimos, working together for a fifth production, are hoping to repeat their successful formula from 2023 when "Poor Things" nabbed Venice's top Golden Lion prize.

Variety called Bugonia "riveting", saying Lanthimos was "at the top of his visionary nihilistic game", while Time magazine said Stone could "do no wrong".

George Clooney's turn as an ageing Hollywood star struggling with his career choices in Netflix-produced "Jay Kelly" by Noah Baumbach drew less favourable reviews.

Another hotly awaited film, to be shown Sunday, is Olivier Assayas's "The Wizard of the Kremlin", in which British star Jude Law portrays Russian President Vladimir Putin during his ascent to power.

A film about the war in Gaza, "The Voice of Hind Rajab", by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, has attracted heavyweight Hollywood attention and will premiere next week.

The festival, which has become a crucial launching pad for major international productions that have gone on to major Oscar success, runs until September 6.

H.Davis--SFF