With Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche to Open Venice Film Festival

Home , Benedict Andrews, Bruce Berman, Seberg, Zazie Beetz

VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

DAY 4

SUNDAY, SEPT. 1, 2019

0901 VD MM SQUARE CO_CVR1.indd 1 8/26/19 2:13 PM CGP 2017 & 2018 alumni! AND BEST WISHES FOR CONTINUED SUCCESS

Toronto international ﬁlm festival

DISCOVERY

1982 A film by OUALID MOUANESS

Toronto international ﬁlm festival

DISCOVERY

Toronto international SAN SEBASTIAN ﬁlm festival International Film Festival

DISCOVERY NEW DIRECTORS

US $190,000

TO BE OFFERED AS AWARDS TO THE WINNING FILMMAKERS

FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT WWW.ELGOUNAFILMFESTIVAL.COM

El-Gouna Film Festival @ElGounaFilm El Gouna Film Festival

Untitled-2 1 8/29/19 11:56 AM VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

DAY 4

SUNDAY, SEPT. 1, 2019

CGP 2017 & 2018 alumni! SOAP DISCOVERY Inside Joke EXCLUSIVE AND BEST WISHES FOR CONTINUED SUCCESS Larrain 3B Prods. Expounds Ramps Up on ‘Ema,’ Projects Male Gaze By ELSA KESLASSY

By NICK VIVARELLI 3b prods., the French production outfit behind Chilean auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Ven- Pablo Larrain likes to ice opener “The Truth,” is tread new ground with developing the next films each film, but movies of Atiq Rahimi (“The with women’s names, and Patience Stone”) and female characters at their Karim Dridi (“Chouf”). center, do seem to have Rahimi, whose latest a special appeal for him. film “Notre-dame du Nil”

Toronto international ﬁlm festival After “Jackie,” he’s back in will be world premier- Venice with “Ema,” a por- ing at Toronto, is develop- DISCOVERY trait of an incendiary lady ing with Jean Brehat at 3B contending with tragedy in Prods. and Ron Senkowski 1982 a totally different way than “Joker” stars Zazie Beetz and Joaquin Phoenix share a moment of laughter with the film’s director Todd (“The Prophet”) the adap- A film by OUALID MOUANESS her husband, who is played Phillips at the photocall for the film, which has the Lido audiences buzzing. tation of “Les echelles du by Gael Garcia Bernal. levan” (“Port of Calls”), a Larrain spoke to Variety novel by French-Lebanese

Toronto international BOFFO STRATEGY ﬁlm festival about how young Chilean writer Amin Maalouf. actress Mariana Di Girol- “I’ve always loved Amin DISCOVERY → LARRAIN, P.6 → 3B, P.7

EXCLUSIVE Italy’s Summer B.O. REVIEW Atlas V Phoenix Gives Toronto international SAN SEBASTIAN ﬁlm festival International Film Festival

DISCOVERY NEW DIRECTORS Bows Sales, Jumps With U.S. Push ‘Joker’ Power Distrib Ops By NICK VIVARELLI caused a glut of product throughout the rest of the year and was considered a major Over Auds By ELSA KESLASSY italian and U.S. film industry execu- impediment to the local market’s growth. By OWEN GLEIBERMAN tives announced Saturday at the Venice Luigi Lonigro, who is head of Italy’s dis- atlas v, the leading Film Festival that this summer’s box office tributors, called the figures “very encourag- Audiences, as we French VR production figures in Italy are up by 40% over the past ing,” noting that they mark Italy’s best sum- know, can’t get enough company behind the Ven- two years as local distributors depart from mer result of the past eight seasons. of a great bad guy — the US $190,000 ice-competing “Battle- past practice and release more movies Last year, the country suffered its worst kind we love to hate. The TO BE OFFERED AS AWARDS TO THE WINNING FILMMAKERS Scar,” “Gloomy Eyes” and between May and August. results in a decade in terms of movie tick- worse he acts, the more “Ex Anima Experience,” is This year’s roughly 44% box office rise et sales. That prompted the Italian indus- we stare. Of course, the getting ready to diversify during that period to €138 million ($151 try and Hollywood to mount a concerted fact that we relish a vil- with the launch of inter- million) was prompted by the day-and- campaign, known as Moviement, to sched- lain doesn’t mean that national sales and distri- date summer release of a dozen Hollywood ule more summer releases. Ten Hollywood we’re on his side; getting bution activities. blockbusters, including “Toy Story 4” and titles were slotted from May to August. off on the catchy, scary Boasting one of the “Spider-Man: Far From Home.” Not all of the titles performed so well. spectacle of bad behavior largest libraries of premi- It comes after Italy suffered a long “Toy Story 4” under-performed, pulling in isn’t the same as identify- um VR, 360 and immer- dearth of summer releases during the only €6 million ($6.6 million), and “The ing with it. But in “Joker,” sive content in Europe, months when Italians traditionally hit the Secret Life of Pets 2” grossed a mere €4 mil- Todd Phillips’ hypnotically

CAMILLA MORANDI/IPA/SHUTTERSTOCK CAMILLA → ATLAS V, P.6 beach en masse. The summer film drought → BOX OFFICE, P.7 → ‘JOKER,’ P.6

FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT WWW.ELGOUNAFILMFESTIVAL.COM

El-Gouna Film Festival @ElGounaFilm El Gouna Film Festival

Untitled-2 1 8/29/19 11:56 AM VENICE FILM FESTIVAL | NEWS

EXCLUSIVE Taskovski Nabs Rights to ‘Babenco’ Doc

By JOHN HOPEWELL

london-based sales and production company Taskovski Films has acquired world sales rights to Barbara Paz’s debut documentary, “Babenco: Tell Me When I Die,” which bows in Venice Classics on Sept. 2. Paz, an actress, was married to Héctor Babenco, a com- manding future on the Brazil- ian film scene who directed and wrote films such as “The Kiss of the Spider Woman,” “Ironweed,” “Carandiru,” “My Adam Young, Estela Valdivieso Chen, Heller German, Antoine Cayrol, Kay Huang, Miwa Komatsu, Shiao-Ching Ting, Szu-Ming Hindu Friend” and “Pixote.” Liu, Saiau-Yue Tsau, Chun-Yao Yao, Wei-Liang Chiang and Midi Z at the Taiwan immersive lineup party in Venice. Produced by HB Filmes, Babenco’s production label, PLATFORM DIVING “Babenco” is co-produced by Fabiano Gullane, who produced Babenco’s “Carandiru” and other titles such as Fer- nando Coimbra’s “A Wolf at the HTC, C Vive Launch VR Grant Door.” Lusco Fusco, Ava Filmes, Globo Filmes, GloboNews and By ELSA KESLASSY “This association will acceler- already formed an active content Canal Brasil also produce. ate the VR industry development ecosystem,” said Hsiao-Ching. “‘Babenco: Tell Me When c vive, the vr unit of Tai- through international co-invest- Liu Szu-ming, the president of I Die’ is a beautiful dance of wan’s tech giant HTC, which has ment,” said Hsiao-Ching Ting, the HTC Vive Originals, said her com- death and life. We are very a record five original VR works chairperson of TAICCA, which is pany will also launch a content happy to have had the oppor- competing at Venice, is joining also a backer of Taiwan’s national management and blockchain tunity to discover Barbara Paz, forces with the one-year-old Tai- development fund. authentication system to “help a new talented and strong wan Creative Content Agency “While those in the content content creator, cultural creative female director and to start (TAICCA) to launch a grant for development industry contin- workers, and offline channels to the partnership with Brazil- international VR co-productions. ue to face challenges in technolo- integrate their resources.” ian production companies The initiative was announced gy, funding and business models, HTC Vive’s Venice pics are HBFilmes and the very well during the Taiwan immersive in Taiwan, intermediary orga- “Only the Mountain Remains,” known and acclaimed Gul- lineup party hosted by both HTC nizations such as TAICCA and “O,” “Inori,” “The Making Of” and lane,” Irena Taskovski said. Vive and TAICCA on the Lido. businesses in the industry have “Gloomy Eyes.”

VENICE HORIZONS at this time, when black people were being liberated.” ‘Moffie’ Explores Dark Chapter in South Africa That trauma has a complicat- ed legacy in South Africa, where By CHRISTOPHER VOURLIAS slur for “gay” — is used to berate the official competition at Venice. questions of race-based econom- anyone who doesn’t live up to a Based on the novel by André-Carl ic inequality remain relevant since The year is 1981, and South perceived masculine ideal, Nich- van der Merwe, “Moffie” examines the end of apartheid. Hermanus Africa’s apartheid government is olas has to come to terms with a little-known chapter in South has wondered if a story about embroiled in a vicious war along his desires while also surviving a African history. white pain deserves to be told. But

VARIETY.COM the southern Angolan border. Like war being fought on behalf of a “This army and this conflict the director noted that “Moffie” is all white boys over the age of 16, government whose racist policies disappeared just around the time especially relevant in the context Nicholas Van der Swart is con- had already made it a pariah state that [Nelson] Mandela came out of the #MeToo movement. scripted for two years of manda- around the world. of jail, and the road to democra- “If we want to talk about white tory military service. For Nicholas “Moffie” is the fourth feature by cy was being paved,” said Herma- men today, or men in general, in (Kai Luke Brummer), that service Oliver Hermanus, the director of nus. Though compulsory military the climate that we live in, may- grows increasingly fraught when Cannes Un Certain Regard play- service left a profound psychologi- be it is important to look at how

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019 SEPTEMBER he finds himself attracted to a fel- er “Skoonheid” (Beauty) and “The cal mark on a generation of white these men … have been made for low conscript. In a world where Endless River,” which was the first South African men, “there was no the last century in South Africa,” 2 the word “moffie” — an Afrikaans South African film selected for space for the trauma of white men said Hermanus. FACETIME | VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

Classic Material Stellan Skarsgard stars in Vaclav Marhoul’s screen adaptation of Jerzy Kosinski’s “The Painted Bird.”

“The Painted Bird” was an unusual “Mamma Mia?” Stellan Skarsgard production, as Vaclav Marhoul shot I don’t imagine Caravaggio was crying across Eastern Europe for sever- while he painted “John the Baptist.” I al years. Did you know the unorth- suspect he found great joy in the pro- odox filming plan when you signed cess. The main thing for me is to enjoy ‘It was extremely hard on? being creative with other interesting Yes, and perhaps it’s an even longer actors. project than you realize. Vaclav called to finance, and I think me nine years ago when he obtained Film projects and TV projects gen- the rights and told me about his plans, erally have very different tempos of and I knew immediately that I wanted production. Is that jarring for you? it’s fantastic that he to be part of it. It was extremely hard To go between the two rhythms? to finance, and I think it’s fantastic that Thanks to the director of “Chernobyl,” he got this film made. It’s hard to get Johan Renck, the whole experience got this film made.’ any film financed these days and this was remarkable. He’s not just directing one is so ambitious and risky. But I’m us in terms of dialogue and blocking, no stranger to the world of prestigious film fes- so happy with how it turned out, and I but there are so many small, subtle tivals, Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard drew notice know it’s all worth it. decisions he makes and things he does almost from the very beginning of his film career to create a very special atmosphere, when he won the best actor award at the Berlin Film Had you filmed in the Czech Repub- and he’s responsible for how well it Festival in 1982 for his role in Hans Alfredson’s “Sim- lic and Slovakia before? turned out. ple-Minded Murderer.” Next stop for the Emmy-nom- Yes, I did a TV series about Strindberg, inated star of HBO’s “Chernobyl” is the Venice Film and we filmed in Bratislava back in And you got to work with Emily Festival, where Skarsgard co-stars with Harvey Keitel, the Soviet days. I remember that I was Watson again! Barry Pepper, Julian Sands and Udo Kier in Czech writ- not a big fan of McDonald’s, but when When Emily Watson and I did “Break- er-director Vaclav Marhoul’s adaptation of the classic I was done shooting I couldn’t wait to ing the Waves,” we had a lot of fun and

Jerzy Kosinski novel “The Painted Bird.” go to McDonald’s! But the region has this was true with “Chernobyl” as well. VARIETY.COM completely changed, and all for the You know, Emily is accessible, even better. though her character in “Chernobyl” isn’t. But it was kind of funny when “Painted Bird” is a tough story we did our first scene. It’s been 25 about a boy in World War II-ravaged years and I think maybe we were both Europe and “Chernobyl” chronicles blushing a little, because we both

a monumental ecological tragedy. remembered the characters we played 1, 2019 SEPTEMBER Are these films tougher to do than and our relationship in that Lars von Interview by STEVEN GAYDOS say something a little lighter like Trier movie. 3 VENICE FILM FESTIVAL | REVIEWS

veillance team with bigoted veter- Hollywood Casualty an Carl Kowalski (Vince Vaughn, We’ve Got Venice Covered. Kristen Stewart stars as movie star Jean seemingly Hollywood’s new go-to Seberg in Benedict guy for aggressive right-wingers). Andrews’ “Seberg.” Yet the more supposedly incrim- inating evidence the investiga- tion yields, the less comfortable Solomon feels with his interven- tion; as Seberg senses she’s being watched, she teeters on the brink of nervous collapse. A fragile screen goddess in per- il, then, her arc crossed with that of a government man undergo- ing a change of heart: It’s the stuff of perfectly engrossing fiction, yet hardly the most exciting way to HOME > FILM > FESTIVALS JULY 18, 2019 3:44AM PT frame a life with as many political and personal pressure points as Seberg’s short, doomed one. O’Connell does his best to make Hirokazu Kore-eda’s ‘The Truth’ With his scenes feel emotionally urgent rather than procedural, but can’t make Jack a character rather than Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche to a mere device. Meanwhile, the film’s depiction of the Black Power Open Venice Film Festival REVIEW threatening measures to “neutral- “Saint Joan”: Pixie-cropped and scene, with its own tangle of inter- ize” her support for the Black Pan- stake-tied, Stewart’s then 18-year- nal conflicts, is particularly thin

JULY 23, 2019 4:00AM PT ther movement in the late 1960s. old Joan of Arc is set alight, flames and reductive, its stakes and play- HOME > FILM > GLOBAL It’s a hell of story, buffeting what drowning out her anxious ampli- ers receding into the background ‘Seberg’ ought to be a hell of a character fied breathing on the soundtrack. once Seberg’s battle with the FBI First Trailer Released for study, yet a workmanlike script It was Seberg’s ill-received screen takes focus. Venice Days Entry ‘Beware By OWEN GLEIBERMAN by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Water- debut, leaving her burned in That “Seberg,” for all its false house (“The Aftermath,” “Race”) more ways than one by the Holly- notes and missed opportunities, of Children’ (EXCLUSIVE) who is jean seberg?” a doesn’t quite do either of these wood patriarchy; in “Seberg,” fur- remains pretty compulsive view- JULY 16, 2019 reporter asks the eponymous justice. Fiery political complexities thermore, the scene symbolical- ing is almost entirely down to the HOME > FILM > FESTIVALS 7:39AM PT movie star midway through of the era are ironed smooth, as ly casts her as a martyr from the peculiar star magnetism of Stew- With ‘Ad Astra,’ ‘Joker’ Likely, Venice Set for “Seberg,” attempting to close a are Seberg’s own fractured psycho- get-go, punished for her steadfast art — a very different animal on Strong Showing by U.S., puffy promotional interview for logical impulses, while at least half convictions. screen, it so happens, from the Bolstered by Streamers “Paint Your Wagon” with some the narrative is framed through Cut to 1968, where Seberg — more gamine, hungry-to-please semblance of personal insight. the eyes of a fictional character — now Paris-based and married Seberg, though she knowingly cap- She doesn’t get to answer, as a flatly drawn, conscience-plagued to French novelist and filmmak- tures the brittle, dissociated qual- Seberg’s publicist swiftly calls federal agent, valiantly played by er Romain Gary (Yvan Attal) — ity of a private celebrity still fig- time on the question: “Let’s Jack O’Connell — considerably is attempting a Hollywood come- uring out how to exist in public. just keep it about the movie,” less interesting than the one we’ve back. Though she’s impervious to (A bouquet to costume design- he instructs. It’s one of many turned up to see. the May riots raging in her cho- er Michael Wilkinson, who inter- moments in Benedict Andrews’ If it’s never less than proficient, sen home city, her politics slip out prets Seberg’s — and Stewart’s slick, diverting portrait in which that still makes “Seberg” a slight to her agent’s dismay when she — tailored glamour as a kind of Seberg is shown to be treated as disappointment from celebrat- befriends charismatic Black Pow- exquisite protective shield: One a product, a pawn or a patsy, han- ed stage director Andrews, whose er activist Hakim Jamal (Antho- especially dazzling, tissue-pink dled by men in their own best undervalued debut feature “Una” ny Mackie) on the flight over; join- evening gown boasts a chest-strap interests rather than hers. And adapted David Harrower’s “Black- ing the Panthers in a posed salute of diamonds like a magazine of yet “Seberg” does something a lit- bird” with eerie, formally resource- at the airport, her French-vanil- ammunition.) tle similar to that protective pub- ful elan. In its best scenes, the new la hair and butter-yellow sundress Who is Jean Seberg? It feels like licist: Every time it threatens to film reaches for the cracked, mel- sticking out like an unsore thumb Kristen Stewart knows; it’s the film truly pierce the psyche of its sub- ancholic derangement of Pablo against the others, she creates a that won’t quite tell us. ject, played with typically intrigu- Larrain’s icon study “Jackie” — not photo op with increasingly severe ing, elusory intelligence by Kris- coincidentally, those tend to be the consequences. CREDITS: (U.S.) A Univer- Abed, Peter Touche, Ste- ten Stewart, the more ordinary scenes that let Stewart’s emotive It isn’t long before she’s mak- sal Pictures Content Group, phen Spence. Co-producer: Amazon Studios presenta- David Diliberto. Direc- ing donations to the Black Pan- tion of an Automatik, Ind- tor: Benedict Andrews. VARIETY.COM mechanics of the movie she’s furled fist of a face, rather than the ikate, Totally Commercial Screenplay: Joe Shrapnel, serving get in the way. frequently on-the-nose dialogue, ther Party, hosting events for them Films, Bradley Pilz produc- Anna Waterhouse. Cam- tion in association with era (color, widescreen): In fairness, those mechanics are silently do the talking. at her glassy Los Angeles man- Encrypted Productions, Rachel Morrison. Editor: Ingenious Media, Memento Pamela Martin. Music: Jed more movie-ish than anything the The opening shot promises sion and sleeping with Hakim, all Films International. (Inter- Kurzel. Reviewed at Ven- national sales: Memento ice Film Festival (noncom- GLOBAL ENTERTAINMENT NEWS COVERAGE lives of most biopic subjects can something more brazenly stylized of which combine to make her a Films International, Paris.) peting), Aug. 30, 2019. Producers: Fred Berger, (Also in Toronto Film Fes- muster: “Seberg” covers the years altogether, as Andrews and d.p. person of interest to the Feds. Jack Kate Garwood, Bradley Pilz, tival — Special Presen- Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, tations.) Running time: when the French-adopted Ameri- Rachel Morrison re-create (in vel- Solomon (O’Connell), a wet-be- Stephen Hopkins, Marina 102 MIN. WITH: Kristen Acton, Alan Ritchson. Exec- Stewart, Jack O’Connell,

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019 SEPTEMBER can star was made a prime target vety color, rather than the original hind-the-ears FBI recruit specializ- utive producers: Anna Anthony Mackie, Margaret Waterhouse, Joe Shrap- Qualley, Zazie Beetz, Yvan of the FBI’s illegal COINTELPRO monochrome) the execution scene ing in sound technology, is hired to nel, Marshal L. Swinton, Attal, Vince Vaughn, Ste- Dan Spilo, Phillip W. Shaltz, phen Root, Colm Meaney, FOLLOW US / VARIETY #VENICE2019 4 project, which took invasive and from Otto Preminger’s 1957 scene bug Seberg’s home and lead a sur- Emilie Georges, Naima Gabriel Sky. We’ve Got Venice Covered.

HOME > FILM > FESTIVALS JULY 18, 2019 3:44AM PT Hirokazu Kore-eda’s ‘The Truth’ With Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche to Open Venice Film Festival

JULY 23, 2019 4:00AM PT HOME > FILM > GLOBAL First Trailer Released for Venice Days Entry ‘Beware of Children’ (EXCLUSIVE)

JULY 16, 2019 HOME > FILM > FESTIVALS 7:39AM PT With ‘Ad Astra,’ ‘Joker’ Likely, Venice Set for Strong Showing by U.S., Bolstered by Streamers

GLOBAL ENTERTAINMENT NEWS COVERAGE

←LARRAIN, FROM P.1 Original Sinner gaze. How do you feel about this Joaquin Phoenix issue? delivers an “astonishing” amo made “Ema” her own. (The I remember during the “Jack- performance in Todd interview has been edited for ie” press tour I got a lot of Phillips’ “Joker.” space. See Variety.com for the questions like: “Pablo, how do full interview.) you feel about making your first movie about a wom- “Ema” and “Jackie,” are only sim- an?” I remember Natalie [Port- ilar in that what carries the movie man] saying: “Why this ques- is the power of the central female tion?” I understand the world character. has changed over the past two There is a point in both the years, but I just feel that I see movies where you become a a very specific sensibility, and I witness. And the movie becomes feel that I am a witness of these a testimony of the process of times. There is a wonderful sen- being a witness to that charac- sibility and a wonderful force ter. In both cases, it’s based on that you can capture and put ←‘JOKER,’ FROM P.1 pulls out his gun like Charles the actresses. You need some- in a movie. Also, what happens Bronson and shoots them dead. one that can carry the movie on is that you work with a charac- perverse, ghoulishly grippingly The case becomes tabloid fodder their shoulders. And her [Mari- ter, and when the actress really urban-nightmare comic fanta- (“Killer Clown on the Loose”), and ana Di Girolamo’s] power is end- starts to enter it, obviously you sia, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoe- the sensation of it is that the den- less: Her sensibility, her mystery, are directing and conducting it. nix), the mentally ill loser-freak izens of Gotham think he’s a hero. her intelligence, her strength is But there is a point where you who will, down the line, become That sounds like a standard com- absolutely endless to me. start just filming her, because Batman’s nemesis, stands before ic-book-movie ploy, but the twisted they do control it. us not as a grand villain but as a commitment of Phoenix’s perfor- How did you find Mariana Di pathetic specimen of raw human mance lets us feel how the vio- Girolamo? Gael’s pretty important, too. damage. Even as we’re drinking in lence cleanses Arthur; doing tai She had done only TV, like soap He’s a man who can absorb a his screw-loose antics with shock chi in a bathroom after the mur- operas. I was in Santiago, and I lot, and who can be really sim- and dismay, there’s no denying ders, he’s reborn. And we believe saw this picture of her on an ad ple and elegant. His is a compli- that we feel something for him — in his thirst for escape, because on the street. I texted her. We sat cated character, because he’s a a twinge of sympathy, or at least Phillips, working with the cine- down for a coffee, and literally man who is in love with some- understanding. matographer Lawrence Sher (who after 10 minutes I was offering one who loves him, but she “Joker” tells the story of evokes “Taxi Driver’s” gray-green her the role, and she said yes. I loves other people, too. And Arthur’s descent (and, in a way, documentary seaminess), creates said: “I’m not going to show you he becomes part of this fami- his rise), but it’s clear from the an urban inferno so lifelike that a script, because I don’t have ly in a way that is very serious outset that he’s a basket case, a it threatens to make the film-noir it. And when I have it, I don’t and very strong. I think Gael is kind of maestro of his own mis- Gotham of “The Dark Knight” look want you to have it. I want you one of the best actors I’ve ever ery. He would like, on some level, like a video game. to trust me.” And then Mariana worked with. He’s a very polit- to connect, but he can’t. Arthur’s Many have asked, and with was stunning. ical man, too, and he’s very response to almost everything is good reason: Do we need another clear in his intentions and in to laugh, and he’s got a collection Joker movie? Yet what we do need There is a lot of talk these days the world that he describes and of contrived guffaws — a high- — badly — are comic-book films about male gaze and female sees. pitched delirious giggle, a “hearty” that have a verité gravitas, that yock, a stylized cackle that’s all but unfold in the real world, so that indistinguishable from a sob. In there’s something more dramatic ←ATLAS V, FROM P.1 ity and we want to develop it,” each case, the laughter is an act at stake than whether the film in said Cayrol, citing Rockefeller that parades itself as fakery. What question is going to rack up a bil- Atlas V will distribute those Center in New York, on top of it expresses isn’t glee; it expresses lion-and-a-half dollars worldwide. three Venice titles along with the Centre Phi and the Galerie the fact that Arthur feels nothing, “Joker” manages the nimble feat of “Ayahuasca” and “Vestige” in Cinema as places eager to show- that he’s dead inside. telling the Joker’s origin story as location-based venues around case premium content. Phoenix’s performance is aston- if it were unprecedented. We feel the world, including at Montre- Atlas V will also be looking ishing. He lost weight for the role, a tingle when Bruce Wayne comes al’s Centre Phi, Paris’s Galerie to represent third-party content so that his ribs and shoulder into the picture; he’s there less as Cinema, New York’s VR Bar and in international markets and to blades protrude, and the leanness a force than an omen. And we feel Taiwan’s VR theater, which soon produce more linear and narra- burns his face down to its expres- a deranged thrill when Arthur, will be opened by HTC. tive content like Pedro Casavec- sive essence: black eyebrows, sal- having come out the other side of “We started handling inter- chia’s animated short “Pulsion,” low cheeks sunk in gloom, a his rage, emerges wearing smeary national sales on some of our which was the company’s first mouth so rubbery it seems to be make-up, green hair, an orange titles and saw that there was non-immersive production. The executive said Atlas V VARIETY.COM snarking at the very notion of vest and a rust-colored suit. a market and an audience for expression, all set off by a greasy them, so it made us want to has also started to develop ani- mop of hair. Phoenix is playing CREDITS: A Warner Bros. lips, Scott Silver. Camera invest more,” said Antoine Cay- mated TV series and films. “The release of a DC Films in (color, widescreen): Law- a geek with an unhinged mind, association with Village rence Sher. Editor: Jeff rol, co-founder of Atlas V with tools like Unreal and Unity, Roadshow Pictures, BRON Groth. Music: Hildur Gud- yet he’s so controlled that he’s Creative, A Joint Effort pro- nadóttir. Reviewed at Ven- Pierre Zandrowicz, Arnaud which we’ve been using for two duction. Producers: Brad- ice Film Festival (Competi- mesmerizing. ley Cooper, Emma Till- tion), Aug. 31, 2019. MPAA Colinart and Fred Volhuer. years for our content, are now inger Koskoff, Todd Phillips. rating: R. Running time: 122 At night, on the subway, Arthur, Executive producers: Rich- MIN. WITH: Joaquin Phoe- “Digital distribution is a key being used by animation pro- ard Baratta, Bruce Berman, nix, Robert De Niro, Frances

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019 SEPTEMBER still wearing his clown suit, is Jason Cloth, Joseph Gar- Conroy, Zazie Beetz, Brett to pre-financing our content, but ducers to control costs and have ner, Aaron L. Gilbert, Wal- Cullen, Brian Tyree Henry, taunted and attacked by three ter Hamada, Michael E. Marc Maron, Dante Perei- distribution in location-based greater control over the creative Uslan. Director: Todd Phil- ra-Olson, Douglas Hodge,

6 young Wall Street players. So he lips. Screenplay: Todd Phil- Sharon Washington. venues is another crucial activ- process,” said Cayrol. BROS. TAVERNISE/WARNER NIKO NEWS | VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

←3B, FROM P.1 tance. The two marry against all at Cannes in the special screen- ←BOX OFFICE, FROM P.1 odds, but their union is threat- ing section. Maalouf’s novels and I wanted to ened by the war in Lebanon and As with “Chouf,” which lion ($4.4 million) in Italy. But the adapt one, so when Ron Senkow- the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. explored the criminal under- new “Spider-Man” installment ski proposed producing with him Brehat, who is part of this world of Marseilles, “Les scored stellar returns — more the adaptation of ‘Les echelles du year’s Oscar committee in France, Faineants” will star many than €11.5 million ($12.6 million) levan,’ I didn’t hesitate,” said Bre- is producing “Les echelles du non-professional actors. Dridi will — proving that Italians can be per- hat, adding that he thought of levan” with Muriel Merlin and also be casting well-known stars suaded to see movies in summer. Rahimi to direct the film because Rachid Bouchareb, who sits on in some of the leading roles. He’ll The campaign to release more he admires his books and the Venice’s jury, at 3B Prods. Senkow- film for a year and live along- films in the summer has also quality of the two films he’s ski, Samira Kawas, Pol Crucht- side the people in the district in boosted yearly B.O. returns since helmed. en and Marco Coen are co-pro- which it’s set, said Merlin, who is January by 20% to €375 million “Les échelles du levan” will ducing. The script is written by lead producing the project. ($412 million) in grosses between reunite Rahimi with Golshifteh Rahimi, Claire Le Luthern, Cath- “‘Les Faineants’ will have a Jan. 1 and Aug. 29, Lonigro said. Farahani, who had starred in his erine Charrier and Senkowski. contemporary resonance because In a report, box office analyst 2012 film “The Patience Stone.” The movie is expected to start it will shed light on people who Robert Bernocchi noted that “con- The cast will include the sing- shooting next April. reject society and don’t want to sidering that we’ve never had a er Mika, a star in France who is 3B Prods. is also developing work and live under established summer with so much important

one of the coaches on “The Voice,” “Les Faineants” by Dridi. The rules,” Merlin said. He said the product, it’s obvious that we could VARIETY.COM French comedian Kev Adams and film will take place in a seaside narrative film would have sev- have hoped for something better.” Turkish actress Belçim Bilgin. corner of Brittany where peo- en or eight protagonists. Dridi is The Hollywood majors, through The story revolves around a ple from different backgrounds co-producing “Les Faineants.” their local execs, have all under- young Muslim man from Leb- and ethnicities have found ref- The company’s slate also lined that Italy’s summer releas- anon who travels to France at uge and live in trailers, stay- includes Bruno Dumont’s “On es push should not be judged on the beginning of World War II to ing on the margins of society a Half Clear Morning,” with Lea the performance of any single title

study medicine and unexpectedly because they refuse to fit in. “Les Seydoux and Blanche Gardin, and that the effort, which has got- 1, 2019 SEPTEMBER falls in love with a Jewish wom- Faineants” will mark Dridi’s fol- and Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s next ten off to a promising start, is a an involved in the French Resis- low-up to “Chouf,” which played film, among other projects. three-year commitment. 7 VENICE FILM FESTIVAL | REVISIT

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