The 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival boasts one of its strongest lineups in years. There are new films from Luca Guadagnino, Noah Baumbach, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and Joanna Hogg in competition for the Golden Lion, to name only a few. And big titles are premiering out of competition, like Olivia Wilde’s sophomore feature “Don’t Worry Darling,” and TV series from European auteurs Lars Von Trier and Nicolas Winding Refn.
But festival director Alberto Barbera couldn’t get everything he wanted at the Lido this year. So, what’s the one title that got away from him? Steven Spielberg’s latest, “The Fabelmans,” which has its world premiere at TIFF in September. Why wasn’t Barbera able to grab it? In an interview with Variety, Barbera explained how Spielberg’s upcoming movie eluded his grasp. “That one got away from everyone,” he said. “Everybody wanted to see it. But it seemed that the release date was too far ahead. Then we got this surprise announcement [that it’s going to Toronto].”
Barbera was got off guard by TIFF’s announcement that they snagged the film last Friday. “I have to admit that, in this case, it was a bit unpleasant,” he continued. “All of us would have expected more clarity from Universal. You can say, ‘We are aiming for a different type of marketing campaign.’ But to let us know [ahead of the Toronto announcement] would not have been a bad thing. That said, we’ve worked very well with Universal on other films.”
While Barbera couldn’t win over Universal for “The Fabelmans” this year, he broke through with A24 after the indie studio stonewalled him in 2019 for Kelly Reichardt‘s “First Cow.” Three A24 titles premiere at the festival: Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale,” Ti West‘s “Pearl,” and Joanna Hogg’s “The Eternal Daughter.” So, what changed in the last three years? “Their attitude changed,” said Barbera, “They’ve always had a very interesting lineup, but I was never able to convince them to invest on Venice. Luckily, that’s changed this year. I hope it’s because they’ve become aware of Venice’s promotional potential for certain types of films.”
Other big titles at the Lido this year include Michael Grandage‘s “My Policeman,” Todd Field‘s “Tár,” and Andrew Dominik‘s “Blonde,” among others. Julianne Moore serves as jury president for the festival’s competition this year. In addition, Paul Schrader and Catherine Deneuve will receive Special Lifetime Achievement Golden Lions at the festival.
The 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival runs from August 31 to September 10. Follow The Playlist for our coverage of the festival.