VENICE, Italy (AP) — Julia Roberts and filmmaker Luca Guadagnino confronted pointed questions on complicity and undermining the feminist motion at a information convention for “After the Hunt” on Friday on the Venice Movie Competition.
The movie, set on the earth of upper training the place Roberts performs a beloved philosophy professor, revolves round an accusation of misconduct. Her mentee, performed by Ayo Edebiri, accuses her pal and colleague, performed by Andrew Garfield, of crossing the road. Nora Garrett’s screenplay doesn’t supply simple or easy resolutions.
One reporter requested Roberts if she thought the movie undermines the feminist motion and progress of the #MeToo motion.
“I don’t necessarily think it revives an old argument of women being pitted against one another,” Roberts stated.
“After the Hunt” screened Thursday night time for press and business earlier than it premiered Friday night and rapidly sparked debate across the pageant, although most everybody appeared to agree about Roberts’ excellent efficiency. It obtained a six minute ovation after its premiere.
For Roberts, who joked that she cherished “the softball questions early in the morning,” the purpose is the conversations the movie provokes. The tagline on the poster even reads “not everything is supposed to make you feel comfortable.”
“That’s how we wanted it to feel,” Roberts stated. “Everyone comes out with all these different feelings and emotions and points of views. And you realize what you believe in strongly and what your convictions are because we stir it all up for you. So, you’re welcome.”
Guadagnino jumped in as properly, saying, “It’s how we see the clash of truths. It’s not about making a manifesto to revive old fashioned values.”
Stefania D’Alessandro through Getty Pictures
Roberts added that they’re not making statements with “After the Hunt.” Fairly, she likes to think about it like a digital camera dropped out of the sky to seize these characters on this thorny second the place everybody appears to be mendacity to themselves and to others.
“We’re kind of losing the art of conversation in humanity right now,” Roberts stated. “If making this movie does anything, getting everyone to talk to each other is the most exciting thing we could accomplish.”
The movie, which Amazon MGM Studios will launch in North American theaters on Oct. 10, additionally makes use of a familiar-looking font for its opening credit: The Windsor-style typeface made well-known by Woody Allen in a few of his most well-known movies, from “Annie Hall” to “Crimes and Misdemeanors.” When requested why he selected this, Guadagnino stated the crass reply is, “Why not?”
Guadagnino did elaborate on this selection, saying that when he and his collaborators have been placing “After the Hunt” collectively, they couldn’t cease eager about how linked it felt to the “great oeuvre of Woody Allen” between the years of 1985 and 1991.
“I felt it was an interesting nod to thinking of an artist who has been in a way facing some sort of problems about his being and what is our responsibility of working with an artist we love,” he stated.
The movie is just not enjoying in the principle competitors on the pageant, so it received’t be up for any awards on Sept. 6, but it surely’s a return to a well-recognized web site for Guadagnino. Final 12 months he introduced “Queer,” with Daniel Craig, and a number of other years in the past had “Bones & All,” with Timothée Chalamet. His tennis love triangle movie “Challengers,” with Zendaya, was alleged to open Venice in 2023 however the Hollywood strikes upended a lot of that 12 months’s pageant and it was pulled.
Theo Wargo through Getty Pictures
Roberts is just not a Venice newcomer both, having labored within the metropolis up to now, however this does mark her first time on the pageant.
“It’s so magical,” Roberts stated of town, although this journey, she stated “I have not done anything outside of work.”
Three days in, the 82nd version of the Venice Movie Competition is in full swing with many main premieres to come back together with Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” Benny Safdie’s “The Smashing Machine” and Kathryn Bigelow’s “A House of Dynamite.”
For ongoing protection of the 2025 Venice Movie Competition, go to: https://apnews.com/hub/venice-film-festival
