Venice Film Festival 2023: Movies That Could Screen

May 14, 2023

The Venice Film Festival won't be unveiling its full 2023 lineup until next month at the earliest, but producers, studios and streamers are already prepping the projects they hope to be premiering on the Lido this year for the festival's 80th-anniversary edition, which will be running Aug. 30-Sept. 9.

Venice will be expected to bring its A-game, especially after Cannes delivered an impressive 2023 lineup (featuring the likes of Indiana Jones 5, Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, Todd Haynes’ May December, Wes Anderson's Asteroid City, plus Justine Triet's Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall). All eyes will be on long-time artistic director Alberto Barbera, who has earned his spot on the podium of the top-tier festivals by successfully blending the needs of the studio and streamer blockbusters — which look to Venice as a splashy platform to generate buzz ahead of an international rollout — with the independent and art-house titles that use the Lido to generate critical buzz and kick off their award-season campaigns.

Brendan Fraser's triumphant run for the best actor Oscar began with the 2022 Venice premiere of The Whale, and both Martin McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin and Todd Field's Tár owe much of their later awards success — nine Oscar nominations for Banshees, six for Tár — to the jubilant reception at last year's festival. But the glare of the Venice spotlight can also prove harsh, as Olivia Wilde discovered when the out-of-competition screening of Don't Worry Darling was overshadowed by behind-the-scenes "scandal" and the now-notorious "spit-gate" incident at the festival premiere.

We are still at the stage of wild speculation, but judging by release dates, the relationships the festival has built up with studios and filmmakers, and growing buzz over the industry grapevine, The Hollywood Reporter has drawn up its first list of titles that could make the cut.

It's an impressive — if at this point still entirely theoretical, lineup — featuring new movies from the likes of Yorgos Lanthimos, Michael Mann, Bradley Cooper, Sofia Coppola and Luca Guadagnino, with a red-carpet crowd that includes the likes of Zendaya, Pedro Pascal, Michelle Yeoh, Emma Stone, Penelope Cruz, Mark Ruffalo, Lilly James, Carey Mulligan, LaKeith Stanfield, Jodie Foster, Adam Driver, Jessica Chastain, Ramy Youssef and Peter Sarsgaard.

Here's what THR sources are saying could be Lido-bound this year:

Poor Things — Yorgos Lanthimos

The Greek king of disturbing surrealism scored his biggest crossover hit with 2018's The Favourite, a Venice premiere. Lanthimos’ new feature, a genre mash-up of steampunk, rom-com and period drama starring The Favourite‘s Emma Stone as a woman brought back to life by a 19th-century scientist, looks like a Lido lock after Lanthimos skipped Cannes. The ensemble cast, which includes Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Jerrod Carmichael and Margaret Qualley, will make this one of Venice's hottest tickets.

Challengers — Luca Guadagnino

Italian auteur Guadagnino is a Lido fave — his teen cannibal love story Bones and All might have divided critics, but the Venice audience lapped it up — and his new feature looks a perfect festival fit. Zendaya, West Side Story‘s Mike Faist and God's Own Country star Josh O’Connor star as former friends/teen tennis rivals who meet up years later in a tournament that opens up old wounds.

Ferrari — Michael Mann

Mann's hotly-anticipated biopic, based on Brock Yates’ biography of Italian race car driver legend Enzo Ferrari, is racing towards a Venice premiere, likely in an out-of-competition slot. Here's hoping Adam Driver, who plays Enzo, has mastered his Italian accent, after the cringe-worthy intonations on display in Ridley Scott's House of Gucci.

Maestro — Bradley Cooper

Cooper's coming out as a director was at the 2018 Venice premiere of A Star Is Born, and the festival is certain to welcome his sophomore effort from Netflix, which sees Cooper play legendary conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, with Carey Mulligan as Bernstein's wife Felicia Montealegre. Netflix and Venice are besties, so it would be a surprise if the streamer doesn't go with the Italian festival for this bit of award-season catnip.

Saltburn — Emerald Fennell

Given the impact of her debut feature Promising Young Woman (one Oscar win from five nominations, among a horde of other awards), Fennell's sophomore effort would be a star attraction on the Lido. Adding extra festival firepower are its men of the moment leads in Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan and a darkly comic The Talented Mr. Ripley-inspired story about aristocratic obsession. Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant and Promising Young Woman's Carey Mulligan also star in the Amazon-backed pic, produced by Margot Robbie for her LuckyChap Pictures and reportedly now in post-production after shooting last year.

The Palace — Roman Polanski

The number of film festivals still willing to screen a Roman Polanski film, and absorb the inevitable media backlash, has shrunk to just a handful, but Venice, which premiered Polanski's An Officier and A Spy in 2019 (and handed the film the runner-up Jury Prize Silver Lion), has no problem with this sort of controversy. Italian mini-major Rai Cinema is backing this black comedy and has set a Sept. 28 local release date for the film, making a Lido debut all but certain. Polanski co-wrote the feature, about a wild 1999 New Year's Eve in a luxurious Swiss hotel, with EO filmmakers Jerzy Skolimowski and Ewa Piaskowska. The film's international cast, including John Cleese, Luca Barbareschi, Oliver Masucci, Fanny Ardant and Mickey Rourke, should guarantee plenty of attention on and off the red carpet.

Io Capitano — Matteo Garrone

Italian art house maestro Matteo Garrone is more associated with Cannes than Venice, having premiered features from Gomorrah to Dogman, and from Reality to Tale of Tales on the Croisette, but his latest feature, a coming-of-age adventure drama focused on the refugee crisis, looks Lido-bound. The drama about two young men — played by Seydou Sarr and Moustapha Fall — who leave Dakar, Senegal in search of a better life in Europe, arrives just as Italy, and the rest of the EU, debate new laws to regulate asylum seekers, making the film particularly timely and appealing for a Venice bow.

Finalmente L’alba — Saverio Costanzo

Italian director Costanzo's last feature, Hungry Hearts, starring Adam Driver and Alba Rohrwacher, premiered in the Venice competition in 2014, and it would be a shock if the Roman auteur didn't bring his latest to the Lido. Lily James, Willem Dafoe and Joe Keery star in the period drama, set during the golden age of Italian cinema in the 1950s, which follows an aspiring actress (James) who goes to Cinecittà for an audition and is thrust into a seemingly endless night of self-discovery.

Une année difficile — Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano

The new French comedy from the blockbuster duo behind the global smash The Intouchables would be a crowd-pleasing addition for Venice's 80th anniversary and the French release for A Difficult Year, which goes out via Gaumont on September 18, looks perfectly timed for a Lido bow. The plot follows a pair of broke compulsive consumers who weasel their way into the environmental movement, initially to enjoy the free beer and snacks, before starting to be won over the political arguments. Mathieu Amalric, Pio Marmaï, Luàna Bajrami, Jonathan Cohenand Noémie Merlant co-star.

Coup de chance — Woody Allen

Allen's French-language debut wasn't in Cannes, sparking speculation that the romantic thriller, which stars Gallic A-listers Lou de Laage, Valerie Lemercier, Melvil Poupaud and Niels Schneider, could be eyeing a Venice premiere. Metropolitan has set a Sept. 27 French release date for the film, suggesting that the Lido could be the preferred launch pad. Venice could be the only major festival willing to premiere new films from both Roman Polanski and Woody Allen in the same year.

Hitman — Richard Linklater

Linklater, whose one, and to date, only Venice competition entry was 2001's Walking Life, could be boating into the Lido this year with this action comedy featuring Glenn Powell of Top Gun: Maverick as an investigator who impersonates a hit man to catch people trying to ordering a hit. Adria Arjona co-stars. Out of competition, Venice likes to throw in a couple of mainstream genre films and Hitman could fit the bill nicely.

Priscilla — Sofia Coppola

Does the world need a break from Elvis Presley following Baz Luhrmann's all-conquering epic biopic? Not if it's Sofia Coppola telling the story, and one which shifts the focus to his partner of 13 years. This examination of the King of Rock and Roll's torrid and one-of-a-kind relationship with Priscilla Presley, based on her own memoir Elvis and Me, is now in post and could well be ready for Venice, where Coppola won the Golden Lion 13 years ago for Somewhere. The film could also herald the arrival of a major new leading star in Cailee Spaeny, who plays Priscilla, while Jacob Elordi plays the King.

A Haunting in Venice — Kenneth Branagh

In what would seem a dead cert for Venice given its title and release date (Sept. 15), Kenneth Branagh's latest Hercule Poirot mystery and his follow up to Death on the Nile stars a typically impressive ensemble cast. Alongside the director as the mightily-mustached Belgian detective, Jamie Dornan and Jude Hill star (reuniting them with Branagh following Belfast), alongside Tina Fey, Camille Cottin, Michelle Yeoh, Kyle Allen and Kelly Reilly. The film is adapted from Agatha Christie's crime novel Hallowe’en Party. Was the name changed purely to get a berth on the Lido? We hope so.

L’Empire — Bruno Dumont

Dumont was last in Venice competition with Twentynine Palms in 2003 but after skipping Cannes, it looks like the Italian festival is the most likely landing spot for his 11th feature, a sci-fi/drama mash-up in which a sleepy French fishing village is revealed to be the battleground of undercover extraterrestrial knights engaged in a fierce battle for interplanetary domination. Camille Cottin, Lyna Khoudri and Anamaria Vartolomei co-star.

The Book of Clarence — Jeymes Samuel

After making a very bold, very noisy splash with his gun-slinging and BAFTA-winning directorial debut The Harder We Fall, British musician-turned-director Jeymes Samuel returns with something a little more sandals than Stetsons. The Biblical-era epic follows a down-on-his-luck man from Jerusalem who embarks on a misguided attempt to capitalize on the celebrity status of the original influencer, Jesus Christ, for his own personal gain. Harder They Fall star LaKeith Stanfield leads an eye-boggling array of names, including Omar Sy, Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy, RJ Cyler, David Oyelowo, Alfre Woodard and Micheal Ward. Sony has set a release date of Sep. 22, which would tie it in nicely for Venice, but also Toronto, so let's see.

Les Indésirables — Ladj Ly

Ladj Ly's follow-up to his 2019 breakout Les Misérables skipped Cannes (where Ly won the Jury Prize for his debut feature) but is now rumored to be Lido-bound. The film is reportedly finished and with a Nov. 22 local release date, Venice would make a nice launching pad. Alexis Manenti, who played Sebastian in Romain Gavras's Netflix drama Athena, which premiered in Venice last year, stars in Les Indésirables as an idealistic young doctor who finds himself appointed mayor of a town, vowing to revitalize dilapidated working-class areas who finds himself in conflict with Haby (Anta Diaw) who refuses to be driven out of the neighborhood where she grew up. Goodfellas is handling international sales.

Nyad — Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi/Jimmy Chin

After an impressive run of documentaries, including 2018's Oscar winner Free Solo, filmmaking duo Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin enter the narrative world with this biopic of long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad, who broke records for her swims from Cuba to Florida. Annette Bening plays the athlete in the Netflix feature, while Jodie Foster will play Bernie Stoll, the former racquetball player and Nyad's close friend and business partner.

Drive-Away Dolls — Ethan Coen

The Coen Brothers were in Venice in 2018 for their Western anthology The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Ethan Coen could venture to the festival by himself with Drive-Away Dolls, a comedy caper that he's been developing since the early 2000s. The film packs some prestige power, coming from Working Title Films and being distributed by Focus Features — which has set a Venice-friendly Sept. 22 release date — plus having a cast that includes Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Beanie Feldstein, Matt Damon and current fave Pedro Pascal.

La Bête — Bertrand Bonello

This high-concept sci-fi romantic drama — set in a near future where emotions have become a threat and people begin to undergo medical treatment to purge themselves of strong feelings — would be a nice fit for Venice's Orizzonti sidebar, which favors more genre-friendly fare. Léa Seydoux and George MacKay star. Ad Vitam is releasing the film in France with Kinology handling international sales.

The Holdovers — Alexander Payne

With an awards corridor bow of Nov. 10 now set, Venice — where Focus brought Tár to huge acclaim last year — could be the perfect landing spot for the prestige pic. Payne's first feature since his 2017 drama Downsizing (also a Venice premiere), The Holdovers reunites the director with his Sideways star Paul Giamatti in a story about a disliked teacher put in charge of supervising a smart and rebellious student unable to go home for Christmas.

Napoleon — Ridley Scott

With undoubtedly one of the most anticipated movies of the year, Ridley Scott would have the pick of festivals to launch his historical epic about the famed military commander and political leader, which is led by his Gladiator baddie Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon and The Last Duel star Vanessa Kirby as Empress Josephine. Given that the diminutive Frenchman took control of Italy — including Venice (where he sank its famed navy) — in his early years as a young general in the late 1700s, wouldn't the Lido be the perfect spot? The film — telling the story of Napoleon's rise to power through the lens of his volatile relationship with Josephine — is gearing up to be a major awards player, with Sony releasing it on Nov. 22 before it later lands on Apple TV+. Phoenix was last in Venice in 2019 to premiere The Joker, which went on to top $1 billion and land 11 Oscar nominations (winning two, including best actor).

The Creator — Gareth Edwards

Marking his first feature since 2016's $1 billion-passing Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Gareth Edwards returns with a sci-fi of his own making (and the first film he's written since his 2010 breakout Monsters). Tapping into terrifying topical themes, The Creator — which 20th Century Studios is releasing Sep. 29, making Toronto another likely launchpad — is set during a future war between the human race and artificial intelligence and the hunt for a mysterious weapon with the power to end humankind itself. John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe and Alison Janney star in the feature, which — if the response to the first look at CinemaCon is anything to go by — could be one of the buzziest films at to potentially premiere in Venice.

Daaaaaali! — Quentin Dupieux

Dupieux's 2014 feature Reality screened in Venice's Orizzonti and his latest, the story of a French journalist and his relationship with iconic, Surrealist artist Salvador Dali, would be a nice fit for the Lido sidebar. And the film's all-star French cast, including Pierre Niney, Anaïs Demoustier, Gilles Lellouche and Alain Chabat would light up any Lido red carpet.

How Do You Live? — Hayao Miyazaki

A Venice premiere for Miyazaki's latest — possibly last — anime feature could be a long shot. Producer Studio Ghibli is bowing the coming-of-age tale in Japan with zero marketing, refusing to release a single trailer, first-look image or other promotional material, other than a single, vague poster, before the movie's July 14 local bow. But Miyazaki is a Venice fave — Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Ponyo (2008), and The Wind Rises (2013) all premiered in its competition — and the Japanese director won a career Golden Lion on the Lido in 2005. A special Lido screening of How Do You Live? looks like the ideal send-off for one of world cinema's greatest living legends.

Megalopolis — Francis Ford Coppola

We may now be entering the realms of pure fantasy speculation, but Megalopolis — which only wrapped filming in March — would be the hottest of hot tickets were it to be ready in time for Venice (which is highly, highly unlikely). Coppola's 40-years-in-the-making, self-financed, $120 million sci-fi-tinged epic, one he's been planning since Apocalypse Now, already has mythical status in Hollywood and has seen more column inches than most blockbusters before a second was even shot. Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Forest Whitaker, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Aubrey Plaza, Jason Schwartzman and Shia LaBeouf star in a story reportedly about an architect seeking to rebuild New York after a disaster and a woman divided by loyalties between her father and her lover. With the film — which could be the final career masterpiece from one of the truly great auteurs — now actually nearing completion, expect full Megalopolis mania wherever it lands.

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