Burning Oscars questions heading into Venice, TIFF, and Telluride
But some mysteries remain. As release dates loom and Telluride remains tight-lipped as usual, a number of presumed Oscar contenders are question marks at the moment.
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Here are the questions we're asking as we look ahead at the end-of-the-year film festival line-ups.
Will A House of Dynamite blowup?
The fall release with equal amounts of buzz and mystery surrounding it has to be Kathryn Bigelow's first film in eight years, A House of Dynamite. The movie, which stars Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, and Greta Lee, was announced by its distributor, Netflix, a little over a month ago with a teaser poster and a logline — and since then, not a peep. No trailers, no stills, nothing. But now the film has a premiere. A House of Dynamite will roll out at the Venice Film Festival. So what does the return of the first female Best Director look like? Is her next film destined for another showdown at the Oscars with ex-husband James Cameron and Avatar: Fire and Ash?
Will One Battle After Another and Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere screen anywhere?
Two of the big presumed players of this awards season have yet to announce festival berths. An 11-time nominee, Paul Thomas Anderson has been an automatic entry into the conversation, but he has been skipping festivals as of late. The last film of his to debut at a fest was 2014's Inherent Vice, and with One Battle After Another's Sept. 26 release date quickly approaching, a last-minute Telluride premiere looking like the only possibility.
The same question applies to Scott Cooper's biopic, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, which has a bit more time to roll out thanks to a late October release date. If the inevitable Jeremy Allen White campaign for Best Actor is going to launch at a festival, Telluride is where it will start rocking.
Is The Testament of Ann Lee the next Brutalist?
Last year, Brady Corbet's The Brutalist came out of Venice with major awards heat. This year, that film's cowriter Mona Fastvold is looking to follow that same trajectory with The Testament of Ann Lee, a period musical shot in 70mm about the founding of the Shakers starring Amanda Seyfried that was also penned with Corbet. And like The Brutalist, The Testament of Ann Lee will be seeking a distributor at the festival. Could multiple Oscar nominations be the films' next similarity?
Is Gus Van Sant back?
It's been seven years since Gus Van Sant's last feature directorial effort, but you would be forgiven for thinking it had been longer. The two-time Oscar nominated director is returning to material more in the vein of 2008's Milk, his last well received film, with Dead Man's Wire, a true-crime story starring Bill Skarsgård, Dacre Montgomery, and Colman Domingo.
Is Daniel Day-Lewis back-back?
Another title missing from festival slates is Anemone, the feature directing debut of Ronan Day-Lewis, whose last name is not a coincidence. The project brought Ronan's dear-old dad, Daniel — missing from screens since Phantom Thread — out of retirement for a second time. But will one of the greatest actors of his generation stay back?
Can Steven Soderbergh out-Soderbergh himself?
Releasing two movies in a single year is old-hat for Steven Soderbergh. He's done it a few times, and in one of those cases — 2000 with Traffic and Erin Brockovich — went up against himself for Best Director (and won). With the announcement of The Christophers, starring Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel and premiering at TIFF, that will bring Soderbergh's 2025 total to three (after Presence and Black Bag). Could the Oscars bring about Soderbergh v. Soderbergh v. Soderbergh? (Almost definitely not, but it's fun to imagine.)
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Los Angeles Times
14 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
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Netflix's new crime thriller movie is now streaming — and it's a compelling look at psychological turmoil
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