The Venice International Film Festival isn’t wasting any time in announcing the big guns for their forthcoming event. Following the announcement that Darren Aronofsky’s highly anticipated ballet world thriller “Black Swan” would be opening the fest, organizers have announced that Julie Taymor’s “The Tempest” will be the closing film.
After being left in limbo by the closure of parent company Miramax, Julie Taymor’s gender-bending adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” has finally found a distribution home through Disney subsidiary Touchstone which has tentatively slated the film for a December release.
“The Tempest” follows Helen Mirren’s Prospera, a woman scorned after being unjustly usurped and exiled by the brother of her deceased husband so he can claim her title. Mirren has an illustrious supporting cast joining her including Chris Cooper, Felicity Jones, David Strathairn, Djimon Hounsou, Reeve Carney, Alan Cumming, Alfred Molina, Ben Whishaw and Russell Brand.
We expect both “Black Swan” and “The Tempest” to make their North American bow at the Toronto International Film Festival which kicks off as Venice ends (there is an overlap of a couple of days between the festivals). Both films join a staggering lineup that is expected to be unveiled at Venice; basically every high profile movie that has been remotely on our radar is being anticipated to appear.
One title that continues to be MIA from festival rumors? Terrence Malick’s “The Tree Of Life.”