Julia Roberts made her Venice Film Festival debut on Friday with Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt, which just received a six-minute ovation following its world premiere.
Roberts plays a college professor who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star student (Ayo Edebiri) levels an accusation against one of her colleagues (Andrew Garfield), and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come into the light.
After the lights went up, Guadagnino urged the cast to come forward and clapped for them, escorting Roberts down the stairs a bit for her to wave at the audience inside the Sala Grande. Both Roberts and Guadagnino were emotional, appearing to both be crying as they hugged and the crowd chanted “Brava Luca!”
Along with the main cast, A Compete Unknown Oscar nominees Monica Barbaro was in the audience; she’s in Guadagnino’s next movie Artificial with Garfield.
From Amazon MGM Studios, After the Hunt is playing out of competition here. The psychological thriller also stars Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny along with Lío Mehiel, Thaddea Graham, Will Price, Christine Dye and Burgess Byrd.
In his review, Deadline’s Damon Wise wrote that the film “isn’t just a diatribe about ‘woke’ culture, it’s a genuine attempt to look at what’s happening now and see where it might take us.” He also noted that it “may be a shock to unwary audiences lured in by Roberts’ star wattage. But it could mark another milestone for the actress, being her strongest role since 2000’s Erin Brockovich and an astonishing performance in its very own right.”
It’s difficult to believe this is the first time Roberts has been on the Lido, and she certainly has made an impact. During the press conference for the film earlier today, the Oscar winner was asked whether she was worried about controversies the film may conjure in the wider cultural conversation. She pushed back on the idea.
“It’s such a story to me,” Roberts said. “I remember the first time I saw a film called Tender Mercies. And I just thought there was something magical about the idea that a camera just landed in a place and happened to document what was going on.”
Roberts added: “And that’s how I feel about this movie. We’re not making statements. We are portraying these people in this moment in time, and the camera has fallen from the sky in this particular moment and captures all this.”
Producers on After the Hunt are Brian Grazer and Allan Mandelbaum for Imagine Entertainment and Call Me By Your Name Oscar nominee Guadagnino under his Frenesy banner. Nora Garrett wrote the script and exec produces along with Imagine’s Karen Lunder.
After its Venice debut, After the Hunt goes on to open the New York Film Festival on September 26, then hits domestic theaters October 10. Sony is releasing overseas.
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