Joker: Folie à Deux, Johnny Depp’s Modi and more likely to debut at the Venice Film Festival

Last Updated on June 3, 2024

2024’s Venice Film Festival isn’t far away. Last year’s event was one that was slightly cut down due to the ongoing strikes that had befallen Hollywood and prevented a number of actors from attending for the promotion of their films. The films that screened last year included David Fincher’s The Killer, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, Ava DuVernay’s Origin, Michael Mann’s Ferrari and Bradley Cooper’s Maestro. The line-up for films out of competition featured such big names as Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, William Friedkin, Richard Linklater and Roman Polanski.

The 81st Annual Venice Film Festival is set for August 28 to September 7. Variety is reporting that among the films that are being rumored for screenings is the Todd Phillips follow-up to the Joaquin Phoenix reimagining of DC’s Clown Prince of Crime. Joker: Folie à Deux, which co-stars Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, is said to be an easy selection for the schedule. Phillips was a producer on A Star Is Born, and he and the writer always wrote this sequel with Lady Gaga in mind. As far as it becoming a musical, Phillips said he never thought of it as one, but he admits music is an essential element. He said he always described Arthur as having music in him, which was also critical to the first film.

Another notable film that’s due for Venice is the Johnny Depp movie Modi. Depp already made his return to the festival circuit and the public eye when his French film, Jeanne Du Barry, debuted at Cannes. For Modi, Depp makes the venture behind the camera as director. According to Variety, Modi is a “biopic of Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani starring Italy’s Riccardo Scamarcio as the bad boy painter and sculptor, who worked mainly in France and became famous for the groundbreaking modern style of his portraits and nudes. Al Pacino plays international art collector Maurice Gangnat.”

Other titles that are being eyed for the schedule are Pablo Larraín’s Maria Callas biopic, Maria, which stars Angelina Jolie, Luca Guadagnino’s William S. Burroughs adaptation Queer, that features Daniel Craig as the lead, the Jon Watts action-comedy, Wolfs, with George Clooney and Brad Pitt, as well as Ron Howard’s survival thriller Eden, starring Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Sydney Sweeney, Vanessa Kirby and Daniel Brühl.