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Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language feature, “The Room Next Door” — starring Oscar winners Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton — is likely to debut at the Venice Film Festival, which is finalizing a stellar lineup ahead of an official announcement next week.
“Room Next Door” is Almodóvar’s follow-up to 2021’s “Parallel Mothers,” which was released in Venice and won the festival’s Volpi Cup for Best Actress for Penelope Cruz’s performance. According to multiple sources, Almodóvar’s latest film is also said to be in competition at the festival.
Set in New England, Almodóvar’s film is “about a deeply imperfect mother and her resentful daughter, who live separate lives because of a deep misunderstanding,” as the director himself put it.
Produced by Almodóvar’s El Deseo banner, “Room Next Door” will be released in theaters this year via Sony Pictures Classics in the U.S., Middle East and India, among other countries, with Warner Bros. distributing it in other parts of the world, including the U.K., Spain and Italy.
Warner Bros. Italia did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.
As previously expected by Variety, The upcoming 81st edition of Venice promises to be a star-studded affair, with Lady Gaga, Joaquin Phoenix, Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig and Monica Bellucci among the top Hollywood talents likely to launch high-profile titles from the Lido.
As announced by the festival, Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” – starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Jenna Ortega and Willem Dafoe – will be the Lido’s out-of-competition opening act.
“Joker 2: Folie à Deux,” Todd Phillips’ audacious musical follow-up to his 2019 Golden Lion-winning “Joker,” starring Gaga and Phoenix, is considered a sure thing, along with Pablo Larraín’s Maria Callas biopic “Maria,” starring Jolie in the title role.
Luca Guadagnino’s William S. Burroughs adaptation “Queer” is also reportedly in the Venice competition. Daniel Craig plays the alter ego of the famous counterculture author, an American expat living in Mexico battling heroin addiction. “Outer Banks” star Drew Starkey also stars as a younger man with whom the expat falls madly in love.
The Italian entries for the competition include “Sicilian Letters” (“Iddu”), the highly anticipated drama about Cosa Nostra boss Matteo Messina Denaro – who has been called “the last godfather” – directed by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza (“Sicilian Ghost Story”).
Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here,” the Brazilian auteur’s first feature in more than a decade, also reportedly made the cut. Meanwhile, Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths” appears unlikely to go to Lido, nor does Ron Howard’s survival thriller “Eden,” which premieres in Toronto.
As previously announced, Isabelle Huppert will chair the main jury.
The 81st Venice Film Festival will take place from August 28 to September 7. The full line-up will be announced on July 23.