Hello from Telluride! The annual festival hasn’t even officially started—yet already in the Rockies, where several buzzy films are hoping to launch themselves into the awards race, I’ve spotted everyone from Hollywood legends Bill Murray (The Friend) and Will Ferrell (Will & Harper) to the season’s big discoveries, Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez) and Mikey Madison (Anora). I’ll be mingling with them and many others later this morning as part of the festival’s welcome brunch, which gathers an elite group of filmmakers (and sure, a handful of journalists) against a stunning mountainous backdrop, kicking off a Labor Day weekend of movie marathoning. Not so bad.
I’m David Canfield, and it’s not just the altitude—there is a ton of excitement in Telluride for a slew of high-profile world premieres. Today alone will mark the first-ever public screenings of Conclave, director Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front follow-up starring Ralph Fiennes; Nickel Boys, RaMell Ross’s heavily hyped adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel; Better Man, an intriguing biopic of Robbie Williams starring the musician himself; and more. There is no possibility of any reporter on the ground seeing all of these in one night, but my colleague Rebecca Ford and I will be doing our best to cover our bases on the hits, misses, and everything in between.
Across the Atlantic, Venice is full steam ahead with Richard Lawson filing reviews for several other major world premieres. Thus far, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice seemed to go over serviceably on the Lido—if not with our critic—while Maria,despite also eliciting mixed reviews, seems to have kicked off a comeback Oscar campaign for Angelina Jolie in grand fashion. (Standing ovations don’t matter—but also, did you see that standing ovation?) That film is now headed to Telluride, along with select Venice premieres; others, like the erotic drama Babygirl, starring Nicole Kidman, which premiered in Venice today, will skip Colorado and make a North American debut next weekend in Toronto.
As for today’s stories from the ground: Rebecca has published a feature on a devastating (and timely) Telluride documentary about abortion that counts Jennifer Lawrence and Hillary Clinton among its producers, while I spoke with Adrien Brody about the mammoth responsibility that came with The Brutalist (launching in Venice on Sunday). That film offers Brody his richest big-screen vehicle since the actor’s Oscar-winning turn more than 20 years ago in The Pianist. I can’t say much about this remarkably ambitious movie yet, but it feels almost banal to call it the role of a lifetime. That’s how much it asks of Brody, and how much he gives back.
You can find more exclusives from myself and Rebecca in our live blog running all weekend, with plenty more on the way. We’re a little biased, but this is our favorite time of year—so please, join us on the ride.
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