Telluride: ‘C’mon C’mon’ and ‘King Richard’ Set for World Premieres; ‘Dune’ and ‘Cry Macho’ Not Going

Despite the Delta variant’s ominous shadow looming all around the United States at the moment, The Telluride Film Festival is less than two weeks away and will most likely go ahead as planned, its 4 days of cinematic nirvana, around the beautiful Rocky Mountains, just around the corner.

Every year, we anticipate the program that Festival head Julie Huntsinger will reveal to festivalgoers who made the trip. They will experience one of the best curated film events in the world. The lineup of 30-something films, only revealed a day before the festival begins, can shift the Oscar race in the blink of an eye.

This year, the table is set for Telluride to deliver a couple of marquee world premieres: “King Richard” and “C’mon C’mon.” Both highly anticipated, especially the latter which is directed by Mike Mills (“20th Century Women”) and stars Joaquin Phoenix.

In all, I’ve more or less been able to confirm 27 of the 30 titles that will be screening at this year’s festival. And they are:

“C’mon C’mon” (Mike Mills)
“The Power of Dog” (Jane Campion)
“Spencer” (Pablo Larrain)
“King Richard” (Reinaldo Marcus Green)
“The Card Counter” (Paul Schrader)
“The Hand of God” (Paulo Sorrentino)
“The French Dispatch” (Wes Anderson)
“The Lost Daughter” (Maggie Gylenhaal)
“The Electrical Life of Louis Wain” (Will Sharpe)
“Encounter” (Michael Pearce)
“The Velvet Underground” (Todd Haynes)
“Vortex” (Gaspar Noe)
“Flee” (Jonas Poher Rasmussen)
”Red Rocket” (Sean Baker)
“Bergman Island” (Mia Hansen-Love)
“A Hero” (Asghar Farhadi)
“Petite Maman” (Celine Sciamma)
“Becoming Cousteau” (Liz Garbus)
“The Rescue” (E. Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin)
“A Chiara” (Jonas Carpignano)
“The First 54 Years: An Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation” (Avi Mograbi)
“Prayers for the Stolen” (Tatiana Huezo)
“Unclenching the Fists” (Kira Kovalenko)
“Julia” (Cohen/West)
“Muhammad Ali” (Ken Burns)
“Three Minutes - A Lengthening” (Bianca Stigter)

The three remaining titles are a mystery and I haven’t been able to pinpoint what they might be. However, confirmed as definite no-shows for this year’s festival are two Warner Bros films: Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” and Clint Eastwood’s “Cry Macho.” There have also been ongoing and lengthy discussions about Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch” showing up in the lineup. And finally, despite some very strong advanced buzz via arthouse circles, Venice competition entry “Il Buco,” directed by Michelangelo Frammartino, will not be at Telluride.

So, the possibilities that we’re left with to fill in those remaining three spots are limited, but they include Scott Cooper’s “Antlers,” Joe Wright’s “Cyrano,” and three documentaries: Daniel Geller/Dayna Goldfine’s “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song,” Werner Herzog‘s “Last Exit: Space,” and Mark Cousins’ “The Story of Film.”

UPDATE: “Passing” won’t be at Telluride. I’ve removed it from the list It was under consideration until just about a week ago. There is a missing fourth Netflix movie, but my source won’t reveal to me what it is. Let the guessing game begin … (hoping for my Telluride peeps to get “Don’t Look Up,” but it’s a long shot).