It has been confirmed to me that Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale” will be competing for the Golden Lion at Venice.
This will be the first time in five years that an A24 title has been in Venice competition. The last time was 2017’s “Lean on Pete” (good movie).
There’s been a bit of a dispute between Venice/A24 these past few years, I’m not entirely sure why, but Venice boss Alberto Barbera let it slip in 2019 that he really wanted Kelly Reichardt’s “First Cow” and that A24 wouldn’t budge.
Meanwhile, Aronofsky will yet again compete at Venice in September, this will mark the fifth of his last six movies to have its world premiere at the Venezia.
“The Whale” finished shooting in July of 2021. The last film Aronofsky directed was the polarizing “Mother!” back in 2017. His rumored return to small-scale filmmaking, with “The Whale,” would mean, hopefully, something along the lines of “Black Swan,” “Requiem For A Dream,” “The Wrestler,” and his 1998 debut film “Pi.”
“The Whale” stars Brendan Fraser as a 600-hundred-pound recluse hiding away from the world and slowly eating himself to death. Talk about an insane concept. The film is based on Samuel D. Hunter’s divisive play