Luca Guadagnino’s ‘After the Hunt’ is Ready; Rated R — Cannes or Venice?

Luca Guadagnino’s “After the Hunt” has officially completed post-production and is ready to be unveiled, wherever that may be. The film just nabbed an MPA-stamped “R” rating for “language and some sexual content.”

Last month, Variety reported that “After the Hunt,” which stars Julia Roberts, and has a fall release date, could very well premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. A few weeks later, Le Parisien claimed the exact same thing: Guadagnino was thinking of brushing off Venice and bring his film to Cannes. Ditto Wask’s Thomas Gastaldi, whose sources suggest a possible "last-minute" decision that would have Guadagnino hitting the Croissette.

That can’t be right. The Italian-born Guadagnino has yet to premiere any of his films at Cannes. If you include “Challengers,” seven of his nine films screened at Venice, with the only exceptions being “Call Me By Your Name” which had a very successful bow at Sundance 2017, and 2005’s “Mellissa P.” which entirely skipped festivals.

I reached out to a source close to the Venice Film Festival who told me that “Cannes absolutely wants the film, but Amazon has to decide where it wants to screen the film.”

Read between the lines, and it’s quite clear that “After the Hunt” has screened for Cannes, and that no decision has yet to be made about its premiere. Given that the film doesn’t release until October, I’m not entirely sure why Amazon would want to roll this one out six months in advance for Cannes’ unpredictable, and knife-sharpening, press.

“After the Hunt” was written by Nora Garrett (“Beirut”), and features an ensemble cast that includes Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Chloë Sevigny, Ayo Edibiri, and Michael Stuhlbarg. Cinematographer Malik Hassan (“Lemonade”) lensed the film.

The film, which test screened in December, has Roberts playing a Yale professor who hosts a dinner party for her colleagues and pupils. The next day, a student (Edibieri) accuses her professor (Garfield) of sexually assaulting her the night of the party. The rest of the film has Roberts navigating the situation, making sense of the accusations, and trying to figure out who the liar is, just as a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light. 

“After the Hunt” is reported to be highly stylized, albeit not in the in-your-face way of “Challengers” and “Queer.” Guadagnino tackles hot-button topics such as rape culture, trauma and #MeToo. Roberts is said to be “incredible” in the lead role, and this comes after Guadagnino himself told Marc Maron that he believes Roberts gives the performance of her career in the film.