What an odd choice, especially given the timing.
Coming off “The Bride!,” Maggie Gyllenhaal has been named Jury President for the 83rd Venice Film Festival, running from September 2 to 12.
The last six presidents have been Alexander Payne, Isabelle Huppert (2024), Damien Chazelle, Julianne Moore, Bong Joon-ho, and Cate Blanchett.
Gyllenhaal premiered her directorial debut at Venice 2021 with “The Lost Daughter,” which won the festival’s best screenplay award. More recently, and less successfully, Gyllenhaal directed “The Bride!,” a feminist take on the “Frankenstein” myth starring Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Penélope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, and Jake Gyllenhaal, which was recently released in the U.S.
Venice chief Alberto Barbera said, “Her perspective on cinema, both intellectual and visceral, has found further confirmation in the recent film ‘The Bride!’, which consolidates her stature as an original filmmaker. Having her as the president of our jury means being able to rely on an authoritative and independent voice, animated by that authentic passion for arthouse cinema which has always represented the heart of the festival,” he added.
It’s a slightly odd bit of timing that Gyllenhaal steps into one of the most prestigious roles in world cinema the very same year she’s coming off a high-profile stumble. “The Bride!” is still fresh, a film that, despite its ambition and star power, failed critically and commercially. It was just not good. Gyllenhaal was in over her head—madly ambitious, but with a delivery so clunky it never cohered into anything engaging.
Regardless, Gyllenhaal is jury president, and it’s now looking like a very promising Venice lineup is taking shape for September. Some of the rumored directors vying for competition include David Fincher, Joel Coen, Mike Leigh, Luca Guadagnino, Martin McDonagh, Lee Chang-dong, Werner Herzog, Paul Schrader, Andrew Haigh, and Hirokazu Kore-eda.
The announcement and trailer for A24’s “You Can See Everything,” a 174-minute documentary about Elizabeth Holmes made by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, premiered last night at Telluride.