Movies: Robert Pattinson, Woody Harrelson to get Deauville Festival Honors
Casey Affleck’s ‘A Ghost Story’ and Aubrey Plaza’s comedy ‘Ingrid Goes West’ are among the competition titles.
Robert Pattinson and Woody Harrelson will join this year’s Deauville Film Festival as honorees, with Pattinson picking up his award after canceling last year and Harrelson on hand to present his latest film, The Glass Castle.
They will join director Darren Aronofsky and actors Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern and Michelle Rodriguez in receiving honors at the weeklong festival.
This year’s lineup highlights independent films, festival organizers noted, with five being debut films. Online video players are also well represented, with Netflix’s Sweet Virginia, Amazon’s The Only Living Boy in New York and E-Cinema’s The Bachelors among the selections.
It will also be heavy on French premieres, with Tom Cruise’s American Made, Mandy Moore’s 47 Meters Down, Shirley MacLaine’s and Amanda Seyfried’s The Last Word, Jessica Chastain’s The Zookeeper’s Wife, Halle Berry’s Kidnap and Anronofsky’s Mother, starring Jennifer Lawrence.
Michael Radford’s The Music of Silence, starring Antonio Banderas, Terry George’s The Promise, Damiane Harris’ The Wilde Wedding and Alexandre Moors’ The Yellow Birds are also among the premieres.
“The competition reflects an America that is breaking apart, a troubled America, one in which the youth is in search of both its roots and its future. Sometimes violence clashes with morality and hope. The premieres often illustrate an America in which illusion looms larger than reality,” said festival organizer Bruno Barde.
David Lowery’s A Ghost Story, starring Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara; Kurt Voelkler’s The Bachelors, starring J.K. Simmons and Julie Delpy; Matt Spicer’s Ingrid Goes West, starring Elizabeth Olsen and Aubrey Plaza; Mark Webb’s Gifted, starring Chris Evans; and Jamie Dagg’s Sweet Virginia, the tale of an aging rodeo star starring John Bernthal and Imogen Poots, are among the competition titles.
Chloe Zao’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight winner The Rider is also in the running, along with Wayne Roberts’ young waitress story Katie Says Goodbye, Eliza Hittman’s bisexual coming-of- age story Beach Rats, Daryl Wein’s Chicago shooting drama Blueprint, Joshua Z. Weinstein’s Brooklyn Yiddish, about a single father in Hasidic Brooklyn, and Justin Chon’s Gook, about unlikely friends set against the 1992 L.A. riots are also among the titles.
Mark Myer’s My Friend Dahmer, about the infamous serial killer, Amman Abbasi’s Alabama-set drama Stupid Things, and Anahita Ghazvinizadeh’s teen transition story They round out the competition titles.
Oscar-winning The Artist director Michel Hazanavicius will head this year’s jury, alongside Benjamin Biolay, the singer who opened Cannes this year, actresses Emmnuelle Devos, Clotilde Hesme and Charlotte Le Bon, directors Axelle Ropert, Eric Largigau and Michel LeClerc, Carnage screenwriter Yasmina Reza and Mustang screenwriter Alice Winocour
The Revelation Jury, which selects from first films across any section, will be headed by Standing Tall director and Cannes best actress winner Emmanuelle Bercot, who will be joined by rapper Abd Al Malik, actresses Anais Demoustier and Leonor Varela, and actors Pio Marmai and Pierre Rochefort.
In the documentary category are Alexandre O. Philippe’s Psycho examination 78/52, Mark Kidel’s Becoming Cary Grant, Chris Perkel’s Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of our Lives, Eugene Jarecki’s Promised Land, Pacho Velez’s and Sierra Pettengill’s The Reagan Show, Jean-Baptiste Thoret’s We Blew It and Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power will screen.
In the TV category, HBO’s porn drama The Deuce will screen, with producers Michelle MacLaren, David Simon and George Pelecanos presenting.
Stephen King adaptation Mr. Mercedes, with screenwriter and producer David E. Kelley presenting, will round out the TV category.
The festival runs Sept. 1-10 in Deauville, France. Hollywood Reporter
