Each year, the Venice Film Festival brings together actors from all over the world to
celebrate all the standout films of the year as well as the brilliant acting that took place in them.
This year the festival took place on August 31 - September 10. With such a large event there
was bound to be drama, and I am here to break down all of the tears, laughter, and joy that
happened at the festival this year.
To start us out let's talk about Brendan Fraser. You may know him from “The Mummy”
trilogy and “George of the Jungle” from Disney. He was a breakout star in the early 2000’s but as
of 2013, he was given smaller roles. The film that brought him back to the big screen is called “The
Whale.” It stars him alongside Sadie Sink (Max in “Stranger Things”). This movie
follows Fraser as a 600-pound gay man who wants to reconnect with his estranged 17-year old
daughter. After the movie was played, Fraser got a 6-minute standing ovation which he cried
through. We are so happy to see this icon receive the recognition that he deserves. You can see the
movie in theaters on December 9, 2022!
Many of you might have heard of this next movie. The excitement surrounding “Don’t
Worry Darling” is contagious. From the beginning, this film was full of drama: from the script, to
the actors, to the director. Let’s start with the budding romance behind the scenes. In
September 2020, people speculated that the director Olivia Wilde and Harry Styles were romantically
involved. This created controversy amongst her fans because Olivia Wilde had not yet publicly
split up from her husband of 10 years.. During the film festival, however, both Styles and Wilde seemed to not talk or associate with each other–many critics think that they might be on a break.
Before Harry Styles was cast as the main actor, Shia Labeouf was the main actor. When
rumors started that he was fired from the movie set, Olivia Wilde had this to say to Variety, “His
process was not conducive to the ethos that I demand in my productions. He has a process
that, in some ways, seems to require a combative energy, and I don’t personally believe that is
conducive to the best performances.” However, soon after this story hit the newsstands, Labeouf came with the time. He claimed that he left because he had issues with the script and scheduling conflicts. Main actress Florence Pugh also shared texts exchanged by the two actors stating that he left because the script was a mess.
The biggest piece of drama that is rumored is between Florence and Olivia. Pugh and Wilde had
personal and professional issues on and off set. First, Florence did not like the fact that she was
paid significantly less than Styles even though she is the main actress. She has more acting
experience than Styles and she is on screen far more than he is. The next issue that she had
was that when Wilde and Styles first got involved, Wilde and her husband were legally still together.
Florence did not agree with that. There was a lot of tension between the two and it ended up
that Florence did not do any press for the movie, and the only thing she agreed to do was walk
the carpet with all the actors. With all the drama surrounding this film and the actors within them
the only real way to see this first hand is to watch it unfold when the movie “Don't Worry Darling''
comes out in theaters September 23.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.