The 2024 Venice Film Festival has officially commenced.
Hard to say whether the audience loved the opening night film “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” which scored laughs here and there, and many a gasp or two at the inventive effects that pull the film even more into body horror territory. But its standing ovation at the end was cut short by the venue flashing the lights to signal that the actors needed to leave.
While Jenna Ortega, the primary new addition to the world of “Beetlejuice” had been the draw who has lined hundreds of Italian teenagers along the Lido, inside the theater, it was national icon Monica Bellucci who got the biggest applause, and she also happened to be who director Tim Burton had on his arm entering the theater. They’ve been dating since last year.
Outside of the “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” cast members in attendance — like Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe, and returnees Michael Keaton, Catherina O’Hara, and Winona Ryder — some of the notable figures in attendance were comedian Sacha Baron Cohen (in town for the premiere of his new Apple TV+ series “Disclaimer”), Keaton’s Grammy-winning songwriter son Sean Douglas, members of several juries at Venice like competition jury president Isabelle Huppert, filmmaker Debra Granik, and actress Taylor Russell.
But the big moment preceding the screening was the opening ceremony where actress Sigourney Weaver accepted the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. A montage of her work in films like “Working Girl” and “Gorillas in the Mist” was sandwiched in between one clip of her possessed “Ghostbusters” character cooing, “Are you the keymaster?”
And there were plenty of clips of Weaver as Ripley in the “Alien” franchise, including her memorably shouting, “Get away from her, you bitch,” in “Aliens.” Fitting then for her to be surprised by a video message from its director, James Cameron, standing in front of an “Avatar”-themed background, reminiscing on their collaborations over the years, including her playing a teenaged alien in “Avatar: The Way of Water.” Cameron pointed out that Weaver is long overdue for an Oscar — she’s been nominated three times, mostly recently in 1989 for “Gorillas in the Mist” — and so the filmmaker appealed to potential Academy members in the room.
Weaver mostly accepted the award in Italian, but some highlights via translation include her saying, “I want to roar,” as she held the gold statue of the lion, and, “Thank you for this jet fuel of encouragement.” Of her versatility, Weaver said, “I have been able to soar all over the world like a hummingbird, darting through time and space and genre, managing to elude whatever box Hollywood might want to put me in — or maybe, I’m just too tall!”
