I’m not sure if I will ever get a chance to cover the Venice Film Festival, but after Cannes and Toronto it is certainly the next international festival I’d like to attend, with Berlin’s festival up there as well, and this year’s opening film has me wanting to be in attendance more than ever.
It was just announced Alfonso Cuaron‘s long-delayed and highly anticipated sci-fi Gravity will open the 2013 Venice Film Festival in 3D on August 28. The film stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as a pair of astronauts whose shuttle is destroyed, leaving them alone in the silence of space.
I’ve included the trailer for the film below, which I’ve heard mixed reactions over. Many look on terrified while others hear Bullock’s voice at the end of the trailer saying, “Anybody, please copy,” and actually laughing as she floats off into space… seemingly lost forever.
Gravity initially locked down a November 21, 2013 release date, then flirted with early 2014 dates before finally landing an October 4 release. The reason given for the delay was the film’s extensive special effects, but it’s only natural to have a little bit of skepticism as a result. Fingers are crossed by all that it will be as good as we want it to be.
Back in August 2011, Guillermo del Toro commented on the film saying, “Alfonso and [cinematographer] Emmanuel Lubezki are absolutely pushing a new boundary in filmmaking, and completely [it’s] mind-blowing… The way they’re making [Gravity], I think, will forever change certain types of productions. The engineering and ingenuity of the machines they created to film that way is fantastic.”
What he’s talking abot we’ll have to wait and see, for now the first look will come on August 28 in Venice and I expect it will follow that up with a Toronto appearance. The 70th Venice Film Festival runs from August 28 – September 7.
