Venice Ripples and Romance

Dear Blog Readers–

I am still trying to get into the groove of the Venice Film Festival but I just want to give you a bit of behind-the-scenes color.  Yesterday was the big opening day kicking off with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in the film “Gravity” by Director Alfonso Cuaron.   In the film Bullock and Clooney play two astronauts lost in space after space debris destroys their spacecraft.

Bullock –who had a much bigger role– did a fantastic job in the film, although Clooney was great too.  The film is 3D and we all had to wear special red-framed glasses.  They were very effective and I found myself ducking in my seat when I felt like space debris was coming at me.

Clooney arrived at the Lido driving the water taxi he was in (although he handed the wheel back to the taxi driver just before the above shot), sparking articles in the Italian papers over whether the taxi driver should be given a fine. Apparently George Clooney should not be driving a water taxi without a proper license.  Venetians are feeling a little sensitive on the subject these days after a German tourist was killed when his gondola crashed into a water bus last week.  The Gondolier later tested positive for drugs.

The fans went wild over George who played up to the crowd cheerfully joking and signing autographs.

Sandra Bullock appeared to be in great physical shape during the film and when asked how she does it at the press conference she explained  “I have a 40 pound three-year-old who still is a baby and insists on being carried so I must stay strong.”

The whole Red Carpet scene is quite a show with dozens of professional camerapersons and photographers on the inside and hundreds of fans with small cameras, cell-phones, and video-cameras on the outside.

Today various British tabloids said that George was “making eyes” at Sandra, but in an interview with my AP Television colleague Louise Dixon today Sandra poured cold water on that rumor saying, “George is one of the most charming people in the world, but I have enough dirt on George and he’s seen enough of my dirt that we just have a level of respect and understanding. I adore him. He was not making eyes, maybe cross-eyes but that is about the extent of his goggle-eyes.”

I think I would be happy if George made “cross-eyes” at me.

Warner Brothers also released a taped interview with Clooney in which he said, “”Well, I knew her before she was Sandy Bullock and before I had much success either, so there is no pretense, we are just friends and when we see each other we are always happy to see each other.  We are very similar in the way we work and in many ways the way we approach life, and we have been for a very long time.  People always say we were separated at birth as brother and sister.”

There was also the occasionally amusing touch, such as Italian socialite Marina Ripa di Meana showing up with a birdcage hat.

Italian Film Director Bernardo Bertolucci, Oscar winner for “The Last Emperor” is the President of the Jury and after complaining in the press conference about having to see 20 films in two weeks, he said “I hope that the surprises that we will have from the Festival this year will be beyond all my hopes. ”  Bertolucci has been cruising around the film festival on his motorized wheelchair and I was surprised to have him sitting near me this morning in the screening of an Italian film “A Street in Palermo.”

“A Street in Palermo” was a compelling take on a Western Duel, with two women facing off in their cars on a narrow back street in Palermo, Sicily.  In  one car is a frustrated, middle-age lesbian with her lover, and in the other is a large Sicilian family driven by a mourning, elderly widow.  As the two drivers stand-off for hours, the drama unfolds around them.

I covered the press conference with the director, Emma Dante, and cast.  Dante said the stand-still with the cars was representative of  “where we are today.”  Italy has been in a state of economic stagnation in recent years with low growth and high unemployment.

I was particularly impressed by the Italian actress Elena Cotta who plays Samira, the elderly dueler in the film.  She did not say a word throughout the film but managed to express intense emotions.  In a press conference today Cotta said it was a “mind-blowing experience” to “be obliged to give up on speech and only express yourself with your face.”

To be continued….