Venice at Home: Day 9 – Best Actors of Festivals Past

by Cláudio Alves

Neither Vahid Jalilvand nor Andrew Dominik is a newbie when it comes to the Venice Film Festival. Though the Iranian director never before competed for the Golden Lion, his films have won many prizes at the Lido, screening within the festival's parallel sections. Maybe Beyond the Wall can repeat the feat and nab some trophy from Julianne Moore's jury. As for Andrew Dominik, his adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' Blonde is already the topic of much controversy. Critics are divided regarding the movie's depiction of sexual exploitation – some see it as a ruthless dissection of celebrity culture, and others lament another voyeuristic desecration of Marilyn Monroe's personhood, intimacy, her legacy. 

For the Venice at Home program, let's remember two instances when these cineastes directed their leading men towards acting prizes. No Date, No Signature won Navis Mohammadzadeh the Venice Horizons Award in 2017. Ten years before that, Brad Pitt earned the Volpi Cup for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford…

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Showbiz History: Star Wars' Oscar Ceremony & Matthew Goode's Birthday Suit

8 random things that happened on this day in history (as it relates to showbiz). Happy April 3rd!

1882 Jesse James is Assassinated by the Coward Robert Ford (Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck recreating that for you above circa 2007).

1930 The 2nd Oscars are held with Broadway Melody taking Best Picture. (No film won more than 1 Oscar at that ceremony but that's less crazy than it sounds since there were only 7 categories then.)

1942 Zoltan Korda's The Jungle Book opens in movie theaters. It certainly won't be the last film adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's wild boy and jungle animals adventure but it receives the most Oscar nominations of any of them by far in four categories (Cinematography, Production Design, Visual Effects, and Original Score)

After the jump the historic 50th Oscar ceremony. So much good trivia awaits you...

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