The space race drama, First Man, directed by Oscar winner Damien (La La Land) Chazelle, will open the 75th Venice Film Fest, on Wednesday, August 29.
This marks the second opening-night Venice bow for Chazelle. His previous film, La La Land, kicked off the fest in 2016 before tying the all-time Oscar nominations record. Chazelle won the Best-Director Oscar, while Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, which premiered at Telluride, won Best Picture.
A Universal release, First Man stars Ryan Gosling as astronaut Neil Armstrong before the Apollo 11 moon-landing mission of 1969.
Claire Foy (“The Crown”) also stars as Armstrong’s wife, Janet Shearon.
Kyle Chandler, Jason Clarke, Corey Stoll, Ciaran Hinds, Christopher Abbott, and Patrick Fugit fill out the rest of the cast.
With the exception of Alexander Payne’s “Downsizing,” which roved to be both an artistic and commercial disappointment, Venice has an excellent track record in choosing opening nights that are Oscar-caliber movies: “Birdman,” “Gravity,” and “Black Swan.”
The 75th annual Venice Film Festival runs August 29–September 8.
Guillermo del Toro, whose Oscar-winning film The Shape of Water premiered in Venice last year, will head the festival jury.
