Kidman starrer joins Deauville roll call

Brian Grazer signs for tribute list.

by Richard Mowe

Nicole Kidman as she appears in Before I Go To Sleep
Nicole Kidman as she appears in Before I Go To Sleep

The annual Gallic splurge devoted to American cinema in Deauville is hotting up for its 40th edition next month with a line-up that includes premieres for the Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth mystery drama Before I Go To Sleep as well as a slew of titles in competition, among them Shailene Woodley's White Bird In A Blizzard, Reese Witherspoon's The Good Lie, Mike Cahill’s I Origins, David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows, Sundance favourite Cold In July with Michael C. Hall and Love is Strange starring John Lithgow and Marisa Tomei.

Announcing the full programme earlier today (20 August) director Bruno Barde revealed that producer Brian Grazer will join Jessica Chastain, Will Ferrell and Ray Liotta for special tributes.

Marisa Tomei stars in Love Is Strange opposite John Lithgow
Marisa Tomei stars in Love Is Strange opposite John Lithgow

As well as Before I Go To Sleep (released in the UK on 5 September) Deauville will give gala screenings to Chris Messina’s Alex Of Venice, starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and the European premiere of Guillermo del Toro’s television series The Strain.

The week-long event (from 5 to 13 September) will also see director John McTiernan receive a career tribute and give a masterclass on 7 September.

Oscar-winner James Cameron will receive the festival’s newly-created 40th Anniversary Award. It is hoped he will attend but is said to be busy working on Avatar and is expected to finalise his plans for the festival next week.

The late Robin Williams and Lauren Bacall will receive special homages with tributes and special screenings of their best-loved titles. For Williams this will include Good Will Hunting, Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poets Society and Mrs Doubtfire. Bacall classics will comprise To Have And Have Not, The Big Sleep, Dark Passage and Key Largo.

The late Yul Brynner has also been named a Deauville Legend and will be honoured for his contribution to film with a career retrospective.

A brunette Reece Witherspoon appears in The Good Lie
A brunette Reece Witherspoon appears in The Good Lie

The recently named new Cannes Film Festival president Pierre Lescure will join the jury led by Costa-Gavras, and whose ranks include Emmanuelle Beart, Vincent Lindon, directors Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Andre Techiné and Claude Lelouch as well as dancer Marie-Claude Pietragalla. The competition features 14 titles.

Featured in the official selection but out of competition are Camp X-Ray with Kristen Stewart, and the James Brown biopic Get On Up. Rory Kennedy’s Last Days In Vietnam and Roger Ebert biography Life Itself appear in the documentary section.

The Michel D’Ornano prize, which honours the best first French film, will go to Jeanne Herry’s comedy Elle L’Adore, which will be bestowed with the main prizes during the closing ceremony 13 September.

Full details:

In Competition:

  • A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (dir Ana Lily Amirpour)
  • I Origins (Mike Cahill)
  • It Follows (David Robert Mitchell)
  • Jamie Marks Is Dead (Carter Smith)
  • Cold In July ( Jim Mickle)
  • Love Is Strange (Ira Sachs)
  • The Better Angels (A.J. Edwards)
  • The Good Lie (Philippe Falardeau)
  • Things People Do (Saar Klein)
  • A Most Wanted Man (Anton Corbijin)
  • Uncertain Terms (Nathan Silver)
  • War Story (Mark Jackson)
  • Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)
  • White Bird in a Blizzard (Gregg Araki)

Official Selection: Out of Competition

  • Camp X-Ray (Peter Sattler)
  • Chef (Jon Favreau)
  • Deepsea Challenge 3D (James Cameron)
  • Get On Up (Tate Taylor)
  • Infinitely Polar Bear (Maya Forbes)
  • Land Ho! (Martha Stephens and Aaron Katz)
  • Anchorman 2 (Adam McKay)
  • The Boxtrolls (Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable)
  • The Hundred-Foot Journey (Lasse Hallstrom)
  • Magic In The Moonlight (Woody Allen)
  • The Disappearance Of Eleanor Rigby: Them (Ned Benson)

Documentaries

  • Last Days in Vietnam (Rory Kennedy)
  • Life Itself (Steve James)
  • National Gallery (Frederick Wiseman)
  • Red Army (Gabe Polsky)
  • The Go-Go Boys (Hilla Medalia)

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