Stellar Venice film fest to host Lady Gaga, Brad Pitt

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 26 - The 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival will open on Wednesday, August 28, with Tim Burton's Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice the long awaited sequel to the director's cult 1988 fantasy horror comedy.
    The director will be accompanied by his partner, actress Monica Bellucci, and the protagonist Michael Keaton, the title's charismatic exorcist, Winona Ryder, Willem Defoe and Jenna Ortega.
    The follow-up is Out of Competition at the world's oldest film fest.
    This year's edition packed with Hollywood stars, which wraps up on September 7, will also present Sigourney Weaver with a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.
    Even stars without a film to be presented at the festival, like Richard Gere, will be in the lagoon city to attend events including the amfAR charity at the Nicelli airport on September1 or Oprah Winfrey, who will be Diane Von Furstenberg's guest at the Arsenale on August 29.
    Venice will also host leading Italian actors and directors including Valerio Mastandrea, Barbara Ronchi, Luca Marinelli, Alessandro Borghi, Nanni Moretti, Elio Germano, Toni Servillo, Fabrizio Gifuni, Alba Rohrwacher, Pierfrancesco Favino and Francesco Di Leva, to cite a few.
    In particular, the Italian movies in competition are Gianni Amelio's Battlefield; Maura Delpero's Vermiglio; Iddu by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza with Toni Servillo and Elio Germano; Luca Guadagnino's Queer starring Daniel Craig; and Giulia Steigerwalt's Diva Futura.
    Among the most highly anticipated stars to be at this year's festival are Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix (September 4), and the duo George Clooney - Brad Pitt for Wolfs (Sunday, September 1) with Pitt's ex-wife Angelina Jolie starring in Pablo Larrain's Maria (on August 29) on the last days of Maria Callas's exile in Paris.
    More stars to feature at the film extravaganza include Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton for Pedro Almodovar (on September 2), Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline for Disclaimer, the TV series by Alfonso Cuaron (August 29-30), Nicole Kidman for Babygirl by Halina Reijn (on August 30) with Antonio Banderas and a previously unseen Daniel Craig for Luca Guadagnino's Queer (September 3).
    Camille Cottin will star in Trois Amies on August 30 while August 31 will feature the screening of The Order, a film in competition with Jude Law and Tye Sheridan.
    Along with the couple Clooney-Pitt, Adrien Brody will also be in Venice on September 1 for The Brutalis by Brady Corbet and Vincent Lindon on September 4 for The Quiet Son.
    The ceremony to present the prizes awarded by the jury chaired by Isabelle Hupper will wrap up with Orto americano by Pupi Avati, Out of Competition and Horizon: An Americal saga chapter 1 and 2 with Kevin Costner and Sienna Miller. (ANSA).