Sylvester Stallone & Eva Mendes + Firth Gay Drama: Venice Film Festival

Colin Firth, Nicholas Hoult, Tom Ford, Julianne Moore and Matthew Goode.

Julianne Moore, Colin Firth, Matthew Goode: ‘A Single Man’ at the Venice Film Festival

Actors Julianne Moore, Colin Firth, Matthew Goode, and Nicholas Hoult, along with fashion designer-turned-filmmaker Tom Ford, are pictured above at the premiere of Queer Lion winner – for Best LGBT Film – A Single Man at the 2009 Venice Film Festival.

Loosely adapted by Tom Ford and and David Scearce from Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel, A Single Man chronicles one day – in late November 1962 – in the life of a middle-aged, Los Angeles college professor feeling suicidal after the sudden death of his lover of 16 years in a car accident.

Following his Best Actor win at Venice, Colin Firth could now be considered a major contender for the 2010 Academy Awards. A Single Man opens in limited release in the U.S. later this year.

Best Actor Colin Firth

For his performance as the bereaved college professor, Colin Firth was named Best Actor in Venice. Matthew Goode (Match Point) plays his deceased lover while four-time Academy Award nominee Julianne Moore is an old friend who still has feelings for Firth’s character.

Additionally, Nicholas Hoult, best known as the Hugh Grant stalker in Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz’s About a Boy, plays a clever student who understands that education is oftentimes found far away from books. Also in the A Single Man cast: Ginnifer Goodwin and Paulette Lamori.

More images of ‘A Single Man’ cast and director

Below are a few more Venice Film Festival images featuring A Single Man cast members Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode, and Nicholas Hoult, in addition to director/co-screenwriter Tom Ford.

Julianne Moore.

Colin Firth.

Nicholas Hoult.

Julianne Moore, Tom Ford and Colin Firth.

Images of A Single Man cast members Julianne Moore, Colin Firth, Nicholas Hoult, Matthew Goode, and director Tom Ford: Courtesy of the Venice Film Festival.

Colin Firth in A Single Man (top); Firth and Matthew Goode play lovers in A Single Man (bottom)

Winner of the Queer Lion for best gay-themed film, A Single Man chronicles the emotional struggles of a suicidal middle-aged college professor mourning the sudden death of his partner of 16 years in a car accident. During that period – one day in 1962 in Los Angeles (a time when gay sex was still illegal in California) – the world is facing the Cuban missile crisis.

Loosely based on Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel, A Single Man was directed by fashion designer-turned-filmmaker Tom Ford, and adapted by Ford and David Scearce.

Colin Firth, Julianne Moore in A Single Man

Colin Firth won the best actor award at the 2009 Venice Film Festival for his portrayal of the bereaved professor. Matthew Goode plays his lover and Julianne Moore is an old friend still pining for Firth’s character.

Also in the A Single Man cast: Nicholas Hoult (best known as the weird kid in About a Boy) as a clever student who understands that education isn’t found only in books, Ginnifer Goodwin, and Paulette Lamori.

Julianne Moore (top); Tom Ford directs Colin Firth on the set of A Single Man

“It’s no surprise that the feature film directing debut of fashion designer Tom Ford is a thing of heart-stopping beauty,” wrote Wendy Ide in the London Times. “He celebrates the male form with a sensual reverence. He uses colour with the visual articulacy of Wong Kar-Wai and frames his shots with elegance and wit. It looks like a Wallpaper magazine photo shoot styled by Douglas Sirk. But what is a little more unexpected, certainly for those who were suspicious of Ford’s background in the ephemeral world of fashion, is that this is no frothy, throwaway piece of pretty silliness. Rather it’s a work of emotional honesty and authenticity which announces the arrival of a serious filmmaking talent.”

Organizers of the Queer Lion award praised A Single Man for “the formal perfection of this portrayal of a man and the dignity of his love, which reminds us of the absolute necessity of laws guaranteeing the equality of rights, so that all love can be lived openly in the light of day.”

Photos: Courtesy Venice Film Festival

Sylvester Stallone, Maria Grazia Cucinotta and Marco Muller: ‘Glory to the Filmmaker’ Award.

Sylvester Stallone receives ‘Glory to the Filmmaker’ Award: Venice Film Festival

Il Postino actress Maria Grazia Cucinotta and Venice Film Festival director Marco Muller were on hand to present the “Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker” Award to American actor-director-screenwriter-producer Sylvester Stallone at the Sala Grande during the 66th Venice Film Festival on Sept. 12, ’09. (Click on the image above to enlarge it.)

Check out more images from the “Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker” Award ceremony further below.

Sylvester Stallone movies

The New York City-born (on July 6, 1946) Sylvester Stallone – a Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay Academy Award nominee for Rocky – has been featured in more than 50 movies in the last four decades. Here are a few of them:

• The Party at Kitty and Stud’s / Italian Stallion (1970).
  Director: Morton M. Lewis.
  Cast: Sylvester Stallone as Stud. Henrietta Holm as Kitty.
• Rocky (1976).
  Director: John G. Avildsen.
  Cast: Talia Shire. Burt Young. Burgess Meredith.
• F.I.S.T. (1978).
  Director: Norman Jewison.
  Cast: Rod Steiger. Peter Boyle. Melinda Dillon. Kevin Conway. Tony Lo Bianco.
• First Blood (1982).
  Director: Ted Kotcheff.
  Cast: Richard Crenna. Brian Dennehy. Bill McKinney. Jack Starrett.
• Rhinestone (1984).
  Director: Bob Clark.
  Cast: Dolly Parton. Richard Farnsworth. Tim Thomerson. Ron Leibman.
• Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985).
  Director: George P. Cosmatos.
  Cast: Richard Crenna. Charles Napier. Steven Berkoff. Julia Nickson. Martin Kove.
• Cobra (1986).
  Director: George P. Cosmatos.
  Cast: Brigitte Nielsen. Reni Santoni. Andrew Robinson. Brian Thompson. John Herzfeld.
• Oscar (1991).
  Director: John Landis.
  Cast: Chazz Palminteri. Yvonne De Carlo. Don Ameche. Richard Romanus. Joey Travolta. Linda Gray. Vincent Spano. Eddie Bracken. Marisa Tomei. Kurtwood Smith. Ken Howard. Ornella Mutti. Tim Curry. William Atherton. Harry Shearer. Martin Ferrero. Paul Greco. Uncredited: Kirk Douglas.
• Demolition Man (1993).
  Director: Marco Brambilla.
  Cast: Sandra Bullock. Wesley Snipes. Nigel Hawthorne. Benjamin Bratt.
• Judge Dredd (1995).
  Director: Danny Cannon.
  Cast: Armand Assante. Rob Schneider. Jürgen Prochnow. Max von Sydow. Diane Lane. Joanna Miles. Joan Chen. Balthazar Getty. Ewen Bremner.
• Cop Land (1997).
  Director: James Mangold.
  Cast: Ray Liotta. Robert De Niro. Harvey Keitel. Peter Berg. Janeane Garofalo. Robert Patrick. Michael Rapaport. Annabella Sciorra. Noah Emmerich. Cathy Moriarty. John Spencer. Frank Vincent.
• Get Carter (2000).
  Director: Stephen Kay.
  Cast: Miranda Richardson. Rachael Leigh Cook. Michael Caine (who had starred in the 1971 original).
• Avenging Angelo (2002).
  Director: Martyn Burke.
  Cast: Madeleine Stowe. Anthony Quinn. Raoul Bova. Harry Van Gorkum. Billy Gardell.

Sylvester Stallone will next be seen in the actioner The Expendables, directed by himself, and featuring Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, and Steve Austin.

The 2009 Venice Film Festival ran Sept. 2–12.

‘Glory to the Filmmaker’ photos

Below are more images from the “Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker” Award ceremony honoring Sylvester Stallone, in addition to a press conference attended by the Rocky and Rambo star.

Sylvester Stallone at a press conference at the Palazzo del Casino.

Sylvester Stallone receives the ‘Glory to the Filmmaker’ Award.

Sylvester Stallone with Venice Film Festival director Marco Muller.

Sylvester Stallone with Jaeger-LeCoultre International Public Relations Director Isabelle Gervais.

Sylvester Stallone.

Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Isabelle Gervais, Marco Muller, and Sylvester Stallone photos: François Durand / 2009 Getty Images. Courtesy: Jaeger-LeCoultre.

David Gozlan, William Nadylam, Isabelle Huppert, Christopher Lambert and Claire Denis: ‘White Material’ photocall.

Isabelle Huppert, Christopher Lambert: Venice Film Festival

Actors David Gozlan, William Nadylam, Isabelle Huppert, and Christopher Lambert, and director Claire Denis attended the White Material photocall at the Palazzo del Casino during the 2009 Venice Film Festival.

Set in an unnamed French-speaking African country, White Material stars Isabelle Huppert as a French coffee plantation owner whose livelihood – and life – are imperiled by civil war. Christopher Lambert plays her husband.

Christopher Lambert movies

Christopher Lambert, of course, is the star of Russell Mulcahy’s Highlander (1986), also featuring Sean Connery. He also played Tarzan in Hugh Hudson’s Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984), with Andie MacDowell as Miss Jane Porter; Isabelle Adjani’s partner in Luc Besson’s Subway (1985); and Salvatore Giuliano in Michael Cimino’s The Sicilian (1987), with Terence Stamp.

In recent years, Lambert was seen in Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales (2006), Jenö Hodi’s Metamorphosis (2007), and Jérôme Dassier’s The Chauffeur (2008), among others.

Giovanna Mezzogiorno at the ‘Negli Occhi’ photocall at the Palazzo del Casino.

Giovanna Mezzogiorno

Italian film star Giovanna Mezzogiorno was on hand in Venice for the premiere of the documentary In the Eyes / Negli occhi, directed by Daniele Anzellotti and Francesco Del Grosso. The film offers a glimpse into the life and career of her father, stage and movie actor Vittorio Mezzogiorno (Three Brothers, The Moon in the Gutter), who died of heart attack at age 52 in Jan. 1994.

Besides Giovanna Mezzogiorno, others featured in In the Eyes include:

Marco Bellocchio. Peter Brook. Carlo Lizzani. Gianni Minà. Michele Placido. Francesco Rosi.

More Venice images: Tilda Swinton, Oliver Stone

Pictured further below is Tilda Swinton making a fashion statement in a black dress at the premiere of Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant, starring Matt Damon. In another image, she makes a fashion statement in white.

As an aside, Swinton is one of the leads in Joel and Ethan Coen’s Burn After Reading, which had its premiere at Venice last year. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Frances McDormand star.

Two-time Best Director Oscar winner Oliver Stone (Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July) was in Venice for a screening of his documentary South of the Border, written by Mark Weisbrot and Tariq Ali, and featuring interviews with several South American presidents, including Argentina’s Cristina Kirchner, Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, and Brazil’s Lula.

The 2009 Venice Film Festival runs Sept. 2–22.

Giovanna Mezzogiorno at the ‘In the Eyes’ premiere.

Isabelle Huppert.

Christopher Lambert.

Tilda Swinton in black at ‘The Informant’ premiere.

Tilda Swinton in white.

Oliver Stone.

Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Oliver Stone, Tilda Swinton photos: François Durand / 2009 Getty Images. Courtesy: Jaeger-LeCoultre.

Edward R. Pressman, Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes and Werner Herzog.

Eva Mendes, Werner Herzog: Venice Film Festival

The image above features actors Eva Mendes and Nicolas Cage, director Werner Herzog, and producer Edward R. Pressman at the Jaeger-LeCoultre-hosted Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans dinner held at Cipriani during the 66th Venice Film Festival. (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

Written by William M. Finkelstein, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans follows a detective (Nicolas Cage) with some serious drug and gambling issues as he investigate the murder of five Senegalese immigrants in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Also in the cast: Val Kilmer, Fairuza Balk, Jennifer Coolidge, Xzibit, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Brad Dourif, Tom Bower, and Irma P. Hall.

Werner Herzog movies

Since the early 1960s, the Munich-born Werner Herzog has directed more than 50 films, including shorts and features, narrative and documentary efforts. Titles include:

• Aguirre, the Wrath of God / Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1972).
  Cast: Klaus Kinski. Helena Rojo. Del Negro. Ruy Guerra.
• The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser / Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle (1974).
  Cast: Bruno S. Walter Ladengast. Brigitte Mira.
• Nosferatu the Vampyre / Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979).
  Cast: Klaus Kinski. Isabelle Adjani. Bruno Ganz.

More Venice Film Festival images

Pictured below are Eva Mendes, Werner Herzog, et al. in a couple of other images at the Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans dinner; and the Bad Lieutenant group joined by Michael Shannon at the film’s photocall.

Also: Ewan McGregor at the premiere of Grant Heslov’s The Men Who Stare at Goats, also featuring George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, and Kevin Spacey; and the cast of Yonfan’s Hong Kong-Taiwanese drama Prince of Tears: Fan Chih-Wei, Xuan Zhu, Terry Kwan, and Joseph Chang.

A family-political drama set in Taiwan, Prince of Tears depicts the plight of two sisters whose parents are arrested and accused of being spies for Mainland China. (Click on the Prince of Tears photocall image to enlarge it.)

The 2009 Venice Film Festival runs Sept. 2–12.

Eva Mendes.

Edward R. Pressman, Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Jaeger-LeCoultre International Public Relations Director Isabelle Gervais and Werner Herzog.

Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes.

Eva Mendes.

Werner Herzog and Michael Shannon.

Ewan McGregor.

Fan Chih-Wei, Xuan Zhu, Terry Kwan and Joseph Chang.

Images of Werner Herzog, Edward R. Pressman, Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes at the Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans dinner: François Durand / 2009 Getty Images. Courtesy: Jaeger-LeCoultre.

Fan Chih-Wei, Xuan Zhu, Terry Kwan, Joseph Chang, Ewan McGregor, Werner Herzog, Michael Shannon, Nicolas Cage, and Eva Mendes photocall images: Courtesy Venice Film Festival.

Venice Film Festival website.