Pedro Almodovar’s ‘Parallel Mothers’ Brings Lido To Its Feet With Nine-Minute Standing Ovation

2021 Emmy Awards. However, the veteran actress stopped the crowd in its standing tracks with her moving acceptance speech for Best Actress in a Comedy for “Hacks” on HBO Max.“I have to acknowledge my late husband, Richard Gilliland, who passed away six months yesterday,” said Smart, 70, who was clad in a sleek black gown with a classic updo.

Wicked,” “The Lion King, and “Hamilton” making their 2021 debuts — and theater fans could hardly contain their excitement.Playgoers who attended “Hamilton” at the Richard Rodgers bathed actors in applause during the Revolutionary War-era drama’s first staging in 18 months.The fanfare erupted before the curtains opened, as writer Lin Manuel Miranda addressed the pandemic weary capacity crowd.“It took six years the first time [to bring it to stage],” Miranda said.

Jamie Lang Spain has selected a high profile trio of films as finalists for the country’s 2021 International Feature Oscar submission.The favorite, at least at this early stage, is Pedro Almodóvar’s “Madres paralelas,” which just saw lead Penelope Cruz take the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival.

Liza Foreman The prospect of watching a two-and-a-half hour documentary on Oscar winning film composer Ennio Morricone, directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, a Oscar winner himself with “Cinema Paradiso,” saw cineastes stream into the film’s Friday evening world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.There was a quiet gathering on the red carpet for Tornatore and friends, who posed for photos as Morricone’s compelling soundtracks played for arrivals.Even before the film began, Tornatore received a

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Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorThe Venice crowd at the Sala Grande theater could not take their eyes off Anya Taylor-Joy during Edgar Wright’s trippy psychological thriller “Last Night in Soho.”But when the movie ended just after midnight on Saturday and the spotlight shone on the cast to receive applause from the festival attendees, as is tradition, Taylor-Joy was nowhere to be found.Had she left her own movie?Director Edgar Wright and Matt Smith applauded along with the crowd — as confusion

Dune” at the 78th annual Venice Film Festival, with a star-studded movie premiere that brought to mind how Hollywood used to throw a party in the days before the pandemic.But given the current realities of the world, the stars of “Dune” — including Javier Bardem, Zendaya, Stellan Skarsgaard, Oscar Isaac, Chen Chang, Sharon Duncan-Brewster and Josh Brolin — all donned masks inside the theater for the entirety of the film’s sprawling 155-minute runtime.The “Timothée” that practically all of Italy

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune had its official world premiere here at the Venice Film Festival on Friday evening and had the Sala Grande reverberating like a thropter as it gave the adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi classic a seven-minute standing ovation. Deadline was present and timed the applause, which ended only after the director humbly indicated that it was time to go.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorKristen Stewart as Princess Diana? You better believe it.Judging by the rapturous response at the premiere of “Spencer” at the Venice Film Festival on Friday afternoon, the 31-year-old actor has pulled off one of the most dazzling onscreen transformations of the year.As the closing credits of the dramatic film, which bills itself as a “fable” based on true events, the Venice crowd hooted and cheering, showering Stewart with a three-minute standing ovation.Stewart

Happy Friday International Insiders. Tom Grater here with the week’s top international news. To get this sent to your inbox every Friday, sign up here.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorIn recent years, the Venice Film Festival has become a launching pad for the Oscars, particularly as the Academy has added more international members to its voting body.On Thursday afternoon in Italy, Netflix scored a four-minute standing ovation for what could be one of its stronger awards contenders this year, Jane Campion’s period drama “The Power of the Dog.”As the crowd inside the Sala Grande cheered, Campion embraced stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten

Penelope Cruz and Milena Smit coordinate their black and white looks for the premiere of Madres Paralelas during the 2021 Venice International Film Festival on Wednesday (September 1) in Venice, Italy.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorAt the Venice Film Festival, the masks stay on, even during the standing ovation.At least that became protocol during the festival’s opening night movie, “Parallel Mothers,” on Wednesday night in Italy.Director Pedro Almodóvar and his muse Penelope Cruz didn’t so much as touch their face coverings during an enthusiastic five-minute standing ovation at the historic Sala Grande for the Spanish film.As soon as the credits rolled, Cruz leaned over and clutched

Venice Film Festival opened on Wednesday with the world premiere of Pedro Almodóvar’s “Parallel Mothers,” starring Penélope Cruz and Milena Smit, who strutted down the walled-in red carpet alongside other top talent, and Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella.Venice has been forced to place a wall-like outer barrier shielding the long catwalk entirely, in order to avoid close-knit crowds.

doing Almodóvar, leaning into all of his tics and obsession for this tale of two women whose lives become forever linked when they meet in a maternity ward.In a delightfully cheeky edit, fashion photographer Janis (Penelope Cruz) turns up at the ward nine-months pregnant and ready to burst just screen seconds after sleeping with Arturo (Israel Elejalde), the forensic anthropologist helping her fight to exhume a hometown mass-grave.

“You need to know what kind of country you’re living in!” Janis snaps at Ana — the much younger woman who shared her hospital ward when she was giving birth — in Parallel Mothers, the Venice Film Festival’s opener.

Penelope Cruz’s role in Pedro Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers (Madres Paralelas) is “one of the most difficult characters” she has ever played, the actress told the press corps at the Venice Film Festival this afternoon. It’s a good thing then that she made the movie with long time collaborator Almodovar, who she called, “my safety net. He can ask me to do something that can really scare me, but I know he will be there.”