News

Pedro Alonso, much like Berlin, the character he plays in Money Heist, is distinguished, charming and charismatic. The success of the Netflix crime series has made the Spanish actor a global star and his fame has only gone up since the launch, on Dec. 29, of Money Heist prequel Berlin, in which he reprises his role as the conniving, manipulative thief who is also a hopeless romantic.

Alonso admits to feeling “vertigo” at the level of media exposure that came with the international success of Money Heist but says he doesn’t worry about being typecast in the role. Instead, he sees the chance to return to Berlin in the spin-off series a “vital gift [both] narrative and professional.”

THR Roma spoke to Alonso about why Berlin is as much a romantic comedy as a crime thriller, the “paradox” of its central character, who is both a romantic and “an emotional terrorist...

The 2023 Venice Film Festival persevered despite a dimmed Hollywood presence, with much of the onscreen talent sitting this year’s Lido event out due to the strikes. There in Italy, however, were directors like Michael Mann, David Fincher, Yorgos Lanthimos, Ava DuVernay, Wes Anderson, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Richard Linklater, Sofia Coppola, and even Woody Allen to present their latest films and do the talking on behalf of their sidelined actors.

Saturday at the Sala Grande, the jury headed up by president Damien Chazelle revealed the winners of the 2023 competition awards. Jurors including Martin McDonagh, Jane Campion, and Mia Hansen-Løve saw 23 movies over the last week and a half, including Lanthimos’ raved-about “Poor Things,” Coppola’s well-liked “Priscilla,” Bertrand Bonello’s daring “The Beast,” Fincher’s assassin thriller “The Killer,” Bradley Cooper’s Oscar hopeful “Maestro,” Mann’s gripping “Ferrari,” and more.

Word on the Lido was highest for eventual Golden Lion winner “Poor Things,...

Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, a fantastical feminist fable starring Emma Stone as a woman reanimated by a Frankenstein-style Victorian scientist (Willem Dafoe), has won the Golden Lion for best film at the 80th Venice International Film Festival.

The Hollywood Reporter critics praised the film — which includes a potentially career-defining performance by star Emma Stone as Isabella Baxter, the woman who struggles to understand the restrictive patriarchy of the world around her, and then proceeds to dismantle it.

In his acceptance speech, Lanthimos said it took a long time to make the movie, his first since 2018 Oscar winner The Favourite, “until the world, until our industry, was ready for this film.” He singled out Stone for praise.

“Above all, this film is the central character of Isabella Baxter, this incredible creature, and she wouldn’t exist without Emma Stone, another incredible creature. This film is her, in front and behind the camera.