Movies from some of Hollywood's biggest names including Leonardo DiCaprio and Bradley Cooper will be screened at this year's London Film Festival (LFF).
Major Irish and British stars including Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Mescal and Jodie Comer will appear in other films due to be shown. But the impact of Hollywood strikes means there's uncertainty over whether the stars themselves will appear. The 12-day event kicks off in London on Wednesday 4 October.
The line-up for this year's festival includes some of the year's most anticipated films. It includes Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, which stars DiCaprio and Robert De Niro and is based on the 2017 book of the same name.
Maestro, which stars Cooper as West Side Story composer Leonard Bernstein and Carey Mulligan as his actress wife Felicia Montealegre, will also screen at the festival. The film's trailer attracted controversy in August when some suggested Cooper's appearance played up to Jewish stereotypes, but Bernstein's family defended his performance.
Other highlights in the line-up include drama The Bikeriders, which features Comer, Tom Hardy and Elvis star Austin Butler. Elsewhere, the Book of Clarence, set in biblical times, will screen with performances from Cumberbatch and LaKeith Stanfield.
Oscar and Bafta winners
It was previously announced that aristocracy drama Saltburn, starring Barry Keoghan and directed by Emerald Fennell, will open the festival.
Keoghan won best supporting actor at the most recent Baftas for his performance in the Banshees of Inisherin, while Fennell won the best original screen play Oscar for Promising Young Woman in 2021. One Life, starring double Oscar-winner Sir Anthony Hopkins as the British humanitarian Sir Nicholas Winton, will be shown in a mid-festival gala slot.
The event's closing film will be London-set dystopian drama The Kitchen, co-directed by another Oscar winner, Daniel Kaluuya, along with Kibwe Tavares.
Hollywood strikes
The presence of stars on the red carpet of their films' premieres has always been an important element of the LFF. However, the ongoing Hollywood strikes involving writers and actors means some stars will not make appearances in London to promote their films.
Festival director Kristy Matheson said: “We feel very comfortable that we're going to have [red] carpets that are really buzzy.” But she acknowledged that, if the current situation continues into October, it will have an impact.
“Of course,” she says. “This strike is going to have an effect, as with all the Festivals.”
The Venice Film Festival began earlier this week, where Cooper's film will have its world premiere there at the weekend. Maestro is the first film Cooper has directed since A Star is Born. But he has already said he will not appear at Venice in solidarity with the strike.
Acclaimed directors
Other films being shown at the London Film Festival include animated sequel Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget; and fantasy romance All of us Strangers starring Mescal, Andrew Scott, Claire Foy and Jamie Bell.
There will also be new movies from acclaimed directors – David Fincher's The Killer starring Michael Fassbender; Yorgos Lanthimos's surreal drama Poor Things starring Emma Stone; and Sofia Coppola's Priscilla starring Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla Bealieu, who went on to marry Elvis Presley.
In total, the festival will be showing 160 features from 92 countries. The London Film Festival runs from 4 – 15 October 2023.
— CutC by bbc.com
