The Venice Film Festival starts tomorrow. International celebs and important movie folk will be there to attend the opening night film, Darren Aronofsky‘s BLACK SWAN. Natalie Portman plays a ballerina and the movie looks sensational. The only way Venice could be any more enticing tomorrow night is if Madonna were inexplicably in town to recreate her writhing-in-the-gondola Like a Virgin video.
All of Aronofsky’s movies (The Fountain, Requiem for a Dream, Pi, The Wrestler) feature characters who are totally losing their grip so expect Natalie Portman to mentally unravel while she pirouettes. Aronofsky is totally brilliant and deserves the type of attention that his contemporary Chris Nolan (Inception) regularly gets. They’re only a year apart in age and they both made their first features in 1998. But since Aronofsky’s biggest hit (The Wrestler) made less in its whole run than Inception did on opening weekend, he’ll have to wait for Nolan-size accolades and fandom. In the meantime he can console himself each night by going home to Rachel Weisz. That’s a fine consolation, yes?
Aronofsky is supposedly being considered to direct the X-Men Origins: Wolverine sequel which would reteam him with his Fountain star Hugh Jackman. It doesn’t seem like his type of movie and their last collaboration flopped but if it happens, a longshot “if”, he’s sure to get his first huge hit and we’re sure to get a sequel that’s a million times better than the original.
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