Julia Roberts' 'After the Hunt' stirs #MeToo debate at Venice Film Festival

Julia Roberts and filmmaker Luca Guadagnino faced pointed questions about complicity and undermining the feminist movement at a news conference for “After the Hunt” on Friday at the Venice Film Festival.

The film, set in the world of higher education where Roberts plays a beloved philosophy professor, revolves around an accusation of misconduct. Her mentee, played by Ayo Edebiri, accuses her friend and colleague, played by Andrew Garfield, of crossing the line. Nora Garrett’s screenplay does not offer easy or simple resolutions.

One reporter asked Roberts if she thought the film undermines the feminist movement and progress of the #MeToo movement.

“I don’t necessarily think it revives an old argument of women being pitted against one another,” Roberts said.

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“After the Hunt” screened Thursday night for press and industry before it premiered Friday evening and quickly sparked debate around the festival, though most everyone seemed to agree about Roberts’ outstanding performance. It received a six minute ovation after its premiere.

For Roberts, who joked that she loved “the softball questions early in the morning,” the point is the conversations the film provokes. The tagline on the poster even reads “not everything is supposed to make you feel comfortable.”

“That’s how we wanted it to feel,” Roberts said. “Everyone comes out with all these different feelings and emotions and points of views. And you realize what you believe in strongly and what your convictions are because we stir it all up for you. So, you’re welcome.”

Guadagnino jumped in as well, saying, “It’s how we see the clash of truths. It’s not about making a manifesto to revive old fashioned values.”

Roberts added that they’re not making statements with “After the Hunt.” Rather, she likes to think of it like a camera dropped out of the sky to capture these characters in this thorny moment where everyone seems to be lying to themselves and to others.

“We’re kind of losing the art of conversation in humanity right now,” Roberts said. “If making this movie does anything, getting everyone to talk to each other is the most exciting thing we could accomplish.”

The film, which Amazon MGM Studios will release in North American theaters on Oct. 10, also uses a familiar-looking font for its opening credits: The Windsor-style typeface made famous by Woody Allen in some of his most famous films, from “Annie Hall” to “Crimes and Misdemeanors.” When asked why he chose this, Guadagnino said the crass answer is, “Why not?”

Guadagnino did elaborate on this choice, saying that when he and his collaborators were putting “After the Hunt” together, they couldn’t stop thinking about how linked it felt to the “great oeuvre of Woody Allen” between the years of 1985 and 1991.

“I felt it was an interesting nod to thinking of an artist who has been in a way facing some sort of problems about his being and what is our responsibility of working with an artist we love,” he said.

The film is not playing in the main competition at the festival, so it won’t be up for any awards on Sept. 6, but it’s a return to a familiar site for Guadagnino. Last year he brought “Queer,” with Daniel Craig, and several years ago had “Bones & All,” with Timothée Chalamet. His tennis love triangle film “Challengers,” with Zendaya, was supposed to open Venice in 2023 but the Hollywood strikes upended much of that year’s festival and it was pulled.

Roberts is not a Venice newcomer either, having worked in the city in the past, but this does mark her first time at the festival.

“It’s so magical,” Roberts said of the city, though this trip, she said “I have not done anything outside of work.”

Three days in, the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival is in full swing with many major premieres to come including Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” Benny Safdie’s “The Smashing Machine” and Kathryn Bigelow’s “A House of Dynamite.”