The Venice International Film Festival will open its 79th edition with Noah Baumbach’s White Noise. White Noise is the first film released by Baumbach under an official partnership with the streamer and is the first Netflix film to open the Lido Festival. White Noise stars Adam Driver, who starred in Baumbach’s 2019 Marriage Story, and Greta Gerwig, Baumbach’s wife and film collaborator. It is based on the 1985 Don DeLillo novel of the same name.
Three years ago, Baumbach premiered Marriage Story in Venice and the film went on to earn six Oscar nominations and one win for Best Supporting Actress for Laura Dern. The Venice International Film Festival launch of White Noise is expected to bring worldwide publicity to the film and position it as a 2023 awards contender. In a statement, Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera praised the dark comedy calling it “an original, ambitious and compelling piece of art which plays with measure on multiple registers: dramatic, ironic, satirical."
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Baumbach had his own praise for the festival, saying:
White Noise will premiere in competition at Venice on August 31. The Festival is scheduled to run until September 10. Several other Netflix films will likely make their way to the festival, including Andrew Dominik’s anticipated fictionalized Marilyn Monroe film Blonde, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths and Romain Gavras’ Athena. The full lineup will be announced on July 26.
“This is a place that loves cinema so much, and it’s a thrill and a privilege to join the amazing films and filmmakers that have premiered here.”
What We Know About White Noise
Netflix
Adapted from the acclaimed novel by DeLillo, White Noise is the first time Baumbach does not use an original concept while directing. The satire criticizes American values and institutions, including marriage and consumerism, and is considered one of DeLillo’s most important works.
Just like the book, the film will take place in the 1980s. Driver plays the role of a mid-West professor who teaches Hitler Studies at a liberal arts college. He lives with his fourth wife Babbette (played by Gerwig), and their children, and the family face everyday issues. All is mostly normal until an “airborne toxic event” has the family staring death in the face. The film mixes everyday familial conflict with heavier matters like love, happiness and death.
White Noise stars Driver, Gerwig, Andre Benjamin, Alessandro Nivola, Jodie Turner-Smith and Don Cheadle. It was adapted and directed by Baumbach, who also served as producer alongside David Heyman and Uri Singer.
