White Noise

Source: Venice Film Festival

‘White Noise’

Noah Baumbach’s White Noise starring Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig will open the 79th Venice International Film Festival in competition on August 31.

White Noise is the first film in Baumbach’s multi-year partnership with Netflix, signed in January 2021. It marks the filmmaker’s return to the Lido, having debuted Oscar-winner Marriage Story, also a Netflix title, there in 2019.

The film an adaptation of Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel, about a contemporary US family’s attempts to deal with the mundane conflicts of everyday life while grappling with universal mysteries of love, death and the possibility of happiness.

“It was worth waiting for the certainty that the film was finished to have the pleasure to make this announcement,” said Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera, who said the film “examines our obsessions, doubts, and fears as captured in the 1980s, yet with very clear references to contemporary reality.”

Alongside Driver and Gerwig, the cast includes Don Cheadle, Screen Star of Tomorrow 2013 Raffey Cassidy, siblings Sam Nivola and May Nivola, Jodie Turner-Smith, Andre L. Benjamin (also known by his stage name Andre 3000) and Lars Erdinger.

The film is produced by Baumbach, David Heyman and Uri Singer. It will play in the Sala Grande at the Palazzo del Cinema on the opening night.

Marriage Story debuted in competition in 2019, going on to five Bafta nominations and six Oscar nominations, with one win at each – best supporting actress for Laura Dern.

The full Venice line-up will be released tomorrow (July 26) at 10am BST.