It took almost a week, but the 81st Venice Film Festival welcomed its biggest and arguably best red carpet of this year’s ceremony, as Brad Pitt, George Clooney and their respective partners held the first official screening of Wolfs on Sunday night.
Brad, 60, looked dapper as he made his red carpet debut with his glamorous girlfriend Ines de Ramon, 34, a jewelry designer whom he has been dating for about two years, at the premiere.
It was a double date night as Brad’s long-time friend George, 63, was on the red carpet with his wife Amal, 46, an international human rights lawyer who turned heads in a glamorous yellow dress.
In the film, George and Brad play crime “cleanup” specialists who are unexpectedly hired for the same job: disposing of a dead body in a hotel room.
The leads were reportedly paid $35 million each to star in the adventure film, and had insisted on releasing it in theaters.
It took almost a week, but the 81st Venice Film Festival welcomed its biggest and arguably best red carpet of this year’s ceremony, as Brad Pitt, George Clooney and their partners held the first official screening of Wolfs on Sunday.
Brad, 60, looked dapper as he made his red carpet debut with his glamorous girlfriend Ines de Ramon, 34, a jewelry designer whom he has been dating for about two years, at the premiere.
But Apple’s creators changed their minds and the film, which according to sources close to the film cost up to 200 million dollars in total, will now only be released in US cinemas for one week.
In all other territories it will be streamed directly, making it easily the most expensive TV movie ever made.
Apple’s about-face follows a string of expensive films made by the streaming service, including Napoleon, Killers of the Flower Moon and Argylle, which all flopped in theaters.
Clooney denied his fee was worth $35 million, saying the actual figure was “many, many millions below” that amount.
But he added that it was a shame how it all turned out.
He said: “We would have liked to, we wanted it, and Brad and I gave back part of our salaries to make it happen. We’ve had some bumps in the road, and that happens.
“It’s a shame, of course it’s a shame, but a lot of people are going to see the film and we’re going to release it in a few hundred cinemas. It would have been nice to be able to release it more widely.”
He said the economics of streaming are still being “figured out” but added: “We’re figuring out how it works. We need Apple and Amazon and they need Sony or Warner, who have been doing this for a hundred years.”
Pitt said: “I love the existence of streamers because we get to see more stories, more talent and more eyes seeing them, but it’s a delicate balance.”
Asked why a movie with two big stars was going straight to the streaming platform, Clooney replied seriously: “We’re clearly in decline.”
De Ramon, who is also divorced, moved in with him in Los Angeles in February this year and were spotted together in Venice earlier this week.
It was a double date night as Brad’s long-time friend George, 63, was on the red carpet with his wife Amal, 46, an international human rights lawyer who turned heads in a glamorous yellow dress.
In the film, George and Brad play crime “cleanup” specialists who are unexpectedly hired for the same job: disposing of a dead body in a hotel room.
The leads were reportedly paid $35 million each to star in the heist film, and had insisted it be released in theaters.
The two men have been friends for decades and last worked together 15 years ago on the film Burn After Reading.
Clooney said: ‘In Burn After Reading I had the immense pleasure of shooting him in the face and we thought maybe we’d try it 15 years later.
Brad and I have been doing this separately and together for a long time. For a while it worked pretty well. I felt like those jokes, the way we go at each other all the time, just felt easy.
The two men are now planning to star in a sequel and Pitt said: “We thought there had to be a good reason to do a movie together, something we could build on. I also have to say that as I’ve gotten older, working with people I enjoy spending time with has become very important to me.”
Apple, which financed the project, spent more than £1m to hire out the entire Cipriani hotel to Pitt, Clooney and friends for the weekend.
These friends include Clooney’s agent Bryan Lourd, who accompanied Amal to dinner on Saturday night, and Apple boss Tim Cook, who previously spent time with the Clooneys at their holiday home on Lake Como.
Among them is film director Jon Watt, who was absent after contracting Covid while in Venice and has now flown home.