Venice Film Festival Opens With Johansson's 'Black Dahlia'

The 63rd annual Venice Film Festival is ready to commence, with Brian de Palma's The Black Dahlia starring Scarlett Johansson, set to officially start things off. Johansson's Black Dahlia is one of 21 films competing for the Golden Lion award, the top prize at the film festival. Last year's winner of the Golden Lion award was the Ang Lee film, Brokeback Mountain, starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.

The Black Dahlia, adapted from the James Ellroy novel, is based on the 1940s unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short, an aspiring young actress in Los Angeles. Along with Scarlett Johansson, the cast for the Black Dahlia will include Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank and Mia Kershner. The story focuses on two detectives, Bucky Bliechert (Josh Hartnett) and Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) as the attempt to solve the murder of Elizabeth Short (aka: The Black Dahlia), who is played by Mia Kershner. Both detectives also fall for Kay Lake (Scarlett Johansson), adding another dimension to the already complex investigation.

Scarlett Johansson spoke at a press conference on the eve of the film's world premiere, where she drew parallels between the media's interest in the case of the Black Dahlia and that of JonBenet Ramsey. BBC News quoted Johansson as saying "I think people distract themselves with those type of news stories so as not to pay attention to their own depression. I think generally, when there are periods of depression in a country, people distract themselves oftentimes with scandal."

James Ellroy, the novelist who wrote the novel, The Black Dahlia, said at the same conference "The Black Dahlia murder was the first media-manipulated murder in American history. I got lucky with my parentage - I got hatched in LA, the film noir epicenter. Twice in my 27-year novel career I've been lucky with film adaptations. The first was LA Confidential, and now The Black Dahlia."

In its quest for the Golden Lion award, The Black Dahlia may face some stiff competition. Another suicide/murder mystery film will be showing up at the Venice Film Festival. Hollywoodland, directed by Allen Coulter, focuses on the dead of Superman star George Reeves, who is played by Ben Affleck. Another American film, Bobby, is set to debut at the Venice Film Festival. Bobby looks as the final hours of Robert F. Kennedy's life and his assassination, and includes a star-studded cast with names like Sir Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Sharon Stone, Christian Slater, Lindsay Lohan and William H. Macy.

The main British contender for the Golden Lion is The Queen, starring Dame Helen Mirren. Another big title, Infamous, looks at Truman Capote and his relationship with killer Perry Smith. Infamous will star the new James Bond, Daniel Craig, as well as Toby Jones. The Fountain, a film by Darren Aronofsky, will star Rachel Weisz in a "time-hopping romance". Titles like The Magic Flute, Children of Men, Ostrov, Inland Empire by David Lynch, Zwartboek by Paul Verhoeven and Rob-B-Hoodare all expected to make this Venice Film Festival one of the biggest in recent history.

[Additional Sources: BBC News, CNN, New York Times, Seattle P.I.]