Pedro Almodóvar’s ‘The Room Next Door,’ Starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, Eyeing Venice Film Festival Debut (EXCLUSIVE)

Getty Images

Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language feature film, “The Room Next Door” — starring Oscar winners Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton — will likely launch from the Venice Film Festival, which is putting the final touches on a stellar lineup ahead of its official announcement next week.

“Room Next Door” is Almodóvar’s follow-up to 2021’s “Parallel Mothers,” which bowed at Venice and scored the fest’s best actress Volpi Cup for Penelope Cruz’s performance. Almodóvar’s latest is also believed to be in competition at the festival, according to several sources. 

Almodóvar’s New England-set film is “about a very imperfect mother and her resentful daughter, who live separate lives because of a profound misunderstanding,” as the director has put it.

“Room Next Door,” which is produced by Almodóvar’s El Deseo banner, is set to hit theaters this year via Sony Pictures Classics in the U.S., Middle East and India, among other territories, while Warner Bros. is handling distribution in other parts of the world including the U.K., Spain and Italy.

Warner Bros. Italia did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.

As previously anticipated by Variety, Venice’s upcoming 81st edition is turning out to be a star-studded affair with Lady Gaga, Joaquin Phoenix, Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig and Monica Bellucci also among top Hollywood talents likely to launch high-profile titles from the Lido.

As announced by the fest, Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” — starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Jenna Ortega and Willem Dafoe — will be the Lido’s out-of-competition opener.

“Joker 2: Folie à Deux,” Todd Phillips’ edgy musical sequel to his 2019 Golden Lion prizewinning “Joker,” starring Gaga and Phoenix, is considered a competition shoo-in, along with Pablo Larraín’s Maria Callas biopic “Maria,” starring Jolie in the title role.

Also believed to be locked into a Venice competition berth is Luca Guadagnino’s William S. Burroughs adaptation “Queer,” in which Daniel Craig plays the renowned counterculture author’s alter ego, an outcast American expat who lives in Mexico and is fighting a heroin addiction. “Outer Banks” star Drew Starkey also stars as a younger man with whom the expat becomes madly infatuated.

Italian competition entries comprise “Sicilian Letters” (“Iddu”), the hotly anticipated drama about Cosa Nostra boss Matteo Messina Denaro – who was dubbed “the last godfather” – directed by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza (“Sicilian Ghost Story”). 

Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here,” the Brazilian auteur’s first narrative feature in more than a decade, is also believed to have made the competition cut. Meanwhile, Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths” does not appear to be Lido-bound, nor is Ron Howard’s survival thriller “Eden,” which will bow in Toronto.

As previously announced, Isabelle Huppert will preside over the main jury.

The 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival will run Aug. 28-Sept. 7. The full lineup will be announced on July 23.