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Everything to know about the controversy over Julia Roberts’ new thriller ‘After the Hunt’
In After the Hunt, Julia Roberts plays a woman caught in a complex moral dilemma. On Friday, life seemed to imitate art during a press conference at the Venice Film Festival for the Amazon MGM Studios drama, directed by Luca Guadagnino and costarring Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri.
The #MeToo Controversy
During the press conference, Roberts was asked about the #MeToo movement and cancel culture in relation to the film’s themes. According to Variety, a journalist noted that the movie had “caused controversy” among some festivalgoers who felt its narrative “revives old arguments” and "undermines feminist principles and undermines the feminist struggle" — specifically regarding the importance of believing women who speak out about sexual assault.
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Roberts, appearing alongside costars Garfield, Edebiri, Michael Stuhlbarg, Chloë Sevigny, and Guadagnino, defended the film, saying, "We are challenging people to have conversations."
“Not to be disagreeable, because it’s not in my nature,” Roberts said with a laugh, “but the thing you said that I love is it ‘revives old arguments.’ I don’t think it’s just reviving an argument of women being pitted against each other or not supporting each other. There are a lot of old arguments that get rejuvenated that creates conversation.”
Roberts continued, “The best part of your question is that you all came out of the theater talking about it. That’s how we wanted it to feel. You realize what you believe in strongly because we stir it all up for you. So, you’re welcome.”
When asked again about the film’s intentions, Roberts said that society is “losing the art of conversation in humanity right now.”
“We’re not making statements; we are portraying these people in this moment in time,” she said. “I don’t know about controversy, per se, but we are challenging people to have conversation. To be excited or or infuriated about it is up to you. If making this movie does anything, getting everybody to talk to each other is the most exciting thing that I think we could accomplish.”
She then quipped: “I love the softball questions early in the morning."
Despite the controversy and some negative reviews, the film still received a rousing ovation from festivalgoers, earning a standing ovation lasting over five minutes at its world premiere in Venice.
Here's everything to know about the film, which had been considered one of the year’s most-anticipated Oscar contenders going into Venice.
What's the plot?
Roberts plays college professor Alma Olsson, who becomes entangled in a moral and personal dilemma when her top student, Maggie Price (Edebiri), accuses a colleague, Henrik "Hank" Gibson (Garfield), of inappropriate behavior.
In the trailer, Maggie tells Alma, “I need to speak with you. Hank walked me home. He crossed the line.” She adds, “It’s the right thing to do, you know tell someone. Given your history,” hinting at Alma’s hidden secrets from the past.
Alma becomes caught in the middle of the allegations and appears torn between protecting her friend and colleague and supporting her student. In the trailer Alma tells Maggie, “I know you have feelings for me.” To which Maggie responds, “I don’t feel comfortable having this conversation with you anymore.” Alma replies sharply, “Not everything is supposed to make you feel comfortable.”
The backstory
After the Hunt follows Guadagnino’s film Challengers, starring Zendaya. His other directorial credits include Queer, Bones and All, and Call Me by Your Name.
At CinemaCon, the cast and director were on hand to reveal the first trailer for the film written by Nora Garrett and Garfield spoke about Guadagnino’s ability to portray complicated human emotions.
"He does have a rare gift. He has a rare gift of exploring the complexity of what it is to be human, of all the emotions that we go through, desire, envy, betrayal and love, he tells stories that are completely beautiful to behold on the big screen, sumptuous, sensual and life affirming, and that's why we're so excited for audiences to see After the Hunt,” Garfield said. “I have a feeling it's a film that needs to be seen in a cinema, because I think it's gonna spark a lot of conversations.”
When's it come out?
Amazon MGM Studios will debut the movie in some theaters on Oct. 10 before a wide rollout on Oct. 17.
This story was originally published on July 11; it was updated on Aug. 29 with details from the Venice Film Festival.
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