ROME (AFP) – George Clooney, Madonna and Al Pacino will grace the red carpet at this year's Venice film festival but cult director Roman Polanski is staying away out of fear of extradition, organisers said on Thursday.
Twenty-two films -- all world premieres -- will compete for the prestigious Golden Lion award including an adaptation of manga classic "Himizu" by celebrated Japanese director Sion Sono.
Clooney's fourth film, "The Ides of March", will open the 68th edition of the festival in a glittering premiere expected to draw actors Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Evan Rachel Wood, as well as the director himself.
The Hollywood heart-throb's movie "Goodnight and Good Luck" won best screenplay and best actor awards in Venice in 2005.
Clooney doubles as the star in his latest thriller about a US presidential campaign, where a fresh-faced aide helping the Democratic governor campaign in the Ohio primaries discovers just how dirty politics can be.
Fans eagerly attending the premiere are already speculating about who will accompany the rakish 50-year old down the red carpet after he announced he had split from his Italian girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis last month.
Canadian director David Cronenberg -- known in his early horror film days as the Baron of Blood -- brings his "A Dangerous Method" to the competition, with stars Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender and Vincent Cassel.
The film, adapted from a 2002 stage play, is set on the eve of World War II and is based on the tempestuous relationship between psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, his pupil Carl Jung and a bewitching woman who comes between them.
Roman Polanski's "Carnage" will see stars Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet besieged by paparazzi, though the controversial Polish director "cannot be present for legal reasons," festival director Marco Mueller told journalists.
The acclaimed filmmaker is wanted in the United States for alleged sexual assault dating back to 1977.
Polanski has stayed in France since he was detained for months in Switzerland in 2009 and 2010 and fears extradition from other European countries, notably Italy, which has a long history of such cooperation with the United States.
While "Carnage" is set in Brooklyn in New York, it was shot in Paris. Based on an acclaimed French play, the comedy-drama follows two sets of parents who meet up to talk after their children get into a fight at school.
The films have been chosen because they "move and challenge viewers with captivating images which inspire both fantasy and reflection," said Mueller, who has been at the helm of the oldest cinema festival in the world for a decade.
The five US films taking part in the competition include Ami Cannan Mann's "Texas Killing Fields" and Todd Solondz's "Dark Horse" -- while the three British works include Steve McQueen's "Shame", starring Fassbender.
For Asia, co-productions between China, Taiwan and Hong Kong -- Te-Sheng Wei's "Seediq Bale" and Ann Hui's "Taojie" -- are also competing alongside Japan's "Himizu", a pscghological drama based on the famous manga series.
Out of competition screenings are also expected to draw large crowds with Madonna hoping for a better reception from the critics for "W.E.", a film about King Edward VIII's romance with American divorcee Wallis Simpson, than she had for her first effort as a director, "Filth and Wisdom."
"The Godfather" star Al Pacino meanwhile will be presenting his third film as a director, with a version of Oscar Wilde's once-banned "Salome", a grisly tale of lust and greed.
Part documentary, part drama, the film stars Pacino as King Herod.
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