Dick Cheney Biopic ‘Vice’ to Launch in Europe at Capri, Hollywood Film Festival
By Nick Vivarelli
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Annapurna Pictures’ Dick Cheney biopic “Vice,” starring Christian Bale as the former American president, will launch in Europe as the opener of Italy’s Capri, Hollywood Film Festival.
The hotly anticipated “Vice” chronicles Cheney’s political life, starting with his beginnings as a Washington bureaucrat. Directed by Adam McKay (“The Big Short), the film will screen on the Italian island of Capri on Dec. 27 after opening on Christmas Day in the U.S.
Bale reportedly had to shave his head, bleach his eyebrows and put on 40 pounds for the role ,which explores Cheney’s service in the administrations of Richard M. Nixon, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, and as the CEO of energy management company Halliburton.
Amy Adams co-stars as Lynne Cheney, and the rest of the star-studded cast includes Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld and Sam Rockwell as George W. Bush. The producers are Megan Ellison, Will Ferrell, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Kevin J. Messick, Brad Pitt and director McKay.
Pascal Vicedomini, founder and chief of the informal Capri get-together dedicated to launching Oscar hopefuls and forging ties between Hollywood and Italy, said he has not yet confirmed talents and/or producers who will be coming to promote “Vice” besides Andrea Leone, president of the biopic’s Italian co-distributor. Leone Film Group and Eagle Pictures will release the biopic in Italian cinemas on Jan. 3, prior to its rollout in key European territories such as the U.K., where “Vice” is scheduled to play on Feb. 1.
As previously announced, the 23rd edition of the fest is being chaired by director and screenwriter Lee Daniels (“Precious”). Career honors will go to helmer Eli Roth for his latest pic “The House With a Clock in Its Walls”; Italy’s Matteo Garrone for his drama “Dogman,” which is Italy’s current contender for the foreign-language Oscar; and prolific Israeli auteur Amos Gitai for the body of his work. Gitai’s latest feature is “A Tramway in Jerusalem,” which played in Venice.
Other guests expected in Capri include Terry Gilliam, who will introduce his trouble-laden “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote”; Joely Richardson, who will present Henry James adaptation “The Aspern Papers,” in which she stars alongside her mother, Vanessa Redgrave; Italy’s Mario Martone, who will talk up his “Capri-Revolution,” which was shot on the island; and actors Lashana Lynch (“Captain Marvel”) and Frederick Schmidt (“Mission: Impossible – Fallout”).
