The stars are ready to celebrate their films here even if the Lido is not: in the afternoon of opening day construction was still not done in front of the Palazzo del Cinema and the adjacent Casino that houses the press office facilities during the festival.

While hordes of fans – mostly minors – were camping out for hours with umbrellas to shield them from the sun and the extreme heat behind the barriers at the red carpet, workers were still busy nailing down the floor and removing plastic sheeting. At least someone had polished the lions (the icons of the Venice fest) this year. In the past passersby who came too close to the statues, ended up with dirty clothes from the dust.

With Everest as the opening night film, the festival scored big on names. Actors Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Emily Watson and John Hawkes as well as director Baltasar Kormákur arrived on Tuesday. Mark Ruffalo and Stanley Tucci are also in town to promote Spotlight, the movie about the journalistic investigation into the Boston church scandals. And the jury is none too shabby on glamour, either: Diane Kruger, Elizabeth Banks and el presidente, Alfonso Cuarón, as the affable director and head of the main jury called himself laughing, were on hand to celebrate with the stars at the premiere.
At the opening Everest screening the audience briefly sat in, stunned silence – the subject of the movie does leave you breathless and shocked – and then erupted in loud applause. Filmmakers and guests then took the short walk from the Palazzo to the Excelsior hotel across the street, where as usual a huge see-through tent was erected for the dinner and afterparty. The decorative theme was white, of course, as a tribute to the film. Large flower arrangements consisting of roses, lilies, orchids and hydrangeas gave the venue an elegant look. The food, a good Italian selection of antipasto, pasta, risotto, meats and fish, was devoured by the guests who clearly had lost some calories watching the suspenseful movie.
The producers told us why Venice was the perfect place to show the film: “We shot 90% of the mountain scenes in Italy, in the Dolomites and most the interiors at Cinecittà in Rome”. “The whole base camp was built at Cinecittà, it was quite amazing.” Mountain fans can detect scenes shot on the Marmolada, Sella, Sasso Lungo, Tofana and many more famous peaks in the Ötztal Alps and the Schnalstal in South Tyrol in the film. CGI-images of Mount Everest were added in post-production. Original locations included Iceland and
Kathmandu, Nepal.
The producers had invited real life sherpas including the film’s Ang Dorje to last night’s premiere as well as Jan Arnold (played by Keira Knightley), widow of expedition leader Rob Hall, their daughter Sarah who was born shortly after the tragedy, and Helen Wilton, the base camp manager (played by Emma Watson). Actor John Hawkes who portrays postal worker Doug Hanson, who after fighting his way to the summit, died shortly after on the descent, had a glass of red wine on the breezy beach outside the festival tent. He spoke about the original recordings that were available to the actors: “Helen Wilton collected all of them and Jan Arnold kept the last satellite phone conversation that she had with her husband during his last minutes. It was very hard listening to the exchanges between Doug and Rob and the base camp. I knew I didn’t have to do it but I opted to.“
After the dinner actors producers and some jury members moved to the Excelsior pool where a DJ lighted the mood with great dance music. A real bar provided stronger libations than the wine served at the dinner, and the party went on ‘til 3 am.
Elisabeth Sereda