Viggo Mortensen Returns to Director’s Chair; 3 Festival Lineups; Causeway Trailer

Viggo Mortensen will have his second turn in the director’s chair with Western love story The Dead Don’t Hurt; the lineup for the Naples International Film Festival is out; Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry are on healing journeys in the trailer for Causeway. All in today’s Movie News Rundown.

Naples: The Naples International Film Festival in Naples, Florida is still going on as planned from Oct. 27-30 as the state recovers from Hurricane Ian. The festival has announced its lineup, which will include Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb’s Butterfly in the Sky as the opening night selection. The closing night film will be a special presentation of Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park featuring a live performance of John Williams’ iconic score by the Naples Philharmonic, conducted by Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly. See the full list of films here.

Violent Night: David Harbour is incredibly awesome as a crime-fighting Santa in the trailer for Violent Night, a new action comedy from Tommy Wirkola. It’s about a wealthy family who gets held hostage for millions of dollars on Christmas Eve. Things are looking bleak — until Santa himself comes to the rescue. This one’s very quirky. I cannot wait to see it. Here’s the trailer:

Adam Sandler: Isn’t he just the best? Sandler did a Q&A at an event put on by the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Cinema Society. He talked about naming his Hustle character Stanley Sugerman after his late father, Stanley Sandler, who used to wake him up early to play baseball. Read our full story here.

More Bros Commentary: The Los Angeles Times posted a harsh but perhaps necessary commentary on why Bros didn’t do so well at the box office, as we reported earlier this week in Monday’s Rundown. In it, Matt Brennan contends that we should “let gay art bomb.” But before you get mad, what I think he means is that, despite what Billy Eichner tweets, the fate of the LGBTQ community doesn’t rest on the shoulders of Bros. It’s just one of many steps forward on the road to progress. Brennan explains it better than me — read his full commentary here.

Viggo Mortensen Is Back: In the director’s chair. His second directorial effort, following his directorial debut, Falling, will be The Dead Don’t Hurt, according to Variety. Viggo Mortensen will write, direct and star alongside Vicky Krieps in the Western love story set in the 1860s. It’ll start filming on Oct. 12 in Canada. Something tells me this is going to be a good one.

Miami Film Festival: The lineup for the 9th annual Miami Film Festival GEMS is out, and the highlights include the opening night film, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, along with two centerpiece screenings of Women Talking and The Whale. The closing night film will be Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans. The cast of Glass Onion will receive a festival honor along with The Fabelmans star Paul Dano and The Inspection star Raúl Castillo. Find more info about the festival here.

One More Festival Lineup:  New York City’s Imagine Science Film Festival also announced its lineup of films and events for its 15th edition taking place from October 14-21. The opening night film will be Alejandro Loayza Grisi’s Utama, with spotlight features including a special presentation of Jean-Luc Godard’s classic Alphaville: The Strange Adventure of Lemmy Caution, along with Ali Cherri’s The Dam (Le Barrage), Jacquelyn Mills’ Geographies of Solitude, and Signe Baumane’s My Love Affair with Marriage. See the full lineup here.

Causeway Trailer: Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry star in Causeway, a new Apple TV+ drama about two strangers who are comforted by each other as they both try to heal from grief. Lawrence plays a military engineer who comes back from Afghanistan with a brain injury. Henry encourages her to find love for the city she calls home. Here’s the trailer:

Main Image: A still from Jurassic Park courtesy of Naples International Film Festival