International correspondent
The Venice Film Festival kicks off its 81st edition on Wednesday with the premiere of Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," featuring stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Catherine O'Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci and Willem Dafoe. For the next nine days, the red carpet at the Palazzo del Cinema will be the most starry place on Earth.
After last year's Hollywood strikes prevented most of Venice's top talent from coming, Venice has now outdone itself with a steady stream of big names lighting up the Lido and making headlines around the world.
Angelina Jolie will disembark on Thursday for the world premiere of Pablo Larrain's Maria Callas biopic "Maria," in which she plays the lead. Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera has indicated that Jolie will not run into her estranged husband Brad Pitt, amid a reportedly embroiled lawsuit, as Larrain and Jolie will immediately move to Telluride. Pitt will join George Clooney at the Lido on Sunday for the Jon Watts-directed action-comedy "Wolfs," which pairs the two megastars with lone-wolf fixers forced to work together to cover up a high-profile crime.
