Roberts Defends After the Hunt At Venice

A Venice press conference turns on questions about feminism and cancel culture as Julia Roberts promotes After the Hunt.

Roberts Defends After the Hunt Amid Venice MeToo Questions

At the Venice Film Festival press conference for After the Hunt, Julia Roberts pushed back against questions about how the thriller engages with the MeToo era and cancel culture. She said the film is about difficult conversations and aims to spark debate rather than advance a manifesto, noting that a mentee accuses a friend in a high stakes academic setting. The scene is set with Edebiri and Garfield in supporting roles, and the film will play out of competition.

Guadagnino described the project as looking at people in their truths rather than delivering a single message, highlighting the clash of perspectives as a central idea. The room loosened briefly when Roberts invited her fellow cast members to open their water bottles, a small moment of levity amid the tense exchanges as questions linger about the film’s stance on contemporary gender debate.

The exchange at Venice shows how a high profile film becomes a stage for wider debates about power, accountability and storytelling in the MeToo era. A project set in a university world raises expectations about how cinema can handle sensitive events without surrendering to easy conclusions. The risk is that controversy overshadows craft and leaves audiences debating the politics before they see the work.

Roberts maintains a calm, collaborative posture, signaling that she wants the film to be judged on its questions rather than its politics. If reception tilts toward defense or triumph, the film’s message could be shaped as much by reaction as by the screen. Venice, with its history of premieres and debates, remains a venue where cinema meets public sentiment and where the appetite for dialogue often outruns the final cut.

Highlights

The festival scene keeps turning cinema into a forum for tough questions.