Birth nameJohn Michael Turturro Birth information28 February 1957, Brooklyn, New York, USA BioHighly talented, lightly built Italian American actor who always looks unsettled and jumpy has become a favourite of cult/arthouse film aficionados with his compelling performances in a broad range of cinematic vehicles. Has become a regular in the thought provoking films of Spike Lee and the off the wall comedies of Joel Coen & Ethan Coen. His wonderful performances include as the highly agitated "Pino" in Do the Right Thing (1989), as an intellectual playwright in Barton Fink (1991), a pedophile tenpin bowler in The Big Lebowski (1998), a confused boyfriend in Jungle Fever (1991) and as the voice of Harvey the dog in Summer of Sam (1999).Turturro has continued to appeal to audiences despite his unconventional looks and the often annoying onscreen mannerisms of his characters which he used to great effect in films such as his blue collar tale of warring brothers in the construction business, Mac (1992), as the irate, dumped game show contestant, Herbie Stempel, in Robert Redford's dynamic Quiz Show (1994). One of modern American cinema's gems of acting, Turturro remains in strong demand for his high calibre thespian talents.

The Venice Film Festival has announced it's 2009 line-up this week, showing off the films that will make-up it's 66th annual fest. The significance of this announcement is in the fact that Venice, which takes place from September 2 to September 12, shares a lot of premieres with the Toronto Film Festival. And it takes place the week before, as Toronto doesn't get underway until September 10th. Audiences in Venice will be treated to the premieres of films such as Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Michael Moore's financial crisis documentary Capitalism: A Love Story, Joe Dante's The Hole, Steven Soderbergh's espionage comedy The Informant and Grant Heslov's The Men Who Stare at Goats before their potential Toronto debuts. Also notable is the premiere of John Hillcoat's post-apocalyptic thriller The Road, which is at the top of our watch-list. See below for a full listing of films for this year's Venice
Neil Miller

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- Can't say there are many surprises with today's list, we discussed possible spots for Jacques Rivette, Michael Moore, Werner Herzog, Michele Placido, Todd Solondz, Jaco van Dormael, Patrice Chereau, Fatih Akin, Claire Denis and John Hillcoat's The Road (yes, there is a Santa Clause) beforehand. No disrespect, but I'm surprised that George Romero's Survival of the Dead receives a competition slot. At first glance, what I notice are the number of works from China and Hong Kong, India and a pair from Egypt. We see where the whole 3D appreciation thing is leading towards (they announced a yearly 3D award would be given out at the festival - regardless if the film was even at the festival) and perhaps its not milan, but it makes sense that American fashion designer Tom Ford to preem his directorial debut A Single Man in Italy. One more inclusion that I'm pleased to see,

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The 66th edition of the Venice Film Festival lineup includes the main festival plus the sidebar which will be playing films like Yannick Dahan's gangster zombie flick The Horde.
In competition we have the long awaited scifi awesomeness from Jaco Van Dormael, Mr. Nobody and Shinya Tsukamoto's trfiecta Tetsuo the Bulletman.
Out of competition has [Rec] 2 and the Midnight section has Nicolas Refn's long awaited Valhalla Rising which was actually made before Bronson.
Man I wish I could go! Anyone want to cover the fest for us? Use the contact link at the bottom of the page. We'd be happy to do cross-posted reviews.
Full list after the break.
66Th Annual Venice Film Festival Lineup
Competition
"36 vues du Pic Saint Loup," Jacques Rivette (France)
"Accident," Cheang Pou-Soi (China-Hong Kong)
"Baaria," Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy) – Opening Film
"Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," Werner Herzog (U.S.)
"Between Two Worlds,

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