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George Clooney, Brad Pitt are Lone 'Wolfs' at Venice

George Clooney attends a special screening of "The Boys in the Boat" in New York on Dec. 13, 2023. (AP)
George Clooney attends a special screening of "The Boys in the Boat" in New York on Dec. 13, 2023. (AP)
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George Clooney, Brad Pitt are Lone 'Wolfs' at Venice

George Clooney attends a special screening of "The Boys in the Boat" in New York on Dec. 13, 2023. (AP)
George Clooney attends a special screening of "The Boys in the Boat" in New York on Dec. 13, 2023. (AP)

Hollywood's two top leading men -- George Clooney and Brad Pitt -- promise to set the Venice Film Festival alight on Sunday with the premiere of their new film "Wolfs".
The action comedy, pitting one professional "lone wolf" fixer against another, is one of the highlights of the 10-day festival, where it is playing out of competition on the glamorous Lido, AFP reported.
Fans will be sure to await the arrival of the dashing movie stars by water taxi from Venice, with a world premiere scheduled for Sunday evening.
The 81st edition of the world's oldest film festival has been awash with stars this year, with Clooney and Pitt following on the red carpet Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett and Angelina Jolie -- Pitt's ex-wife.
Expected Monday will be Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, starring in a new film from Spain's Pedro Almodovar, while Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix will dominate Wednesday's festivities with the premiere of the sequel to "Joker", "Joker: Folie a Deux".
In the Apple TV+ production from US director Jon Watts, Clooney and Pitt play professional "lone wolf" fixers forced to work together when both are called in to clean up after a high-profile crime.
More than colleagues, Clooney and Pitt are accomplices, with an easy rapport and self-deprecating humor that the Coen brothers tapped in 2008's "Burn After Reading", or on display in the trilogy of heist films "Ocean's Eleven" (2001-2007).
With "Wolfs", the characters "find their night spiraling out of control in ways that neither one of them expected", explains the production, which has already announced a sequel.
Watts comes to "Wolfs" after directing the "Spider-Man: Homecoming" trilogy starring Tom Holland and Zendaya.
The film will have only a limited theatrical release before going to streaming around the world on Apple TV+ September 27.
Sunday's offerings also include the premiere of "The Brutalist" from US director Brady Corbet, a three-and-a-half-hour film that sees Adrien Brody play a Hungarian Jewish architect embarking on a life-changing project.
On Monday, Almodovar returns to the Lido with his first full-length film in English, "The Room Next Door", with Moore and Swinton, while Daniel Craig is the star of Tuesday's premiere of "Queer", an adaptation of the William Burroughs novel set in 1940s Mexico City.

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Liam Payne’s Manager, Hotel Staff Failed ‘Vulnerable’ Singer before Death, Judge Says

British singer-songwriter Liam Payne poses on the red carpet on arrival for the BRIT Awards 2019 in London on February 20, 2019. (AFP)
British singer-songwriter Liam Payne poses on the red carpet on arrival for the BRIT Awards 2019 in London on February 20, 2019. (AFP)
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Liam Payne’s Manager, Hotel Staff Failed ‘Vulnerable’ Singer before Death, Judge Says

British singer-songwriter Liam Payne poses on the red carpet on arrival for the BRIT Awards 2019 in London on February 20, 2019. (AFP)
British singer-songwriter Liam Payne poses on the red carpet on arrival for the BRIT Awards 2019 in London on February 20, 2019. (AFP)

An Argentine judge argued that the manager of former One Direction singer Liam Payne and employees of the hotel where he was staying failed the popstar in the moments before his death and allowed charges against them to proceed, according to a statement from the prosecutor's office on Monday.

Payne fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires in October.

Payne's manager as well as the manager of the hotel and its head of reception are charged with manslaughter in relation to the former pop superstar's death. They face up to five years in prison if convicted.

A hotel employee and a local waiter are accused of plying Payne with cocaine during his stay, and face up to 15 years in prison. The judge in her decision on Friday ordered them jailed ahead of their trial.

"Taking Payne up to his room in the state he was in was to put his life at risk," the judge said in her decision, which was released with the prosecutor's statement. "It was obvious that he was vulnerable."

Payne's autopsy showed that at the time of his death he had "large quantities" of cocaine and alcohol in his system, according to the statement.

Payne allegedly purchased cocaine at least four times from the hotel employee and waiter over a three-day period.

Footage from the lobby of the Casa Sur hotel in the posh Palermo neighborhood showed that minutes before Payne's death on Oct. 16 he was seen unconscious and being carried up to his room by three people.

The hotel receptionist headed the group, and was then seen with the hotel manager in the hallway outside Payne's room, according to the statement.

"Payne's consciousness was altered and there was a balcony in the room. The proper thing to do was to leave him in a safe place and in company until a doctor arrived," the judge said.

She added that evidence showed that Payne attempted to leave his room through the balcony but due to the state he was in he fell.

Payne's manager, identified only by his initials "RLN," left the hotel less than an hour before the fall. The judge argued that he should not have entrusted the hotel employees with Payne's wellbeing.

The judge barred the manager, who is a US citizen, from leaving Argentina.