Marrakech Film Festival Diary: Does Richard Linklater Have a Crush on Brad Pitt?

The nine-day Marrakech International Film Festival opened on Friday evening with a galaxy of stars at the Palais des Congres, the festival’s main venue in the Moroccan city.

The usual razzmatazz of Hollywood, Moroccan, European and African cine stars walking the red carpet to flashing cameras was missing on the opening night of the 20th edition of the film festival. In September, an earthquake devastated rural parts of the Moroccan city, displacing thousands and leaving more than 2,800 people dead.  

The festival’s somber and political note was partly in remembrance of that tragedy and was also fitting in view of Israel’s assault on Gaza. Friday was Day 1 of the four-day truce in Israel’s attack on Palestine that was marked by release of captives by Israel and Hamas. Several film festivals in Arab nations have been called off in view of the escalating war.

At the Marrakech Film Festival, the first star to be invited on stage was jury president Jessica Chastain who spoke of a “shattered and divided” world and the power of cinema.

Chastain, who wore a dazzling silver ensemble, complete with what looked like a modern interpretation of selham (the Moroccan cape), said, “[Cinema can] break down barriers and start important conversations about difficult topics… We can sublimate pain and suffering and give rise to a consciousness of healing and unification, to create a deeper protection for all.”

Chastain, along with eight other jurors, will pick the best film out of 14 films. Unlike most other international film festivals where the competition section is mostly made up of films by well-known auteur directors, the Marrakech Film Festival has reserved this section for debut or second films. This year’s selection includes several films from Morocco, the Middle East, Africa and Bye Bye Tiberias, a 2023 documentary film by the French-Palestinian-Algerian director Lina Soualem.

The festival’s grand prize, L’etoile d’Or, includes a $50,000 cash award for the winning film’s director and producer.  

“I encourage us all to take action. Grab a paintbrush, an instrument, a pen… at this moment all around the world, we need art that speaks truth to power,” Chastain said in her speech, drawing a loud round of applause.

Apart from Chastain, who won the Best Actress Oscar last year for her incredible performance as the heavily made-up American evangelist in director Michael Showalter’s The Eyes of Tammy Faye, the other jurors include Iranian actress Zar Amir, whose lead role in Holy Spider won her the best actress award at last year’s Cannes film festival; French actor Camille Cottin, who plays Andréa Martel in the series, Call My Agent!; Australian actor and director Joel Edgerton; British director Joanna Hogg, who has been a long-time collaborator with Tilda Swinton; U.S. director Dee Rees, who is the first African-American ever to be nominated for an Oscar for the Best Adapted Screenplay, Mudbound; Swedish-Egyptian director Tarek Saleh, whose film, Boy from Heaven, won the best screenplay award at last year’s Cannes; Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård, who plays the annoying tech mogul Lukas Matsson in the HBO series Succession, and French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani. The Marrakech festival is scheduled to run through December 2nd.

Mads Mikkelsen honored by Willem Dafoe

Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen was honored on the festival’s opening night with the Étoile d’Or award for career achievement.

The award was presented to him by American actor Willem Dafoe.

In his speech, Dafoe praised Mikkelsen’s performances, and spoke of the one scene they’ve shared – shot in one day – in Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate, the Vincent Van Gogh biopic.

A clip of the roles Mads Mikkelsen, 58, has played since the 1996 Danish crime thriller Pusher, drew cheers from the gathered audience which included Anurag Kashyap, the only Indian in attendance at this edition of the festival.

Mikkelsen’s own acceptance speech was brief. He said he had forgotten to carry his reading glasses and spoke extempore of meeting his hero, Martin Scorsese, at the festival several years ago.

Scorsese, 81, who mentors Atlas Workshop, the talent development program for Moroccan, Arab and African filmmakers that runs during the festival, has pulled out of attending this year’s festival citing ”personal reasons.” 

Mikkelsen, who has acted in Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s Oscar-winning Another Round and The Hunt, as well as Casino Royale and the latest edition of Indiana Jones, will be holding a masterclass at the festival. 

Screenings of three of his films — Another Round, The Promised Land and A Royal Affair — are scheduled at the festival.

Opening film, or a love letter to Brad Pitt

American filmmaker Richard Linklater’s comedy Hit Man, starring Glen Powell, Adria Arjona and Austin Amelio, was the opening film of the 20th edition of The Marrakech International Film Festival.
The film, which played after the opening ceremony, began with text that said that it’s “somewhat a true story inspired by the life of Gary Johnson.”

In the film, Glen Powell, who played Lt. Jake “Hangman” in Top Gun: Maverick, is cast as a simple, lonely psychology teacher Gary who lives with his two cats and does some work for the cops. 

When his role expands to playing an undercover contract killer following several screw-ups by the incumbent Jasper (played by Austin Amelio), Gary takes on several disguises and names, and starts enjoying the power of anonymity and role-play. 

Based on a 2001 Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth, the movie is about a teacher who was hired to kill more than 60 people, including enraged husbands, wives, employees, and even a young boy who offered him DVDs of games in lieu of payment to kill his mother. 

Gary wears a wire when he meets his clients, and as soon as he takes the money, cops jump on them. Linklater has said that there was talk of Brad Pitt playing Gary Johnson. And as Hit Man unfolds, it feels like he almost did.

Glen Powell channels many shades of Brad Pitt as he assumes several identities, finally settling down with that of cool-killer-dude Ron who meets and then falls in love with Maddison Masters (Adria Arjona), a client who wants her abusive husband killed.

“Do you know who you are?” the real Glen asks his students in his psychology class, while Ron seems to be changing with every crazy action that Maddison takes. Linklater made the Before trilogy, starting with Before Sunrise in 1995, and shot the 2014 coming-of-age drama Boyhood over 11 years. 

His Hit Man begins awkwardly, but as Adria Arjona slips into short satin dresses and Ron begins to beam a lot before and after sex, Hit Man becomes deliciously dark and fun. But it’s the film’s subtext — of filmmaker Richard Linklater’s crush on Brad Pitt — that powers the film’s script and Powell’s performance. Hit Man is scheduled to release on Netflix soon.