Julia Roberts Is a Loyal Member of the Luca Guadagnino Fan Club
Some actors thank their directors in acceptance speeches—Julia Roberts wears hers on knitwear. Arriving at the Venice Film Festival this morning, the Oscar winner made a bold, cozy statement in a sweater emblazoned with Luca Guadagnino’s face, paying homage to the Italian auteur behind her latest film, After the Hunt.
We’ve heard of celebrities proudly wearing their own merch, but Roberts’s jumper may have just invented director merch. Her cable-knit sweater featured a repeating black-and-white pattern of Guadagnino’s visage, transforming her into the unofficial (but clearly most devoted) president of the Luca fan club.
Letting her sweater really stand out, Roberts went about the rest of her travel look quite simply. She wore a black tee and Bermuda shorts, which she paired with simple sneakers and Celine’s Medium New Luggage Smile bag.
Celebrities celebrating their directors is nothing new—at the Cannes Film Festival this year, Elle Fanning shouted out her Sentimental Value director with a “Joachim Trier” tee. But Roberts’s tongue-in-cheek fashion moment comes at a pivotal time in her career.
Roberts’s appearance marks her first time at the Venice Film Festival, where she’s arriving as the star of Guadagnino’s latest film After the Hunt. It’s a twisty tale about a philosophy professor confronted with a dark secret from her past, that also features Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, and Chloë Sevigny. It’s also Roberts’s first high-brow dramatic film in nearly eight years. Her last two films were Netflix’s apocalyptic thriller Leave The World Behind and the rom-com Ticket To Paradise. The actor has carefully chosen her projects over the last 15 years, and she hasn’t mounted a serious awards campaign since 2013’s August: Osage County. Her performance in that film resulted in Oscar and BAFTA nominations.
Guadagnino, who is behind blockbusters like Challengers and Call Me By Your Name, called After the Hunt the “best performance” of Roberts’s career. And by the looks of Roberts’s travel ensemble, she’s pouring some praise back onto Guadagnino ahead of the film’s Venice debut on Friday.
