Scarlett raises the curtain in Venice

Last year it was Brokeback Mountain; the year before, Vera Drake... It seems that recent recipients of the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion have a habit of getting under our skin… so what’s in store this year?

There are 21 nominations for the statuette, among them is the movie that kicked everything off in Venice, Brian De Palma’s The Black Dahlia.

Starring Scarlett Johansson, Josh Hartnett, Hilary Swank and Aaron Eckhart and based on James Ellroy’s cracking novel, the movie is about the unexplained, brutal murder of an aspiring actress in ‘40s LA.

“People distract themselves with this type of news stories so as not to pay attention to their own depression,” Johansson told the gathered press throng, when asked why she thought the murder got so much attention.

Author Ellroy says the horrific crime was a first for Hollywood. “The Black Dahlia murder was the first media-manipulated murder in American history.”

For more information on the Venice Film Festival, click here .