Coens' Burn After Reading to open Venice Film Festival

Photo by George Pimentel, WireImage.com

On the evening of August 27, the paparazzi of the world will turn their camera lenses toward the red carpet opening of the Venice International Film Festival, where the Coen Brothers' Burn After Reading will hold the festival's honored opening spot.

Starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney (hence the likely tabloid frenzy), Burn After Reading is a dark comedy about two regular guys who stumble upon the memoir of a former CIA agent, played by John Malkovich, and then try to blackmail him with it. Tilda Swinton and Frances McDormand round out the stellar cast.

Burn is the only American film on the “Out of Competition” list, which will be shown at the festival but not judged. The “In Competition” list of films includes Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting Married and Guillermo Arriaga’s The Burning Plain, among others.

Start your flashbulbs. Or, just watch the trailer: