Last night, during the final days of theVenice Film Festival, a steady stream of water taxis were quietly making their way into the Marina Militare in the citys historic Arsenale shipbuilding docks, whose towering brick walls seemed to shimmer thanks to dramatic projections of rippling water across every surface.
Atop one wall sat an enormous decommissioned submarine emblazoned with a glittering Aston Martin logo, while on both sides of the water sat vintage sports cars under spotlights.
It was an undeniably dazzling settingbut equally eye-popping was the seemingly endless stream of stars arriving at the jetty, one after the other.
Adrien Brody, George Clooney, and Joe Alwyn
Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Douglas, Dominic Cooper, Joel Edgerton, and Kevin Costner all made appearances in sharp tailoring, followed by a younger generation of rising actors in town to promote their latest movies, includingJoe Alwyn, Micheal Ward, Cailee Spaeny, Haley Bennett, and Raffey Cassidy.
Not far behind them came Adrien Brodythe toast of this years festival thanks to his powerful turn in Brady CorbetsThe Brutalistarriving arm in arm with his partner, Georgina Chapman.
Finally,George and AmalClooney made a grand entrance off the back of the premiere ofWolfsthe night before, with Amal wearing a showstopping emerald green gown that seemed to float behind her (and continuing her impressive fashion streak over the past week from Lake Como to the red carpets on Venice Lido).
As musician James Righton DJed and guests sipped freshly squeezed peach Bellinis, the crowd moved into the main venue for the night: a former shipbuilding warehouse with two long banqueting tables lavishly covered with white roses and with hundreds of glittering lamps strung from the ceiling.
(A three-course meal overseen by the Michelin-starred chef Riccardo De Pra, including spaghetti with Amalfi lemon and caviar and a dish of beef tonnato, soon followed.)
Then came the grand unveiling: accompanied by theatrical classical music, a sheet was raised off the outline of the new flagship Vanquish model, which sat on a floating platform, as Formula One stars Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso joined Aston Martin executive chairman Lawrence Stroll on the platform for a toast.
After cocktails and dancing until 1 a.m., the nights attendees found their water taxis and sped off back into the night.
After such a blowout celebration, it was easy to forget there were still three more days of the film festival to gobut thankfully, Daniel Craig was able to make his press conference forLuca GuadagninosQueerthis morning.
Lawrence Stroll, Daniel Craig
Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Douglas
Daniel Craig, George Clooney
Finney Cassidy, Raffey Cassidy
Adrien Brody, Georgina Chapman
