Brian De Palma's 'The Black Dahlia'

VENICE, Italy, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- The kickoff of the 63rd Venice Film Festival included Brian De Palma's "The Black Dahlia" starring Scarlett Johansson, Josh Hartnett and Aaron Eckhart.

The stars of the film were all present at the film festival at the Lido in Venice, Italy, the Daily Variety reported Thursday.

De Palma's adaptation of the James Ellroy novel was received warmly, but the comparisons with Curtis Hanson's "L.A. Confidential," also from an Ellroy novel, were not always favorable.

Ellroy, who was also at the Lido, praised De Palma for "isolating the key themes of sexual obsession, redemption and the triangulation of one man (Hartnett) between two women (Johansson and Hilary Swank)."