Based on the book by Nick Tosches, IN THE HAND OF DANTE, Julian Schnabel’s latest movie is part attempt to tell Dante Alighieri’s medieval origin story, part mafia tale of the contemporary writer rescuing the text. After witnessing the auction of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road scroll at Christie’s this past March,–the manuscript sold for $12 million– I can attest to the commercial bonanza of owning such a literary property. Re-imagining Tosche’s book allows Schnabel the artist the chutzpah to explore what humans will go through to acquire and merchandize art at this level. 

At the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival premiere, Julian Schnabel and cast members including his star Oscar Isaac conversed with Paul Dano. Dano is not in the film which is a who’s who of New York actor/creatives including Al Pacino, Martin Scorsese, Gerard Butler, and a cameo for the late Dennis Hopper’s daughter, Galen Hopper.

Schnabel spoke about his directing technique at the post-screening Q&A: “I don’t block scenes, and we don’t rehearse.” 

“Yes, we don’t,” affirmed Oscar Isaac, with a bit of an eye roll. “Everyone is prepared. It’s a quest to find the unexpected.”

Schnabel used the same technique for AT ETERNITY’S GATE. With a nod to casting, Julian says, “I’m blessed with the ability to see genius.”

The Italian actress Sabrina Impacciatore, known in the US for her remarkable performance as the hotel manager in The White Lotus, season 2, in Sicily, was effusive in her stage presence for this premiere. Before allowing Schnabel to sit she rushed the stage to plant a kiss kiss. She had just arrived. She says gesticulating madly, “I think I am a bit crazy,” and it is not clear whether she is talking about herself or her character who thinks she is Dante’s love, Beatrice.

She tells a story about Julian wanting her character to have blue eyes. Wanting to please him, she went all over to great effort to find blue contact lenses, only to arrive on set for a black & white shoot. Now Julian rolled his eyes. “I knew it was black & white all along.”

A masterpiece, IN THE HAND OF DANTE is streaming on Netflix.