God of Carnage Screen Adaptation, Starring Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet, to Open New York Film Festival

Carnage, the starry screen adaptation of Yasmina Reza's Tony-winning play God of Carnage, will open the 2011 New York Film Festival, which runs from September 30 to October 16. The film, helmed by Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski, stars Oscar winners Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz and Oscar nominee John C. Reilly.

"We are delighted to kick off the festival with a quintessential New York story featuring superb performances from a quartet of the finest actors working today," Rose Kuo, executive director of festival producer Film Society of Lincoln Center, told Variety. "The film will certainly provoke the kind of discussions about contemporary issues that guarantee a memorable night."

Carnage tells the story of two sets of parents who decide to meet for dinner after their sons are involved in a schoolyard brawl. The get-together hilariously goes south as each pair attacks the other's parenting style and eventually reveals their personal qualms with their own spouses.

God of Carnage won the 2009 Best Play Tony Award as well as a Best Actress Tony for Marcia Gay Harden, whose role will be played onscreen by Foster. Winslet's role was created on Broadway by Tony nominee Hope Davis; Waltz is playing the role created by Tony nominee Jeff Daniels, and Reilly takes on the role created on Broadway by James Gandolfini.