Venice Film Festival opens amid Hollywood actors’ strike

By Giada Zampano

ROME (AA) – The 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival – the world’s oldest – kicked off on Wednesday amid the writers’ and actors’ strike in Hollywood.

Due to the restrictions for unions’ members, there will not be as many Hollywood stars gracing Venice Lido red carpet this year, but most of the festival’s program emerged unscathed.

The festival was due to start with Challengers, a tennis romance with one of the biggest stars of her generation, Zendaya. Due to the strike, it now opens with Italian movie Comandante, featuring prize-winning actor Pierfrancesco Favino, based on the true story of Italian submarine commander Salvatore Todaro and the events that occurred in October 1940, when Todaro was in command of the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini.

Despite the unions’ protests – primarily over pay and the threat of artificial intelligence – a few Hollywood stars confirmed their presence in Venice, including Adam Driver, Jessica Chastain, Caleb Landry Jones, and Mads Mikkelsen.

Driver is expected on the Laguna to promote Michael Mann’s Ferrari, in which he plays the titular character, Italian car racing pioneer Enzo Ferrari; Chastain for Michel Franco’s Memory, her first role since her Oscar-winning performance in The Eyes of Tammy Faye; Landry Jones for Luc Besson’s Dogman; Mikkelsen for Danish director Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land.

Also expected on the Lido are Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi, who play Priscilla and Elvis Presley in the highly-anticipated Sophia Coppola’s Priscilla, as well as Priscilla Presley herself.

All the above films have obtained interim waivers since they are independent productions that have not been produced by union members on strike.

Filmmakers rumored to attend this year also include David Fincher, Sofia Coppola, Ava DuVernay, Michael Mann, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Woody Allen.

Emma Stone will not be present for the highly-anticipated Poor Things, in which she plays a Frankenstein-like creature. Nor will Bradley Cooper, who directs and stars in Maestro about the legendary conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein.

There are also out-of-competition premieres for a 40-minute Wes Anderson film, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, based on a Roald Dahl tale, and a new feature from indie favorite Richard Linklater, Hit Man.

The 80th Venice Film Festival starts on Wednesday and runs through Sept. 9.