Actors' strike stalks Venice film festival from start to end

Record ID: 1741030

  • Title: Actors' strike stalks Venice film festival from start to end
  • Date: 8th September 2023
  • Summary: VENICE, ITALY (AUGUST 30, 2023) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** ARGENTINIAN DIRECTOR AND MEMBER OF JURY AT VENICE FILM FESTIVAL, SANTIAGO MITRE AND MEMBER OF JURY JANE CAMPION POSING FOR PHOTOS / FRENCH DIRECTOR AND SCREENWRITER AND JURY, MIA HANSEN-LOVE POSING FOR PHOTOS VENICE, ITALY (AUGUST 31, 2023) (REUTERS) ACTOR ADAM DRIVER SMILING AND WAVING ON
  • Embargoed: 22nd September 2023 20:31
  • Keywords: Hollywood strikes Venice film festival actors strike
  • Location: VENICE, ITALY
  • City: VENICE, ITALY
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Film
  • Reuters ID: LVA001049308092023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A strike by Hollywood actors kept most stars away from this year's Venice Film Festival, and even the few A-listers who did venture into town seemed guilty about being on the red carpet rather than the picket line.
    On Friday (September 8), the last full day of the competition, Oscar winner Jessica Chastain told reporters she was "incredibly nervous" to come to Venice to promote her independent movie "Memory," even though she had a waiver from unions to attend.
    Chastain said she had decided to come to give vocal support for the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).
    Actors went on strike in July, joining writers who had walked off the job in May, to demand that streaming sites and film studios improve their contracts and impose curbs on the use of artificial intelligence.
    The strikes have shut down both television and movie productions in Hollywood, but some projects that have no affiliation to the big studios, like "Memory," are receiving passes to keep on working or do normal promotions if they comply with the most recent union demands.
    Venice's artistic director Alberto Barbera had predicted that the actors of just three of the 23 films in competition would not be able to come to the festival because of the strike.
    That meant the likes of Emma Stone, Michael Fassbender and Bradley Cooper, stars of "Poor Things," "The Killer" and "Maestro" respectively, did not show up, as predicted.
    However, many other A-listers in smaller or foreign productions also did not go, including Lea Seydoux, Penelope Cruz and Liam Neeson. No official reason was given, but one festival insider said she believed it was out of solidarity.
    A number of independent films, such as Ava DuVernay's "Origin," also did not present their top-billing actors because the producers had not signed the latest union demands, fearing this might hamstring them as they sought distribution deals.
    Without their actors, the directors did most of the talking and were regularly quizzed about the dispute.
    Some of the actors who did make it to the festival wore T-shirts promoting the strike, as did the president of the main jury, Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle.
    (Production: Hanna Rantala, Malgorzata Wojtunik)
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