2023-08-30 09:48:29
Since the strike call launched on July 13 by their powerful union, SAG-Aftra, no Hollywood actor can work or even participate in the promotion of a film produced by a major studio or streaming platform. On a promotional tour for Oppenheimerby Christopher Nolan, we saw the entire cast of the film withdraw immediately and return home.
The standoff that continues between the actors and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), despite two attempts to resume dialogue, should therefore have serious repercussions on the program of American film releases and disrupt sidelines the back-to-school festivals, depriving them of the usual parade of stars on the red carpets.
This is particularly the case for the 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival, which takes place from August 30 to September 9 and traditionally kicks off the race for the Oscars for Hollywood productions. Its artistic director, Alberto Barbera, wanted to be reassuring during the presentation of the selection at the end of July, judging the consequences of the strike “very modest”. Admittedly, he had to replace his opening film at the last moment – Challengers, by Luca Guadagnino with actress Zendaya – whose release has been postponed for several months. But the competition was little disturbed.
At the Venice Film Festival, exemptions for certain films
Six American films, including major productions, are in the running for the Golden Lion: Ferrari en Michael Mann, The Killer by David Fincher, Priscilla by Sofia Coppola, Maestrode Bradley Cooper, Origin d’Ava DuVernay et Memory by Michael Franco. However, the presence of the teams at the Lido is not guaranteed with variable geometry decisions. Thus Bradley Cooper has already announced that he will not present his second film as a director, in which he plays the role of Leonard Bernstein alongside Carey Mulligan.
Conversely, Sofia Coppola obtained an exemption which will allow her actors to ensure the promotion of Priscilla because the filming and production are Canadian. Just like Michael Mann, who was authorized to come to Venice to defend his film with its main performers, Adam Driver and Penélope Cruz, because Neon, the producer, is not affiliated with the AMPTP.
Both are thus part of the list of films published by SAG-Aftra which are not bound by the strike slogan because they are independent productions. They are even encouraged by the union to defend their film at festivals, in order to increase the pressure on the major studios.
“Decisions not always easy to understand», regrets however Bruno Barde, the director of the American Film Festival of Deauville which begins on September 1st. Thus Peter Dinklage and Natalie Portman, just like Jude Law and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who should have come to the Normandy coast to receive a prize on this occasion, will not be able to make the trip, even though the rules of the union authorize the actors to move to be honoured.
At the Deauville festival, “to refocus on the essentials, the films”
The decision is damaging, especially for media coverage of the event, but does not affect the festival itself. “It allows us to refocus on the essential, that is to say the films”, reassures Bruno Barde. The selection, 80 films in total, mainly honors independent American cinema, little affected by the strike.
The teams of the feature films in competition (12 in total) will therefore be present on the boards. And many directors will make the trip, including Todd Haynes, for his new film May DecemberRebecca Miller, or even Jerry Schatzberg, 96, to whom the president of the jury Guillaume Canet will pay a strong tribute.
One week before the opening of the festival, the ticket office was also up 20% according to Bruno Barde, “which reinforces our choices in the quality of the works presented and is rather reassuring for the future of cinema». The festival has also supported the strike of actors and screenwriters and, as a sign of solidarity, will organize a round table on the changes in cinema, in particular the place of artificial intelligence which is at the heart of the demands of the strikers. . “We must resist and continue to do our job, which is to show cinemahe insists. And cinema is above all about directing, not formatted products. »
In Venice, the difficulties could come from elsewhere, with the selection of filmmakers implicated in cases of sexual assault, which they contest. This is the case of Roman Polanski with The Palace presented out of competition and with Woody Allen’s 50th film, Stroke of luck, which the director, banished to his own country, shot entirely in France. Luc Besson, whose legal horizon became clear at the end of June, the Court of Cassation definitively dismissing the rape charges brought against him by the actress Sand Van Roy, will be present in Venice and Deauville with Dogman.
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