Which stars will certainly be present at the Venice Film Festival 2023 despite the strike that is raging in Hollywood?
American actors and actresses are still in a state of turmoil and, according to forecasts, they will still be in early September strike. This will obviously have significant repercussions on attendance at the next Venice International Film Festival, which will take place between 30 August and 9 September 2023. Who will be there and who, on the other hand, has already announced that they will miss a tour?
Strike at the Venice Film Festival 2023: the great absentees
In recent days the news has spread, later officially confirmed, that Bradley Cooper will not participate in the Venice Film Festival for the world premiere of his new awaited second film behind the camera, Maestro, competing for the Golden Lion. Cooper’s choice was made in solidarity with the Sag-Aftra actors and authors who are on strike and who, in all likelihood, will continue to strike even during the days of the festival. Cooper, in fact, will not be the only one to desert the Venice Lido despite having a film in the official selection.
After sensational choice by MGM and Warner Bros to withdraw the new film by Luca Guadagnino, initially intended to open the festival, due to the announced absence of Zendaya and the rest of the cast from the red carpet, Mostra director Alberto Barbera recently announced that also Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo (protagonists of Poor Things) e Michael Fassbender (protagonist of The Killer) will not be present in Venice this year to accompany their films.
Venice affected by actors’ strike: what to expect?
This is a situation still in progress, and it is said that other famous “desertions” will not be announced in the coming days. Barbera admitted that Venice was “caught a little by surprise” from the strike, but that the impact has been “very modest”, since Challengers would be the only film to actually be “jumped” with respect to the agreements made. However it would not seem a secondary matter, considering that in recent years the Venice Film Festival has pushed a lot on the presence of world stars and on the most glamour accompanying the festival.
And this is why Barbera has chosen to select many films without major production studios behind them, joining the ranks of the sections parallel to the competition. In fact, all those actors and actresses who will be in Venice to promote films considered “independent”, including Michael Mann’s Ferrari, Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, Richard Linklater’s Hit Man, Michel Franco’s Memory, Saverio Costanzo’s Finally Dawn, Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land, Luc Besson’s DogMan and Ava DuVernay’s Origin.
Therefore, beyond the absences, actors such as Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi, Glen Powell, Jessica Chastain, Liam Neeson, Leah Seydoux, Lily James and Willem Dafoe. At the moment, however, no one has confirmed their presence and it is not excluded that some of them still decide (although they have no restrictions of any kind) not to be in Venice to express solidarity with their colleagues on strike. We can therefore only wait for further developments.
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