Fewer stars, more scandal at 80th Venice Film Festival

PARIS – The Venice Film Festival celebrates its 80th edition this week, but a Hollywood strike means many stars may be missing, leaving the spotlight to controversial directors such as Roman Polanski and Woody Allen.

The festival, which kicks off on Wednesday, has become a key launchpad for Oscar campaigns, helped by glamorous shots of stars arriving by gondola.

But an ongoing strike by Hollywood actors and writers, the biggest industry walkout in more than 60 years, means most are banned from publicity work.

Missing from their Venice premieres will be American actress Emma Stone, who plays a Frankenstein-like creature in Poor Things; and American actor Bradley Cooper, who directs and stars in Maestro, about legendary conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein.

American actor Adam Driver and Spanish actress Penelope Cruz, who play the leads in the biopic Ferrari from American director Michael Mann (Heat, 1995), have an exemption from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-Aftra) because the film was made outside the studio system, but may still stay home in solidarity.

Nonetheless, the films are still showing and many top-name directors are due to attend as they compete for the top prize, the Golden Lion, to be announced on Sept 9.

American director Sofia Coppola presents another biopic, Priscilla, about rock ’n’ roll legend Elvis Presley’s wife, while American director David Fincher returns to the Lido with The Killer, more than 20 years after Fight Club (1999) was loudly booed at the festival only to become a cult hit in the following years.

The only major casualty of the strikes has been Challengers, a tennis romance starring American singer-actress Zendaya that was set as the opening night film but has been delayed to next year.

‘Don’t see the issue’

With star gossip at a minimum, a lot of attention risks being absorbed by the inclusion of Allen and Polanski in the out-of-competition section.

Allen, 87, was investigated for an alleged assault on his adopted daughter and cleared by the police in the 1990s. But that has not been enough for many in the #MeToo era, and he has been effectively blackballed by Hollywood.

Polanski, 90, remains a fugitive from the United States over a conviction for raping a minor in the 1970s. The victim has long since forgiven him, but he faces other assault allegations. The festival says he is not attending.

French director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, 1997), who was recently cleared of rape allegations, is in the main competition with Dogman.

Festival director Alberto Barbera defended their inclusion, telling Variety magazine that Besson and Allen had been cleared by investigators: “With them, I don’t see where the issue is.”

He acknowledged it was more complex with Polanski, but said: “I am on the side of those who say you have to distinguish between the responsibilities of the individual and that of the artist.”

He says Polanski’s The Palace is full of “grotesque and surreal characters and aims to satirise humanity”, and compared Allen’s Coup De Chance, his 50th film and first in French, with his earlier Match Point (2005).

Meanwhile, there are also out-of-competition premieres for a 40-minute Wes Anderson film, The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar, based on a tale by late British writer Roald Dahl; and a new feature from indie favourite Richard Linklater, Hit Man.

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, the final film from American director William Friedkin (The Exorcist, 1973), who died at the age of 87 on Aug 7, is also playing out of competition.

Hollywood actors went on strike in July after talks to reach a new deal with studios failed, joining writers who have been striking since May.

Their demands focus on dwindling pay in the streaming era and the threat posed by artificial intelligence. AFP