The Venice Film Festival has been downsized this year. Perhaps the line-up for its 80th edition has only been “modestly” impacted, as artistic director Alberto Barbera told the New York Times; aside from the withdrawal of Luda Guadagnino’s tennis drama Challengers, starring Zendaya and Josh O’Connor, which was meant to open the festival, the schedule is proceeding as planned. But there’ll still be fewer familiar faces on the red carpet as the SAG-AFTRA strikes continue, from Bradley Cooper for Maestro to Michael Fassbender for The Killers, though the union has exempted actors and writers involved in independent films from the promotional ban.
“Some of our fellow members have been subject to negative comments for participating in projects with an interim agreement, particularly when it comes time for them to promote their work, including at festivals,” wrote SAG-AFTRA in a statement released this week. “To be crystal clear, once an agreement is in place, we fully encourage all of our SAG-AFTRA members to work under that agreement and to promote work made under that agreement,
Among the Hollywood stars you can expect to see gracing the Venetian Lagoon over the next fortnight? Adam Driver, according to Variety, who’ll be arriving for Michael Mann’s Ferrari, in which he stars as the titular Italian racing legend, and Caleb Landry Jones, who’ll fly the flag for Luc Besson’s action-drama Dogman. Catch Mads Mikkelsen and Jessica Chastain at the Palazzo del Cinema also, promoting Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land and Michel Franco’s Memory respectively.
But it was a veteran who kicked things off: George Clooney, making a splash in Lido alongside wife Amal Clooney. The couple, who spend their summers by Lake Como in Villa Oleandra, were spotted waltzing about town in their Mediterranean finest—Amal, in a shift dress and sheer heels, and George in a navy polo and pinstripe trousers. With his suede loafers and mirrored shades, he looked at home in the European sun. The look was dad-on-vacation, elevated: breezy and blue three ways. Easy to throw on, but considered nonetheless.
On the red carpet, meanwhile, the directors were out in full force. There was Luca Guadagnino in his signature coloured shades, and Damien Chazelle, looking dapper in a classic, single-breasted suit. Perhaps the goings on at Venice this year remain uncertain, but at least we can always count on the auteurs to throw a fit. Something to take comfort in.
