The current strike by writers and others in Hollywood has claimed its first victim at the upcoming Venice Film Festival, kickstarting August 30. MGM has pulled out Challengers, starring Zendaya. It was to open the festival. Edoardo De Angelis’ Comandante will now kickstart the 11-day event, a festival which takes pride in the fact that it is the oldest, even predating Cannes. And it’ll be celebrating its 80th anniversary this year.
The strike prohibits talent from any promotional work, and this includes red carpet appearances, photo sessions and press conferences. And without Zendaya on the red carpet and meeting the media, MGM felt that it would be unwise to let the movie play at Venice. The studio is targeting the 18-34 age group. Zendaya’s participation is important for the release. The star has 200 million followers on the social platforms. It is likely that other films may also pull out of the film festival.
Pierfrancesco Favino stars in Comandante as the captain of an Italian submarine in World War II that sinks an armed merchant ship but saves the lives of 26 Belgians on board. The Naval vessel must navigate on the surface of the water for three days, visible to enemy forces, as it carries the passengers to safety.
“In the frame of period movies, on which Italian cinema has invested considerable production resources, Edoardo De Angelis’ work reverberates with unambiguously contemporary echoes,” said Alberto Barbera, head of the festival.
“The true story of Commander Salvatore Todaro, who saved the lives of enemy sailors who had survived the sinking of their merchant ship – endangering the safety of his own submarine and his men – is a powerful call for the need to place the values of ethics and human solidarity before the brutal logic of military protocol. I thank the author, the producers Nicola Giuliano and Pier Paolo Verga, and Paolo Del Brocco with Rai Cinema for having accepted our invitation to inaugurate the 80th Film Festival of the Biennale di Venezia,” he added.
The world premiere of Spanish director JA Bayona’s Society Of The Snow will close the Festival on September 9. Netflix holds the global rights. The Spanish-language work is based on the aftermath of a real-life crash of a 1972 flight carrying a Uruguayan rugby team to Chile over the Andes. Of the 45 passengers, 29 managed to survive.
The Spanish cast, led by Enzo Vogrincic, Matías Recalt, Agustín Pardella, Esteban Kukuriczka and Tomas Wolf, is not impacted by the strike.
Society Of The Snow is Bayona’s fifth creation and his first to be shot in Spanish in 16 years since his debut The Orphanage in 2007. It is his first to screen at Venice.
The full festival line-up is set to be announced on July 25.
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