He is “in solidarity with the strikers”. Since the 80th Venice Film Festival, Adam Driver has been making waves. Starring in Ferrari, Michael Mann’s latest film in the running for the Golden Lion, the actor is one of the few American stars allowed to make the trip. He did not fail to recall his support for the social movement which is paralyzing Hollywood.
This exemption, the Ferrari team obtained it because the film is considered an independent production. But Michael Mann and his actor, who do not want to smuggle for scabs at a time when most festivals are deserted by stars, have reaffirmed their support for the social movement.
“I am here in solidarity” with the unions of screenwriters and actors, engaged in a fight to obtain better remuneration, in particular vis-a-vis the platforms, and to regulate the use of artificial intelligence, declared Adam Driver in conference of press. “Why can a small distribution company (like Neon, which distributes the Ferrari movie in the US) can accede to (union) demands but a big company like Netflix or Amazon can’t? he wondered during the press conference for the presentation of the film. The waiver he received “makes it even more apparent that some are willing to support the people they work with, and some are not,” he said, calling himself “happy” and “proud” of to be at the Lido to ‘support this film’.
The director followed in the footsteps of his actor. “Individually and collectively, we stand in total solidarity,” continued Michael Mann. “Ferrari could be done because the people who worked on it gave up a significant part of their salaries, as far as Adam and myself are concerned (…) No major studio wrote us a check”.
So far, no dissonant voice has been raised in Venice, the first festival to be hit hard by the strike: the president of the jury, the director Damien Chazelle (La La Land), showed up on the first day of the Festival with a t-shirt in support of the movement and told AFP that he hoped “something good” could come out of it.