Amid Hollywood Strike, Stars Skip 80th Venice Film Festival
NDTV
A historic Hollywood strike robbed the Venice Film Festival of some of its usual glitz
A historic Hollywood strike robbed the Venice Film Festival of some of its usual glitz as it launched its 80th edition on Wednesday, but a raft of big-name - and controversial - directors are keeping the film world buzzing. The world's longest-running film fest was due to start with Challengers, a tennis romance with one of the biggest stars of her generation, Zendaya.
But it was replaced at the last minute by an Italian war drama, Comandante, due to the ongoing strike by Hollywood actors and writers - primarily over pay and the threat of AI - that has barred them from publicity work.
The rest of the line-up was largely unaffected and a string of Oscar hopefuls have pressed ahead with Venice premieres, albeit in the absence of acting talent to light up the red carpet.
