Mikkelsen, Presley, Woody Allen: Venice Film Festival fulfilled plan for stars despite Hollywood strike

Due to a busy schedule, many films remained in the shadows

At the recently concluded 80th Venice Film Festival, a myth arose about a shortage of stars who were unable to come to Lido Island due to the Hollywood strike. However, there was no shortage of bright cinematic names. But some films have undeservedly remained in the shadows due to the oversaturated festival schedule.

It has become a commonplace to argue that the current Venice Film Festival has suffered greatly due to the absence of Hollywood stars. Indeed, some desirable actors who starred in competition films were unable to come due to the months-long Hollywood strike, having lost the right to present films. But there were plenty of famous people on Lido Island. The best directors arrived, relatives of those about whom numerous biopics were filmed. Yes, the composition of the jury alone was worth a lot.

Michel Franco’s Memento was represented by top-notch American actors Peter Sarsgaard, who won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, and Jessica Chastain. “Priscilla” by Sofia Coppola was accompanied by Elvis Presley’s wife and the mother of his only daughter. Adam Driver, who played Ferrari in the film of the same name and declared himself as a serious actor, presented the film together with the son of his hero, who continues his father’s work. They say that Bradley Cooper, who shot another biopic, “Maestro,” dedicated to the composer Leonard Bernstein, also secretly came. The composer’s children were present at the premiere, and nothing bothered them about the specific interpretation.

One of the best actors of our time, the Dane Mads Mikkelsen, walked along the star path, who became especially close to our compatriots after the Oscar-winning film “One More.” He participated in the competition program with the film “The Sword of the King,” where he played a noble captain forced to save the young shoots of a strange potato with the warmth of his own body. German actor Franz Rogowski also came to Venice, each of whose films at the Berlinale becomes an event. But in Venice they didn’t seem to notice him. He played in the film “Lyubo” by Italian director Giorgio Diritti, based on the novel “The Sower” by Mario Cavatore, a man who became a victim of war and political mistakes of the Swiss government. Sent to the front in 1939, his hero, a street actor and father of many children, lost everything – his wife, three children, whom he then searched for all his life. After the war, he served time and actually lost another living son, born in peacetime. For the role of Lubo, Rogowski studied at the Swiss clown school. But the picture was very modest in the last days of the festival.

The last of the Mohicans arrived in Venice – Woody Allen and Liliana Cavani. They presented their new works. Successful or not is another question. The very fact that they work in their old age cannot but admire. French cinema was represented by stars of the first magnitude – Isabelle Huppert, who appeared at the premiere of Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro”, and Vincent Lindon, who starred in the original film “Money and Blood” with a seemingly banal plot, but where stylization was used as a document (it was shown in parallel with the opening ceremony film festival, so there were no more than ten people in the hall). One of the best artists of contemporary Italian theater and cinema, Toni Servillo, did not get lost in the stream of Italian stars, presenting the competition film “Adagio” by Stefan Sollimo. The festival was attended by model Carla Bruni, accompanied by her husband and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Bruni is a real beauty and graced the star trail with her presence. No matter what difficult times the Venice Film Festival takes place, it is always full of people, often unexpected, and its 80-year history confirms this.