Here are some photos of Adam Driver at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday. He was in Venice to promote Michael Mann’s Ferrari, the true story of Enzo Ferrari during a crucial period in his car company. I’m including the trailer at the end of the post – silver hair actually suits Driver in a weird way. Driver looked good at the photocall and premiere as well – Adam Driver is truly the most “jolie-laide” of all the American actors. He is such an unconventional heartthrob. Even more so because of his vocal and pointed support of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The only reason Driver and Mann turned up in Venice is because Ferrari sought and received an interim agreement/waiver from SAG-AFTRA.

Driver and Mann alternated between discussing the film and talking about the dual strikes that are dominating discussion among industry attendees in Venice. Ferrari received an interim agreement waiver from SAG-AFTRA to allow Driver and co-star Dempsey to attend Venice to promote the movie. Neon will release the film domestically, with a planned Christmas release. STX International is handling the film worldwide.

One of the conditions of the waiver is that distributors comply with SAG-AFTRA demands, including on the subject of subscription revenue and residuals, issues that the studios and streamers have rejected in negotiations with the union.

“Why is it that a smaller distribution company like Neon or STX International can meet the dream demands of what SAG is asking for in this pre-negotiation but a big company like Netflix and Amazon can’t?” Driver asked. “Every time people from SAG go and support a movie that has agreed to these terms — the interim agreement — it just makes it more obvious that these people are willing to support the people that they collaborate with, and the others are not. So when this opportunity came up, it seemed like — understanding the interim agreement — a no-brainer for all of these reasons of why you want to support your union.”

By coming to Venice to support the movie, Driver said he hoped doing so would help “stop the bleeding a little bit” by helping people in IATSE and SAG-AFTRA to be able to go to work.

Mann made it clear that “individually and collectively we all stand in total solidarity with SAG and the writers guild strike as well…Ferrari got made because the people who worked on Ferrari made it by forgoing large sectors of salaries, in the case of Adam and myself,” Mann added. “It was not made by a big studio — no big studio wrote us a check. And that’s why we’re here, standing in solidarity.”

[From THR]

I agree with Driver and he’s doing exactly what SAG-AFTRA wants – he’s supporting a waivered film and vocally supporting his union, and sticking it to the streamers who are cheating writers and actors out of being paid appropriately.

I actually thought Driver was soooo good in House of Gucci, but the brief glimpse of his Holy Stromboli Italian accent in Ferrari is a little bit much. Maybe it will grow on me, but my God, it can’t be that difficult to fill out a cast with real Italian actors! Shailene Woodley?!?! Patrick Dempsey and Jack O’Connell are in it too, please don’t tell me they’re doing Italian accents as well.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.