The Ferrari star used the film’s festival debut to issue some choice words regarding the current Hollywood strike and the impasse in labour relations.
Adam Driver the actor has long been considered as one of the more thoughtful action heroes of American cinema. Whether it was his brooding portrayal of Kylo Ren in the Star Wars films or the mask of scowling focus he wears throughout this year’s ’65, when Driver steps into the action genre, he does a great physical take on the old ‘still waters run deep’ routine, whilst often saying very little.
Adam Driver the man though? He’s elected to open his mouth and tell us all what he’s thinking, using his platform at the Venice Film Festival (promoting Michael Mann’s Ferrari) to give us all a sizeable piece of his mind regarding the ongoing strike in Hollywood.
If you’re wondering why Driver is even allowed to be promoting Ferrari, given the fact that there’s a strike going on that prohibits actors from promoting movies, that’s because Michael Mann’s upcoming film has been classed as an ‘independent production’ that is in no way affiliated with the studios (collectively known as the AMPTP) who are refusing to meet the demands of the striking actors and writers.
As such, Driver has brought some much-needed star power to Venice and used his platform to state: “I’m very proud to be here to be a visual representation of a movie that’s not part of the AMPTP”. Driver would then go on to point out that NEON, the film’s US distributor has agreed to meet the demands of the writers’ guild before asking why the major Hollywood studios refuse to.
Adds Driver: “The other objective is obviously to say, why is it that a smaller distribution company like NEON and STX International can meet the dream demands of what SAG [the actors’ union] is asking for – this is pre-negotiations – the dream version of SAG’s wishlist, but a big company like Netflix and Amazon can’t?
Every time people from SAG go and support a movie that has met the terms of 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.”
You’ve got to give it to Driver, he’s not hiding in the bushes here worrying about how his future career might be impacted by criticising the major studios. The more he and others speak out and highlight this point, the more public pressure it will put on the AMPTP to come back to the negotiating table to hammer out a deal so everybody involved can get back to making movies.
