Adam Driver uses Venice Film Festival appearance to call out Netflix and Amazon
Adam Driver was granted an interim agreement to appear at the festival because his new film, Ferrari, is being distributed by an independent studio
Aux News Adam Driver
Astronomical summer may be coming to an end, but Hot Labor Summer just keeps on rolling. While we likely won’t get many steamy red carpet moments from the festival circuit this year, we’re certainly not lacking for burning hot takes. And that, in light of the current Hollywood climate, is infinitely more tantalizing.
The latest big-wig tear-down comes from Adam Driver, whose upcoming starring vehicle (heh) Ferrari was granted an interim agreement to send its cast to the Venice Film Festival by SAG-AFTRA. Per the rules of these controversial allowances, certain independent productions (meaning those not distributed by studios under the purview of AMPTP) are allowed to continue work and promo without crossing picket lines because, per an official statement, this “demonstrates to the AMPTP and the struck companies that independent producers at all budget levels are eager, keen, and able to work with our members under these terms.”
Driver, whose film is being distributed by independent studio Neon, echoed these sentiments in a press conference. “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?” the actor asked, per The Hollywood Reporter. “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.”
“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,” he continued.
This stance isn’t shared by all of Driver’s fellow guild members. Viola Davis, for example, recently chose to step down from a project despite it being granted an agreement.
Ferrari director Michael Mann, however, is as on board as Driver. “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,” he 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.”
You can watch Driver’s statement below:
12 Comments
and this is why it’s a good thing he went. hell of a pull quote.
Exactly, and this is how they provide much-needed context around their demands so that the rest of the public knows that what they’re asking for isn’t unreasonable and is entirely doable for these studios and distributors.
Yeah but you forget that those independent studios don’t have CEOs making hundreds of millions of dollars a year! Completely unreasonable demands from SAG-AFTRA that simply don’t take into account what those big studios have to worry about. Those yachts aren’t going to buy themselves!
For just $1/day you can help Jeff Bezos build another vanity space project…
They should have been snatching repo yachts from Russian oligarchs while they had the chance.
So you’re saying if we invent a self-buying yacht, we no longer need billionaire CEOs?
Good PR move, I like it.
It’s weird that these allowances are controversial. Seems pretty clear – you meet the demands and work resumes. It also is very telling that smaller studios can accommodate while larger ones pretend the demands are unreasonable.
It’s different to go into production right now versus to promote. Honestly more things like this should be allowed so the actors and writers have a bigger platform, not to mention people who will never get this chance again giving the whole thing up. The exceptions to production were totally fucked and Davis was right to step away, but the promotion should be a bit more flexible, especially for indies.
On its surface this was pretty effective as a shaming device. But I’d also be curious what agreement for streaming royalties was negotiated here and how it deviates from the current lopsided structure. That’s the 800 pound gorilla of this strike and negotiation.
it must be complicated to structure now that everybody has to pay Jared Leto royalties if they use a terrible italian accent
It’s-a me, Spidio!