Clap watch is back: Ferrari (and a teary Adam Driver) receive 6-minute standing ovation at Venice

Grab all your friends, make a few snacks, and settle into your favorite comfy chair for the next few weeks, because everyone’s favorite competition/time of year/ridiculous Hollywood metric of success is finally back. That’s right: it’s clap-watch time, baby!

Sure, there may not be a Spitgate 2.0 this year due to the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, not to mention the fact that that was an absolutely insane, probably once-in-a-lifetime event anyway. But that’s okay; we’re also perfectly satisfied with stoically teary-eyed actors and directors who kind of just have to stand there and wave for a really long time, two clap watch staples we’ve already been gifted right out of the gate.

Michael Mann’s Ferrari was one of the first premieres to cross the Venice Film Festival finish line, clocking in at a respectable six-minute standing O, per Variety. Adam Driver, who stars as Formula 1 driver Enzo Ferrari, appeared to tear up as the applause rolled in, shaking hands and embracing both Mann and co-star Patrick Dempsey.

Wes Anderson’s 40-minute short film Henry Sugar also had its premiere last night. The comedy, which stars Ralph Fiennes, Benedict Cumberbatch and Dev Patel and is based on a story collection by Roald Dahl, received a four-minute standing ovation, to Anderson’s clear delight, reports Variety.

All jokes aside, neither the tears nor joy on display at this festival are all that surprising. This is clearly an emotional time in the industry, as the writers’ strike passes 120 days and actors’ strike nears the 50-day mark. Driver, who was allowed to attend the festival on an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA, used his appearance to deliver a rousing indictment of major studios like Netflix and Amazon. “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?” he 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.”