The breeze still blows gently on the Lido, the slender strip of elegant beach in one of the world’s most treasured cities, but without the actors, there’s an unfillable void at the Venice Film Festival.
You felt it most keenly at the premiere of “Maestro,” where Bradley Cooper, the co-writer, director and lead actor of his film about musical genius Leonard Bernstein, was absent. The Netflix production is, of course, part of the Hollywood studios being struck by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, so Cooper chose not to celebrate his epic work at its debut screening at the Palazzo del Cinema’s great hall, standing in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA and the WGA instead.