Bradley Cooper and Sofia Coppola will premiere their latest movies in competition at the 2023 Venice Film Festival.

Despite fears that the actors’ and writers’ strikes would impact the Italian film extravaganza, Venice organisers unveiled a star-studded line-up on Tuesday morning.

Those competing for the Golden Lion for Best Film, among other prizes, include Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biopic, his latest directorial effort, and Coppola’s Priscilla, starring Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla Presley.

The competition also features David Fincher’s psychological action thriller The Killer, starring Michael Fassbender, Michael Mann’s biographical drama Ferrari, starring Adam Driver, and Yorgos Lanthimos’ surrealist comedy-drama Poor Things, with Emma Stone.

In addition, Selma director Ava DuVernay will become the first African-American woman to debut a film in competition at Venice. Her latest movie, Origin, stars Aunjanue Ellis, Connie Nielsen, and Jon Bernthal.

A bunch of other high-profile movies will also premiere out of competition, including Hit Man by Richard Linklater, Aggro Dr1ft by Harmony Korine, and The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial by William Friedkin.

Wes Anderson, who debuted Asteroid City at the Cannes Film Festival in May, will premiere his next feature, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, out of competition in Venice.

During the press conference, Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera revealed that the impact of the strikes on the line-up was “very modest” and that they only “lost” Luca Guadagnino’s movie Challengers, which was due to open the festival.

He noted that “actors who are SAG members who are in studio or streamer productions will not be attending” the festival during the work stoppage but he hopes that “actors who are in independent productions – and there are many in Venice – will be coming”.

The Venice Film Festival runs from 30 August to 9 September.

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