EXCLUSIVE: Adam Driver set to ‘pull a Florence Pugh’ at Venice Film Festival with a VERY brief appearance amid Hollywood strikes

Last year, the biggest story at the Venice Film Festival was the visit of actress Florence Pugh, and the feud with director Olivia Wilde that lay behind it.

And this year, the biggest star in attendance is going to “pugh a pugh” by going to Venice so briefly that he won’t even stay overnight.

Two-time Oscar nominee Adam Driver, 39, has agreed to appear to promote the film Ferrari, in which he stars.

There’s such a nervousness about “breaking” the actors’ and writers’ strikes, though, that even though the film has been granted an exemption, he won’t be sticking around.

The driver takes a private jet from Paris to Venice in the morning of Thursday 31st, hits the red carpet in the late afternoon and flies back to Hotel Bristol in Paris the same day.

It is not yet clear whether he will conduct promotional interviews or a press conference before the red carpet. Sources say he is thinking of giving some kind of strike support speech at some point, but details are scarce.

Sources also say Driver plans to wear a t-shirt under his tuxedo in support of the strikes.

Co-star Penelope Cruz is now thinking hard about her own outfit options. She has been an ambassador for the fashion brand Chanel for many years.

No one in Hollywood wants the strikers to do the wrong thing and the entire film and TV industry has come to a complete standstill.

The writers’ union, the WGA, went on strike on May 2 and was followed on July 14 by SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union.

Ferrari actors (and writers) can attend without breaking the strikes, as the film has been given an exemption because it was made by an independent, Neon, and not a studio.

The stars of the movie Priscilla, about the life of Priscilla Presley, can also attend without breaking the strike as it was made in Canada.

Earlier this week, it was confirmed that Priscilla has an interim agreement between SAG and AFTRA, which could see a cast including Jacob Elordi – who plays Elvis. However, it is not clear whether he will.

Memorable: Last year’s biggest story at the Venice Film Festival was the visit of actress Florence Pugh, and the feud with director Olivia Wilde that lay behind it

Solidarity: Sources also say Driver plans to wear a t-shirt in support of the strikes under his tuxedo

Priscilla Presley, whose 1985 memoir it is based on, is expected to attend. She is an actress herself and has appeared in Dallas and the Naked Gun movies.

Most of the other stars have no choice but to stay away. Bradley Cooper, who wrote, stars produced and directed in Maestro, about conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, will not be in Venice to see potentially the defining film of his career premiere. It’s from Netflix, an affected company.

A festival spokesperson confirmed last month that he would not be present in solidarity with the strike of the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA.

The film Challengers, a tennis and threesome drama starring Zendaya and The Crown’s Josh O’Connor, was set to open the festival, but that fell through after the actor went on strike in July.

The prestige film Poor Things, an adaptation of a Frankenstein-esque gothic tale starring Emma Stone, will premiere at the festival, but Emma Stone and the rest of the cast will not be there.

Ferrari is a film by renowned director Michael Man that explores three months in the life of Enzo Ferrari, the founder of the car company. He has money problems, mourns his dead son and has a child with his mistress – which is discovered by his wife.

Last year, Florence Pugh skipped the press conference and photo call for the premiere of Don’t Worry Darling, in which she co-starred with Harry Styles. It was reported that she and director Olivia Wilde had a falling out during the making of the film, after Styles and Wilde began a love affair.

Strikes: Co-star Penelope Cruz is now thinking hard about her own outfit options. She has been an ambassador for the fashion brand Chanel for many years

Pickets: Florence Pugh has been one of the stars on the picket lines in recent days in support of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strike

Pugh was friends with Wilde’s estranged partner Jason Sudeikis through her former relationship with actor Zach Braff. In addition, she felt that the show’s marketing and focus on her explicit love scenes with Styles was exploitative and may have blamed director Wilde for it.

She said in a magazine interview, “If it’s reduced to your sex scenes, or to watch the most famous man in the world offend someone, that’s not why we’re doing it. That’s not why I’m in this industry.

“Obviously, by the nature of hiring the world’s most famous pop star, you’re going to have conversations like that. That’s just not what I’m going to talk about because (this movie is) bigger and better than that. And the people who made it are bigger and better than that.’

On the red carpet, she and Wilde kept completely apart, arriving at different times and not exchanging pleasantries. Pugh left right after the film was shown and did not attend a cast dinner or party. She made the film Dune 2 in Budapest at the time.