Nicolas Cage, Eric Roberts, Barbara Crampton, Nick Stahl and a few other American actors will not be able to participate in Fantasia due to their union’s strike, which began last Thursday. The festival “fully supports them,” artistic director Mitch Davis said in an interview with The Press.
“The timing is bad for us, but we are with them. This is something that should have happened years ago, when streaming platforms [streamers] started paying out paltry residual income,” says Mitch Davis.
For his 27e edition, the Montreal festival was to award the Honorary Career Award to Nicolas Cage, who, among other things, played in Leaving Las Vegas, The Rock And Adaptation. In addition to the tribute, the prolific comedian would have world premiered his most recent film, Sympathy for the Devil. The screening will still take place and director Yuval Adler will be on hand to answer questions from fans.
“Technically, Nicolas Cage could have received his award without promoting the film. But what is complicated is that everyone who would have written about its price would necessarily have mentioned the film and it could have looked like a scab. We would never ask one of our guests to put themselves in such a position. »
Mitch Davis adds that there was no question of presenting the award virtually and that the ceremony will take place in person when the situation allows.
Some additions
Although the strike by the SAG-AFTRA and WGA unions prevents the arrival of a dozen actors, a few names have been added to the list of Fantasia guests, including the director of Vincent must die, Stéphan Castang, then Derek Johns and Laurent Pitre, who play in The Sacrifice Game.
“We have hosted several renowned actors over the years, but we are more of a festival that focuses on filmmakers, underlines Mitch Davis. Additionally, European, Asian or Canadian films that do not have American actors are not affected. »
Fantasia will be held from July 20 to August 9.