Luca Guadagnino’s film Challengers, starring Zendaya, has been removed from the Venice Film Festival lineup, which it was to open, due to the actors’ strike.
Challengers, an R-rated film starring Zendaya as a tennis coach who finds herself in a love triangle, was set to kick off at the Venice Film Festival on August 30 before hitting theaters on September 15. But as the actors are on strike and therefore cannot promote their films, the distributor MGM, which belongs to Amazon Studios, has decided to postpone the theatrical release of Challengers until April 26.
“After careful consideration with our partners, and given the parameters SAG-AFTRA has set for its members, we have made the difficult decision to withdraw Challengers from the Venice International Film Festival this year,” MGM said in a statement Friday. We look forward to celebrating the feature film when we can do so with the full cast, director Luca Guadagnino and the film’s crew at a later date. »
