Similar to Cannes this year, the Lido's upcoming edition, which unspools Aug. 27-Sept. 6, is lighter on Yank pics, largely due to a dearth caused by the writers' strike. "One of the effects of the strike is that so many releases of movies that would have been right for Venice have been pushed by the studios to December, or even later," Marco Mueller said at a packed presser in Rome’s Excelsior Hotel on the Via Veneto.

"Very few (studios) were willing to run the risk of piracy by world premiering a movie so many months before its theatrical release," added the Venice topper, underlining that, with five U.S. pics vying for the Golden Lion, the U.S. presence at the Lido is still strong.