CALIFORNIA – Hollywood actors have announced they will join a strike by screenwriters in the industry’s biggest shutdown for more than 60 years.
Some 160,000 performers will stop work at midnight in Los Angeles, bringing to a halt most US film and TV productions.
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) wants streaming giants to agree to a fairer split of profits and better working conditions.
It also wants to protect actors from being usurped by digital replicas.
The union is seeking guarantees that artificial intelligence (AI) and computer-generated faces and voices will not be used to replace actors.
While the strike lasts, actors cannot appear in films or even promote movies that they have already made.
As a result, stars Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon and Emily Blunt left the premiere of Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” in London on Thursday night as the strike was declared.
The film’s director, Christopher Nolan, told the cinema audience that they were “off to write their picket signs”, adding that he supported them in their struggle.
Several actors took to Instagram to voice their support for the strike, including “Better Call Saul” star Bob Odenkirk, “Sex and the City’s” Cynthia Nixon and Hollywood veteran Jamie Lee Curtis.
Picketing will begin on Friday morning outside the California headquarters of Netflix, before moving on to Paramount, Warner Bros and Disney.
To address concerns about the use of AI, the big studios have offered what they call a “ground-breaking proposal” that would protect the digital likeness of actors and require their consent when digital replicas are used in performances, or alterations are made.
But the union rejected the offer, made by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
The SAG’s national executive director and chief negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, said it was unacceptable.
“They propose that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get paid for one day’s pay, and their company should own that scan of their image, their likeness, and should be able to use it for the rest of eternity,” he said. “If you think that’s a ground-breaking proposal, I suggest you think again.” (BBC)
