SAG Strike: Hollywood Actors Walk Out Over Pay, AI Worries

Major films in production including Avatar and Gladiator sequels are looking likely to be affected by Hollywood actors taking strike action.

Promotional events such as red-carpet premieres will also be affected.

Events including the Emmys and Comic-Con may be rescheduled or scaled back.

In the industry’s biggest shutdown for over 60 years, some 160,000 performers stopped work at midnight in LA.

The announcement followed similar strike action from the Writers Guild of America (WGA), and brought most US film and TV productions to a halt.

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.

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.

For films in production, the strike means a large portion of work will become impossible. Even in cases in which filming has already been completed, actors will be unavailable for re-shoots and other essential elements of the filmmaking process.

TV shows that are still being filmed will also largely have to stop, although in some cases side deals could be struck between performers and producers to allow work to continue.

Several actors took to Instagram to voice their support for the strike, including Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk, 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.