SAG actors’ strike news: Mark Ruffalo condemns ‘billionaires’ in Hollywood who are ‘laughing like fat cats’

When big names walked out of the ‘Oppenheimer’ premiere this week, it signalled the start of historic industrial action in Hollywood. The persistent assumption that acting pays is finally beginning to look less viable, writes Claire Allfree.

At a special screening of his film Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan compared the rapid development of AI technology (a key issue in the labour dispute) with the events in his movie about creation of the atomic bomb.

One of the reasons actors are striking is because of fears around AI replacing them and using their likenesses in perpetuity.

“The rise of companies in the last 15 years bandying words like algorithm – not knowing what they mean in any kind of meaningful, mathematical sense – these guys don’t know what an algorithm is,” Nolan said. “People in my business talking about it, they just don’t want to take responsibility for whatever that algorithm does.”

“Applied to AI, that’s a terrifying possibility. Terrifying. Not least because, AI systems will go into defensive infrastructure ultimately. They’ll be in charge of nuclear weapons. To say that that is a separate entity from the person wielding, programming, putting that AI to use, then we’re doomed. It has to be about accountability. We have to hold people accountable for what they do with the tools that they have.”

He added: “With the labour disputes going on in Hollywood right now, a lot of it – when we talk about AI, when we talk about these issues – they’re all ultimately born from the same thing, which is when you innovate with technology, you have to maintain accountability.”

Director Simone Holland has opened up about the “hardest part about watching the strike”.

“The hardest part about watching the strike is seeing all of the black writers and filmmakers that have sacrificed everything, who get lower rates/deals over-all, who’s content is usually the first to go; deal with glass cliff cycles consistently,” she wrote on Twitter on Sunday (16 July).

Former Paramount and 20th Century Fox CEO Barry Diller warned that the industry could face an “absolute collapse” if the Writers’ and Screen Actors Guild joint strike extends into the fall.

“What will happen is, if in fact, it doesn’t get settled until Christmas or so, then next year, there’s not going to be many programs for anybody to watch. So, you’re gonna see subscriptions get pulled, which is going to reduce the revenue of all these movie companies, television companies, the result of which is that there will be no programs,” Diller said on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday (16 July).

“And at just the time, [the] strike is settled that you want to get back up, there won’t be enough money.”

Diller said he believes a settlement deadline of 1 September should be agreed upon by everybody to prevent “devastating” effects on the entertainment industry.

“I think there should be a settlement deadline because… this actually will have devastating effects if it is not settled soon,” he said “This is a huge business, both domestically and for world exporters.”

Diller added: “It sounds like I’m crying to the skies but these conditions will potentially produce an absolute collapse of an entire industry.”

The list of TV and movies impacted by the strike, from Gladiator 2 to Yellowjackets, is ever-growing.

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Actors have been sharing stories of low income from hugely successful shows and films…

“Thanks to streaming, I have never once made enough to qualify for SAG-AFTRA healthcare,” Wilson tweeted.

While she acknowledged she hasn’t “acted much as an adult”, the star argued: “But I WAS a recurring character on one of the most critically acclaimed animated shows of all time, as well playing an actual Disney villain.”

The HBO show, titled Dune: The Sisterhood and starring Olivia Williams and Emily Watson, will resume production in Budapest and continue throughout the strikes.

It is under contract with British Equity but there are some from SAG-AFTRA involved. While SAG members working on Equity productions can choose to strike, the UK’s anti-strike laws mean studios could sue.

In an interview on Friday (15 July) with Sky News, the 77-year-old British actor said the strike “could get very, very unpleasant” and “could go on for quite some time”. He said: “They’ll take us to the brink and we’ll probably have to go to the brink.”

Cox also addressed actors’ concerns about the use of AI in film and television production, such as using artificial intelligence to write scripts or generate actors’ likenesses without consent. “We don’t know the extent to which it can operate,” he said. “It’s the boogeyman, it really is the boogeyman.”