High-profile films such as Ridley Scott’s Gladiator sequel, starring Paul Mescal, and Avatar 3, sequel to the lucrative Avatar: The Way of Water, look set to be affected as Hollywood actors go on strike. The dispute could also cause the Emmy Awards ceremony and the Comi-Con event in San Diego to be delayed or restructured.
The Galway Film Fleadh, some 5,000 miles east of Los Angeles, was among the first events to respond to the strike. A photo call with the actor Matthew Modine, whose new film The Martini Shot had its world premiere by the Corrib, was moved from 9pm on Thursday to 3.30pm the same day, thus avoiding danger of breaking a union-mandated moratorium on promotional duties. Modine also did not participate in the Q&A after the film.
Meanwhile, in London, Christopher Nolan, at the premiere of Oppenheimer, noted that stars such as Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh were no longer in the building. “You’ve seen them here earlier on the red carpet,” he continued. “Unfortunately, they are off to write their picket signs for what we believe to be an imminent strike by SAG.”
Murphy, who plays J Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb, in Nolan’s eagerly anticipated epic, was unable to complete promotional duties from Friday and is now not expected to attend the Irish premiere in Dublin this weekend.
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The news confirmed that the strike, called by SAG-AFTRA – a merger of the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists – will not just prohibit actors from appearing in film and television programmes. Members cannot do voice work or stunt co-ordination. Personal appearances, awards shows, fan expos and interviews are not allowed. Certain negotiations for future services are prohibited.
SAG-AFTRA announced it was taking the action on Thursday following a meeting of its board. This comes two and a half months after the Writers Guild of America withdrew its labour when it failed to reach agreement on a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). This is the first time both organisations have struck simultaneously since 1960. To put that in perspective, the Screen Actors Guild was then led by one Ronald Reagan.
There are notable parallels between the current strike and the action 60 years ago. Then a big issues was “residuals” – essentially royalties – for repeats of TV shows and for the broadcast of films on television. In 2023, the battle has much to do with the effects of the streaming revolution on the business.
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The union seeks “increased performer base compensation” to make up for losses as entertainment companies move away from the old forms of business to one reliant on streamers such as Netflix and Prime Video.
A further concern is the growth of artificial intelligence. The ability to generate content – even to put actors in shows for which they had shot no footage – threatens to plunge the industry into science-fiction confusion.
Fran Drescher, president of SAF-AFTRA, addressed those issues in a letter to her members. “As you know, over the past decade, your compensation has been severely eroded by the rise of the streaming ecosystem,” she wrote. “Furthermore, artificial intelligence poses an existential threat to creative professions, and all actors and performers deserve contract language that protects them from having their identity and talent exploited without consent and pay.”
These are very much the same sort of issues that have concerned the WGA. Screenwriters are aware that programmes such as ChatGPT could potentially take work from their members.
The AMPTP has accused SAG-AFTRA negotiators of walking away from the talks. “This is the union’s choice, not ours,” a statement read. “In doing so, it has dismissed our offer of historic pay and residual increases, substantially higher caps on pension and health contributions, audition protections, shortened series option periods, a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors’ digital likenesses, and more.”
Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, which recently absorbed 20th Century Fox, has suggested the actors and writers were not being realistic. “It’s very disturbing to me,” Iger said. “We’ve talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges we’re facing, the recovery from Covid, which is ongoing, it’s not completely back ... This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption.”
The strike threatens to keep movie stars from the red carpet at the imminent Venice Film Festival. Zendaya and Josh O’Connor were, on the opening night, expected to strut before the photographers for the world premiere of Luca Guadagnino’s tennis drama Challengers. Michael Mann’s Ferrari starring Adam Driver as the eponymous automotive magnate is also expected to land by the Lido in early September. “You need the actor shots for Venice because there are famous photos of them coming in on the boats,” a “senior PR source” told Variety.
Meanwhile, the Galway Film Fleadh continues. “The Fleadh is the first film festival in the world to be affected,” Miriam Allen, managing director of the event, said. “We believe there is no better way to show our solidarity with both SAG and the WGA than showing the wonderful work of their members on the screen.”
