SAG actors’ strike news: Tom Cruise lobbied Hollywood studios against AI last month

Kevin Bacon joined SAG-AFTRA members protesting in front of Paramount Studios’ New York headquarters on Monday (17 July).

“I think AI is a huge issue,” the Footloose star told The Associated Press from the picket line.

While the total membership comprises more than 160,000 people, only the 65,000 performers in TV and film productions are currently participating in the strike.

None of the movie stars showed up at Disney’s Haunted Mansion premiere held at Disneyland on Saturday night (15 July).

The big names who were notably missing were Lakeith Stanfield, Danny DeVito, Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jared Leto, Winona Ryder, and Rosario Dawson.

The one person who did show up was the film’s director Justin Simien.

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Simien said: “I feel very ambivalent about it, but at the same time, I’m just so proud of this cast and I’m so, so proud of Katie Dippold who wrote the script, and so much of why I did this was to honor her words and to honor their work

He added: “If they can’t be here to speak for it, I felt like I had to be here to speak for it. It’s sad that they’re not here, at the same time, I totally support the reason why they’re not here. And I’m happy to be the one to ring the bell in their stead.”

Simien also noted that he finds the AI issues coming up in SAG-AFTRA’s negotiations to be “a very important thing to hammer home and to figure out.”

While the ongoing double strike, which has effectively shut down Hollywood, is a historic event, it’s not the first of its kind.

In 1960, the industry experienced its first joint walkout between the actors’ guild (SAG-AFTRA) and the screenwriters union (Writers Guild of America).

The strike was led by Ronald Reagan, who was the SAG president at the time, years before his US presidency.

The WGA first went on strike, beginning on 16 January 1960, before SAG-AFTRA began their own strike on 7 March 1960. While the latter ended picketing on 18 April 1960, the former strike lasted until 12 June 1960.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tom Cruise urge the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) to support the guild’s position on stunt performers. He was unsuccessful.

In a statement shared with the PA news agency, Clooney said: “This is an inflection point in our industry. Actors and writers in large numbers have lost their ability to make a living.

“For our industry to survive that has to change. For actors that journey starts now.”

In a video posted to Instagram, Baldwin congratulated the union for calling the strike in order to protect its “rank and file” members.

“I don’t think anybody really wants a strike but they don’t want to continue under the unfair contracts that we’re working under now,” he said.

“So congratulations to everybody and I hope this is over right after we get everything we want.”

Actor Mark Ruffalo has urged his fellow stars to work with indie producers, following the news that SAG-AFTRA will soon be signing “interim agreements” with truly independent producers that will allow many of them to make projects during the strike, as long as they are not affiliated with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

“Then we just do what we always do – create great content and they can buy it, or we take it out ourselves and WE share in those sales,” he tweeted. “They’ve created an empire of billionaires and believe that we are no longer of value. While they hang out in the billionaire boy summer camps laughing like fat cats, we organise a new world for workers.”

Tom Cruise reportedly spoke with reps SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP about issues like film promotion and AI, as well as some specifically concerning stunt professionals.

According to Deadline, the actor pushed SAG-AFTRA to consider allowing member promotion of studio projects during the strike.

A source told the outlet that this discussion wasn’t specifically concerning the 61-year-old actor’s latest film Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, but it was instead an acknowledgment of the power promotion has in influencing box office results, which are crucial for the industry post-pandemic.

For those interested in supporting the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strike, there are several things you can do.

While it may seem counterintuitive, you should not cancel your streaming subscriptions, actor Dave Wallace tweeted. In fact, he argued that doing the exact opposite “would actually be more supportive”.

According to their official website, the following are SAG-AFTRA’s demands.

– Performers need minimum earnings to simply keep up with inflation.

– Performers need the protection of our images and performances to prevent the replacement of human performances by artificial intelligence technology.

– Performers need qualified hair and makeup professionals as well as equipment to safely and effectively style a variety of hair textures/styles and skin tones.

– Performers need compensation to reflect the value we bring to the streamers who profit from our labour.

– All performers need support from our employers to keep our health and retirement funds sustainable.

– Principal performers need to be able to work during hiatus and not be held captive by employers.

– Principal performers need to be reimbursed for relocation expenses when they’re employed away from home.