The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- Sarah Marshal
Oppenheimer actors walk out of UK premiere as Hollywood stars join writer strike
Hollywood actors will join screenwriters in historic strike action after the national board of the SAG-AFTRA union approved a member walkout.
Negotiators for the union unanimously recommended a strike after talks with studios broke down. Scripted TV and movie production will cease immediately in the first dual work stoppage by both actors and writers in 63 years.
The Writers Guild of America has been on strike since early May. Both groups demand increases in base pay and residuals in the streaming TV era plus assurances that their work will not be replaced by artificial intelligence (AI).
Both unions are in dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Fran Drescher, former star of The Nanny and the president of SAG-AFTRA, said studios’ responses to the actors’ concerns had been “insulting and disrespectful”.
Issa Rae and Jamie Lee Curtis led A-listers voicing support for the strike, while the cast of Oppenheimer left a London premiere prematurely on Thursday night to “go and write their picket signs”.
Meanwhile, Disney CEO Bob Iger condemned the threatened strike action as “very disruptive” at the “worst time” as well as calling the expectations of writers and actors “just not realistic”.
