The members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) have been demanding the same things as the Writers Guild of America whose members have been on strike for months now in America. The members of SAG-AFTRA want the restrictions on use of tools of artificial intelligence technology which can do everything that a writer or performer can do which in turn will eventually put talented people out of business.
SAG-AFTRA has announced the deadline for negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers(AMPTP) as July 12 and as the date passed by without reaching an outcome, an all-out SAG-AFTRA strike with its almost 160,000 members is almost certain.
Emily Blunt opens up about her views on the SAG-AFTRA strike
The premiere of Christopher Nolan’s upcoming biographical movie, Oppenheimer took place in London earlier today despite the negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP falling through last night. However, the star cast of the movie showed their solidarity to their industry and SAG-AFTRA revealed that they would also be participating in the strike if the union called for a strike today at the premier.
Emily Blunt also opened up about the situation and said she would be leaving the premier to go on strike if they called for it and said,
“I think right now we are just sorting of … I hope everyone makes a fair deal and we are here to celebrate this movie. And if they call it, we’ll be leaving together as cast in unity with everyone … We are gonna have to. We are gonna have to. We will see what happens. Right now it’s the joy to be together.”
Matt Damon also opened up about his views on the SAG-AFTRA union strike
Matt Damon also appeared for the London Premier of Oppenheimer and revealed that his own independent production company that he started with Ben Affleck, Artists Equity has been suffering due to the Writer’s strike already and the SAG-AFTRA strike is going to be brutal. He said,
“Ben and I started this little studio, we’re three and a half movies in, we’ve shut down one of them right now. We’re just waiting for everything to resolve. It’s brutal for our sister union. It’s going to be tough for the actor, 160,00 actors and nobody wants work stoppage but if our leadership is saying the deal isn’t fair, then we gotta hold strong till we get a deal that’s fair for working actors. It’s a difference between having health care and not for a lot of actors and we gotta do what’s right by them.”
Other than Emily Blunt and Matt Damon, stars like Kenneth Branagh also showed weighed on the topic and revealed that he also felt like the issue should be resolved soon. Many A-listers like Meryl Streep, Quinta Brunson, and Pedro Pascal have also written an open letter to the SAG-AFTRA union and said that they will also participate in a strike if the union decides to go through with their decision to organize one.
Oppenheimer is all set to be released in theatres on 21 July later this month.
Source: Deadline
