Succession star Brian Cox says Hollywood strike could last until end of 2023 and actors may have to ‘go to the brink’
Succession star Brian Cox has told Sky News the Hollywood actors’ strike could get “very unpleasant” and may not be resolved until the end of the year.
The industry looks set to effectively shut down after actors decided to join an existing walkout by writers.
It means many hit TV shows and movies will have to stop production, while actors will also stop promoting films they have already made.
Cox told Sky News: “It’s a situation that could get very, very unpleasant. It could go on for quite some time. They’ll take us to the brink and we’ll probably have to go to the brink.
“So it may not be solved… until towards the end of the year.”
The strike is over pay, conditions and concerns over the use of artificial intelligence (AI) – something Cox compared to the “boogeyman”.
Cox, 77, familiar to millions for his role as media mogul Logan Roy, said the technology could lead to a fall in standards.
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He said the strike was mainly in support of Hollywood writers because without them “we have nothing… That’s why we have shows like White Lotus, like Succession…”
Scriptwriters have been striking for the last few months, seeking concessions such as higher minimum pay.
The Screen Actors’ Guild decision to join them means it’s the first time in 63 years both have walked out at the same time.
An estimated 160,000 performers – many of them low-level jobbing actors – are expected to take part – with no end date set.
Cox said one of the main reasons actors are striking is over the residual payments they receive when shows and films are repeated.
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It is a particular concern given the growth of streaming services, which pay less for residuals than broadcast TV, and where many shows are constantly available for repeat viewing.
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Cox said the system had been “failing rapidly” and these payments were vital for funding actors’ healthcare.
“If our residuals go down it means our health insurance isn’t going to be met,” said Cox.
He added: “In a way, the streaming services have shot themselves in the foot because they’ve said ‘oh, we’re going very well on this front’.
“And when we called them to task and said ‘what about our residuals, what about our money?’, everything kind of closes down and… you know, it’s not going to happen.”
Brian Cox played Logan Roy in Succession
With AI now able to convincingly imitate actors’ appearance and voice – a theme taken to the extreme in a recent Black Mirror episode – stars are concerned over unauthorised use of their likeness.
It is another of the reasons why they have decided to down tools.
Stars including Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves are among those who have been the subject of widely viewed ‘deepfakes’.
“One of the problems is we really don’t know enough about it,” Cox told Sky News.
“We don’t know the extent to which it [AI] can operate. It’s the boogeyman, it really is the boogeyman.”
Cox added that it would be “unacceptable” if streaming services used AI to generate whole shows, saying “there would never be an original voice” and “the standard immediately drops”.
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Joy star James Norton on the ‘postcode lottery’ of IVF – and playing the scientist who was part of creating the first ‘test-tube baby’
Actor James Norton, who stars in a new film telling the story of the world’s first “test-tube baby”, has criticised how “prohibitively expensive” IVF can be in the UK.
In Joy, the star portrays the real-life scientist Bob Edwards, who – along with obstetrician Patrick Steptoe and embryologist Jean Purdy – spent a decade tirelessly working on medical ways to help infertility.
The film charts the 10 years leading up to the birth of Louise Joy Brown, who was dubbed the world’s first test-tube baby, in 1978.
In the UK, statistics show the proportion of IVF cycles paid for by the NHS has dropped from 40% to 27% in the last decade
Norton, who is best known for playing Tommy Lee Royce in the BAFTA-winning series Happy Valley, told Sky News he has friends who were IVF babies and other friends who have had their own children thanks to the fertility treatment.
“But I didn’t know about these three scientists and their sacrifice, tenacity and skill,” he said. The star hopes the film will be “a catalyst for conversation” about the treatment and its availability.
“We know for a fact that Jean, Bob and Patrick would not have liked the fact that IVF is now so means based,” he said. “It’s prohibitively expensive for some… and there is a postcode lottery which means that some people are precluded from that opportunity.”
Bill Nighy, Thomasin McKenzie and James Norton star in Joy. All pics: Netflix/ Kerry Brown
Now, IVF is considered a wonder of modern medicine. More than 12 million people owe their existence today to the treatment Edwards, Steptoe and Purdy worked so hard to devise.
But Joy shows how public backlash in the years leading up to Louise’s birth saw the team vilified – accused of playing God and creating “Frankenstein babies”.
Bill Nighy and Thomasin McKenzie star alongside Norton, with the script written by acclaimed screenwriter Jack Thorne and his wife Rachel Mason.
The couple went through seven rounds of IVF themselves to conceive their son.
Norton portrays scientist Bob Edwards, while McKenzie plays embryologist Jean Purdy
While the film is set in the 1970s, the reality is that societal pressures haven’t changed all that much for many going through IVF today – with the costs now both emotional and financial.
“IVF is still seen as a luxury product, as something that some people get access to and others don’t,” said Thorne, speaking about their experiences in the UK.
“Louise was a working-class girl with working-class parents. Working class IVF babies are very, very rare now.”
In the run-up to the US election, Donald Trump saw IVF as a campaigning point – promising his government, or insurance companies, would pay for the treatment for all women should he be elected. He called himself the “father of IVF” at a campaign event – a remark described as “quite bizarre” by Kamala Harris.
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Bill Nighy ‘proud’ of new film on IVF breakthrough
“I don’t think Trump is a blueprint for this,” Norton said. “I don’t know how that fits alongside his questions around pro-choice.”
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In the UK, statistics from fertility regulator HEFA show the proportion of IVF cycles paid for by the NHS has dropped from 40% to 27% in the last decade.
“It’s so expensive,” Norton said. “Those who want a child should have that choice… and some people’s lack of access to this incredibly important science actually means that people don’t have the choice.”
Joy is in UK cinemas from 15 November, and on Netflix from 22 November
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