The Hollywood actors strikes appears to be over. Here’s what happens now

Published

2 years ago

November 9, 2023

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After an industry-wide shutdown lasting 118 days, it looks like it’s finally time to call “Action!” in Hollywood once again.

US actors’ union SAG-AFTRA has now agreed a “tentative deal” with Hollywood studio bosses, with picket locations now officially closed.

The announcement comes after the Writers Guild of America (WGA) agreed a deal in September following the separate 148-day writers strike.

There are a couple of steps that need to happen before the deal becomes official, with the national SAG-AFTRA board set to review the agreement before details are released and the guild’s full membership takes a vote.

However, when striking screenwriters reached their deal in September, writing work was allowed to resume before full ratification of the contract was complete.

As Hollywood looks set to get back to work, here’s what to expect.

Film and TV production

Production on films and TV shows is expected to start momentarily following the end of the strike. But while the deal means work can now resume, don’t expect a flurry of shows and films to come out straight away – after a delay of several months it will take time for the industry to get back to normal, and viewers may continue to feel the effects for months, if not years.

Much-anticipated films including Deadpool 3, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator sequel will likely be among the first films that will resume production.

Work on season five of hit ’80s sci-fi series Stranger Things was also paused, and the cast of Wicked, which includes Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey, were days away from completing the film before the announcement.

Production on upcoming seasons of other hit shows, including The Handmaid’s Tale and The Last Of Us, was also put on hold.

The resolution of the writers strike allowed script work to resume on shows such as Abbott Elementary, The White Lotus and Yellowjackets – and this head-start might help those productions get back on the air sooner once their stars are cleared to work.

Television moves faster than film – as one once filming ends on films there is still a lengthy editing and promotional process.

In recent weeks before the announcement of the resolution, more shows and films announced delays – Kevin Costner’s final episodes of Yellowstone won’t air until November 2024, and the next Mission: Impossible film has also been postponed.

Red carpet glam

It wasn’t just work on production itself that was put on hold – members of SAG-AFTRA, which represents around 160,000 workers in the industry, were also barred from publicising any of their upcoming projects.

This means that for months, film and TV premieres have either been called off, or gone ahead without their stars, and you will have seen very few actors giving interviews about their acting work. Striking actors were even warned not to dress up as popular film or TV characters at Halloween.

The much-anticipated premiere of Christopher Nolan’s epic Oppenheimer was scheduled on 14 July, the day the actors strike was announced – forcing stars including Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Matt Damon to walk off the red carpet.

Now, promo can go ahead as planned – so we’re expecting to see a flurry of red carpet announcements as studios rush to show off their stars once again.

The strike also affected international film festivals such as Venice and Toronto – and during the London Film Festival in October, director Martin Scorsese said he was “disappointed” that the stars of his latest film, Killers Of The Flower Moon, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, could not attend.

The end of the strike means festivals such as Sundance, Berlin and Cannes can go ahead as planned at the beginning of 2024.

Some projects were given exemptions, such as Michael Mann’s upcoming racing drama Ferrari, for which stars Adam Driver and Patrick Dempsey were able to attend the Venice Film Festival – and also allowed Dempsey to do an interview with People magazine when it named him its Sexiest Man Alive.

Does this affect the Oscars or other awards shows?

The Emmy Awards, which usually take place in September, were called off due to the strikes. A new date was set for 15 January, and it looks like the ceremony will now be able to go ahead on this date.

As most of the awards ceremonies take place between January and April, events including the big one, the Oscars, can now take place as planned without any changes.

What does the deal mean?

SAG-AFTRA says the deal is worth more than a billion dollars and includes compensation increases, consent protections for use of artificial intelligence and actors’ likenesses, and a “streaming participation bonus”.

The Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers says the “tentative agreement represents a new paradigm”, and that studios are offering actors “the biggest contract-on-contract gains in the history of the union, including the largest increase in minimum wages in the last 40 years”.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s executive director and chief negotiator, says the gains have made the strike worthwhile.

What’s next?

Well… it might not all be over just yet. In fact, there could be another actors strike – this time by video game performers. Negotiations for this contract are ongoing, but a shutdown has been authorised.

Actors who work on video games range from voice performers to stunt performers, and like SAG-AFTRA members have expressed concerns about the use of AI in their industry.

Studios will also be negotiating with set workers and their guild, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, in 2024. IATSE members work on everything from set-building to lighting and creating effects, and so are crucial to film and television production. They have been severely impacted by the filming shutdown already, with some members joining the picket lines in the writers and actors strikes.

And other sectors of the industry have moved to unionise as the actors and writers strikes have played out. Some reality television workers are calling for a union, while visual effects artists who work on Marvel films voted to join IATSE.

So while Hollywood loves a happy ending, there could be a sequel to come.

Entertainment

‘Epstein is rolling in his grave laughing’: Artist reveals why he photographed convicted paedophile – and Donald Trump

Published

7 hours ago

September 13, 2025

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'Epstein is rolling in his grave laughing': Artist reveals why he photographed convicted paedophile - and Donald Trump

Andres Serrano says he doesn’t set out to be a controversial artist – but he’s certainly proved to be one during his career.

The 75-year-old New Yorker first found fame (or infamy in the eyes of his critics) with one of the most notorious works of art in history – his 1987 photograph titled Piss Christ.

The depiction of a crucifix submerged in urine led to protests denouncing the image as blasphemous – and it was vandalised while on display in a French art museum in 2011.

“I don’t do work to be controversial,” he tells Sky News. “I do work that I feel like I need to do.

“For some reason, I’ve touched on many cultural things that have become cultural flashpoints.”

Now, two of Serrano’s most high-profile and controversial subjects for his artwork are dominating headlines around the world.

Serrano photographed Jeffrey Epstein for a portrait in 2019, four months before the paedophile financier was found dead in a prison cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. It is one of the last known images of Epstein, whose death was ruled to be suicide.

Years earlier, Serrano took a portrait photo of Donald Trump in 2004 – the same year the property tycoon began starring on The Apprentice TV series.

As Trump faces scrutiny over his past links to Epstein, and pressure to release all files in the sex offender’s case, Serrano offers a rare insight into the two men.

Photographing Epstein

Serrano’s portrait of Epstein was “23 years in the making”, he says, after he agreed to do it in exchange for a sculpture the wealthy collector owned that the artist had wanted since the mid-1990s.

At the time, Epstein was already a convicted sex offender who had served time in jail after pleading guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor.

Despite this, Serrano says he didn’t have reservations about taking the photo because he “wanted the statue” that Epstein owned.

Serrano believed the 16th century statue of the Virgin Mary should be paired with one he owned of St John.

“Jeffrey Epstein is rolling in his grave laughing about how he is still talked about,” the artist says.

“He wasn’t an interesting guy. Except for being a paedophile, there was nothing about him that should have made him so interesting to so many people.”

Epstein ‘collected people’

Serrano – who was first introduced to Epstein in the mid-90s – says he and his wife had “a few meetings” with him and considered him to be a “strange guy”.

He says he has “shocked” when he learnt Epstein had been “exposed and indicted as a paedophile”.

“We never saw that side of Epstein,” he says.

“To me, he looked like a guy who didn’t have a job and was always on a vacation having fun.

“I never asked him about where his money came from. I knew he was very rich. I also knew he knew a lot of people.

“Jeffrey Epstein did not collect art but he collected people. He made it his business to know everybody, anybody who was a celebrity, famous, rich – anyone with a reputation.”

Serrano says he doesn’t “judge” the subjects of his photography, who have also included members of the Ku Klux Klan, and he was “happy” with the outcome of the Epstein portrait.

But how does he think Epstein’s victims feel seeing the image?

“I don’t see how one thing has to do with the other,” he replies.

“Does that mean the victims would feel better looking at the portrait of him in the mugshot, which is a horrible picture?”

He adds: “Their take on Jeffrey Epstein is very different from everyone else’s. So they see something that we can’t even imagine what they see.”

Photographing Trump

While Serrano believes Epstein was uninteresting, his opinion of Trump couldn’t be more different.

He describes the US president as “fascinating” – so much so that he collected more than 1,000 items linked to him for an art installation called The Game: All Things Trump.

The objects, products and items of merchandise had been created for Trump’s businesses and brands, including Trump Vodka, Trump University and even Trump Steaks.

An 11ft-tall sign spelling the word “Ego” from the Trump Taj Mahal resort in Atlantic City also featured in the display, along with Serrano’s own portrait of Trump.

He calls the photograph “one of the best portraits I’ve ever seen of Donald Trump”, and reveals he had a particular way of working with him – staying quiet.

“I didn’t give him any reason to upset him,” Serrano says.

“He sizes you up very quickly. (I didn’t want to say) anything that would turn him off or that would bore him or that would make him in any way want to leave.”

‘Quiet’ Trump ‘tried to figure me out’

Serrano says he spent about half an hour with Trump, who he describes as being “quiet” throughout the process of having his portrait photo taken.

“I often like to leave people to their own thoughts when I’m taking a portrait,” the artist says.

“I like to make the kind of portraits where it feels like I’m not even there. It’s just you, the viewer and the sitter.

“I think he was just trying to figure me out. And so since we didn’t talk, you know it was just a silent conversation between us.”

The artist won’t answer directly when asked if he is a Trump supporter but calls him “the epitome of the American dream”.

“I don’t think the art world has ever taken Donald Trump seriously except as a subject for ridicule,” he says.

“My perception and my intent with Donald Trump was far from that, because I think that’s a very simplistic way of doing things.

“My view of him is that he’s a really smart guy.

“Whatever you think about him, you can’t argue with the fact that he often gets his way and I think that’s because Donald Trump is persistent. He doesn’t let go. He’s like a pitbull who doesn’t let go.”

‘Epstein story will be buried’

Serrano also took a portrait photograph of Trump’s former presidential election rival Kamala Harris for The New Yorker magazine but says the circumstances were very different.

“When I do portrait for a magazine… I’m happy to do for them but there’s no skin in the game for me,” he says.

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Despite the pressure facing Trump to make public all files related to the Epstein case, Serrano believes “the story will die at some point”.

“It’s kind of like the Kennedy assassination. People have been obsessed with conspiracy theories, theories about John F Kennedy’s assassination for years,” he says.

“It’s a story that comes and goes, but I think this story will go.

“At some point, maybe some point soon, the Jeffrey Epstein story will be buried, along with Jeffrey Epstein.”

Entertainment

Henry Cavill suffers injury while training for Highlander film

Published

15 hours ago

September 12, 2025

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Henry Cavill suffers injury while training for Highlander film

Actor Henry Cavill has suffered an injury during training ahead of filming for the remake of the Highlander film.

The British actor, best known for TV series The Witcher, playing Superman in Man Of Steel, and more recently Sherlock Holmes in the Enola Holmes film series, was hurt just days before the film was due to start production.

Filming for the reboot of the 1980s classic will now begin in 2026, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The cast includes Gladiator actor Russell Crowe, who worked with Cavill on Man Of Steel, as well as former Doctor Who star Karen Gillan, and Dave Bautista – known for roles in Dune and as Drax in the Guardians Of The Galaxy trilogy.

Cavill, 42, was injured during pre-production of the Amazon MGM Studios’ United Artists (UA) film.

Highlander, which is being directed by Chad Stahelski, is based on the original 1986 film of the same name.

The film starred Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery and is about an ancient battle between immortal warriors.

The fantasy-action film was followed up with several sequels, including Highlander II: The Quickening (1991), Highlander III: The Sorcerer (1994), and Highlander: Endgame (2000).

An alternate sequel to the original film was also produced as a TV spin-off series in 1992.

Speaking at CinemaCon in Las Vegas in April, Cavill told The Hollywood Reporter he was a “lover of the original movies, for better or worse” and was currently in training to play the immortal Scottish hero.

He added: “If you think you’ve seen me do sword work before, you haven’t seen anything yet.”

There has been no word on what type of injury Cavill suffered or how it occurred.

Entertainment

Ireland will not participate in Eurovision if Israel is allowed to take part

Published

2 days ago

September 11, 2025

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Ireland will not participate in Eurovision if Israel is allowed to take part

Ireland will not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest next year if Israel is allowed to take part, RTE has announced.

The Irish broadcaster said in a statement that a number of European Broadcasting Union (EBU) members raised concerns over the participation of Israel in the competition at the union’s general assembly in July.

RTE added that its “position” is that Ireland will not take part in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest if the participation of Israel goes ahead.

The broadcaster will make its “final decision regarding Ireland’s participation” once the EBU decides whether Israel will take part, the statement continues.

It adds: “RTE wishes to thank the EBU for the extensive consultation process that was initiated on foot of that meeting, and the extension of the option to withdraw from participation without penalty to December.”

The statement added: “RTE feels that Ireland’s participation would be unconscionable given the ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza.

“RTE is also deeply concerned by the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza, and the denial of access to international journalists to the territory, and the plight of the remaining hostages.”

Ireland has won Eurovision seven times, the joint most of any country along with Sweden. Its last win was in 1996.

Eurovision Song Contest director Martin Green said: “We understand the concerns and deeply held views around the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. We are still consulting with all EBU Members to gather views on how we manage participation and geopolitical tensions around the Eurovision Song Contest.

“Broadcasters have until mid-December to confirm if they wish to take part in next year’s event in Vienna. It is up to each member to decide if they want to take part in the contest and we would respect any decision broadcasters make.”

The 70th anniversary edition of the contest is due to take place in Vienna, Austria, in May after Austrian entry JJ won with his song Wasted Love in Basel, Switzerland, earlier this year.

Ireland was represented by Emmy in Basel, with the song Laika Party, while Israel was represented by Yuval Raphael, with her song New Day Will Rise.

There has been growing controversy about Israel’s participation in Eurovision with protests in host cities in the last two years.