SAG strike: Hollywood actors walk out over pay and AI worries

Hollywood actors will be joining screenwriters in the biggest strike action in more than 60 years.  

At midnight, some 160,000 actors stopped work in Los Angeles, bringing to a halt most US film and TV productions. 

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) wants streaming giants to agree to a fairer split of profits and better working conditions. 

AI is another concern for the strikers, who want to be protected from being replaced by digital replicas. 

Whilst the strikes are in action, actors cannot appear in films or promote their movies. 

During the London premiere of Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy, Florence Pugh, Matt Damon and Emily Blunt left the premiere after the strike was declared. 

The film’s director Christopher Nolan told the audience that the actors were “off to write their picket signs,” and voiced his support for the strikers. 

Picketing will begin on Friday morning outside the California headquarters of Netflix before moving on to Paramount, Warner Bros and Disney.