With the SAG-AFTRA strike underway, John Cusack has posted some scathing comments on Twitter, going as far as saying Hollywood studios are running a “criminal enterprise” in response to their proposal to use AI to scan and own the likenesses of film and television background actors to be used in perpetuity.
“Studios wanna have extras work one day, scan them — own their likeness forever — and eliminate them from the business,” he wrote. “Do you think they will stop with extras? That’s what AI is — a giant Copywrite identity theft [and] criminal enterprise.”
He continued by speculating studios would claim in 10 years they had no idea background actors would be eliminated by AI. “Of course they did — it’s the business model,” Cusack added, before addressing how algorithms are used to “serve the profit motive” and “make more money.”
Related Video
In a separate tweet, Cusack revealed he didn’t receive a percentage of the box office gross for his starring role in Cameron Crowe’s classic 1989 film Say Anything because the studio claimed in their financial statements that they had lost $44 million on the film. See both tweets below.
The actors’ union joined the Writers Guild of America in striking on Thursday, June 13th after failing to negotiate a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Among the key issues in the strike are streaming residuals and curtailing the use of AI.
Check out our explainers about the SAG-AFTRA strike and the WGA strike to find out everything you need to know.
Cusack recently starred in the Prime Video series Utopia and Pursuit, an action movie also featuring Emile Hirsch that was released last year.
Studios wanna have extras work one day
Scan them – own their likeness forever – and eliminate them from the business – & do you think they will stop with extras – ?
That’s what AI is – a giant Copywrite identity theft – criminal
Enterprise / we had no idea this would…Advertisement— John Cusack (@johncusack) July 14, 2023
The greed is almost a legendary comic trope – one fun fact – when I was a youngin- I did a film (with a boom box ) and somehow I got points – net not gross.
Never expected to see any money – but the film became quite famous – so about 10 years ago – I looked again at… https://t.co/ad1FX7oCNa— John Cusack (@johncusack) July 14, 2023
