Sunday, December 02, 2007
Do movie stars support the writers' strike?
Slate Magazine: "The writers have flooded the Internet with videos at Web sites from YouTube to United Hollywood to LateShowWritersOnStrike.com, and those videos are helping them win the public-relations war. Many actors have appeared in the videos, including Holly Hunter, Sandra Oh, a gaggle of Desperate Housewives, Ed Asner, and Josh Brolin. That's a lot of television stars—feeling the pain because their shows are shut down. But where are the movie stars? OK, you get Harvey Keitel, William H. Macy (married to a television star), and inevitably Susan Sarandon, but what about Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, and Johnny Depp, who have had movies canceled because of the strike? Where's the one you'd most expect to see, George Clooney, who happens to be a Writers Guild member?"
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12 comments:
I'm really glad that actors are doing something. As the article said this strike isnt hurting them or helping them but this shows that they care about the medium in geneneral. Of course George Clooney would care since he writes and directs films but it's good to see people who are only actors stand up. I'm sure some of these actors just want work but it's good to see people fight together against big studios and companies.
As general, the shoot of a film takes long time. The movie stars are very accustomed to be without a job for a couple of months. Besides, some of movie stars invest the producing companies. So, for them, the writers' strike is a difficult situation for saying something. On the contrary, the TV actors and hosts usually have daily or weekly show. The long term writers'strike affects them instantly.
I haven't really thought much about the movie stars, I guess I just assumed they wouldn't really be as affected by the strike as people associated with the TV, and we probably won't feel the effects of the strike in the movies for a long time. I do hope it gets resolved soon, though. I know situations like this are hard, but I really don't want to have to watch Pushing Daisies go into reruns...
And I really miss the Daily Show.
I'm not really surprised with what this said about the actors reactions to the writers' strike. They really are not as effected by the writer's strike as the television stars are, even though movies have been cancelled due to the strike. But I think that the help of big movie stars could help the writers'. Sure they might be giving money to support the strike, but just because the actors do not want to upset how things are now does not mean that they can not be more outspoken about it. Of course I can see that soon this strike might cause something that might effect the actors more close to home.
In an industry where every action affects all of those involved, I'm surprised to find that the movie stars are barely touched by the writers actions. They're basically taking on a mentality that no one should be proud of, "If it doesn't affect me, I don't care." If I were in that position I would still act out, because sooner or later, as much as they don't want to believe it, they too will be suffering. Be ready at all times.
Movie stars aren't really being too heavily affected by the strike because of their vast amounts of savings and also the fact that they have the liberty to choose which movies they want to be in. However, less famous actors are probably feeling the pain because of the fact that they don't have any options for jobs. I was talking to my brother who is out in LA and he was saying that just about everyone who works on the production side of a movie is feeling the hurt of the strike because there are so fewer jobs available.
Actors are damn selfish.
they have a voice that can be heard and will be listened to, and they're deciding to say nothing? to remain silent? What? They have too much going on that they can't give a 30 second you-tube spot in support or disfavor of the strike? Get out of here, that's just silly. Especially the line about George Clooney. Oooooh, he gave 25 grand. Good for him, is he helping the talks along? No. Forget it, they're dumb movie stars for a reason, and the ones that do choose to use their fame for change, those are the only ones that i admire. If you're going to be famous just for the sake of being famous, you're just selfish.
I definitely wouldn't expect to see too much support from bigger movie stars, since it would take a while for them to really feel any sort of pressure from this. Not to mention, would I really feel bad for the actors in the big budget films? No, not really, seeing as most of them have more than enough money to live off of for awhile. But the other people who work on those films and the cast of smaller films are who I feel bad for. And like the article said, why would these big actors say anything seeing as they are not really affected by any of the conditions anyways.
It's true that people are only willing to contribute if they are going to see a benefit. It makes sense that the television stars are right on the picket lines along with the writers because they need their support more than the others. I would hope, however, that more of the movie stars could remember their television roots or also realize that while there are stock piles of scripts, they still need the writers to make movies.
I rember that the Office had several writers in the cast. Many shows like that have writers play the characters like Tina Faye in 30 Rock and Seth McFarlane in Family Guy. It's nice to see comradory.
It is a shame that more actors aren't showing their support even though they might not be directly affected however, that seems to be the name of the game; what appears to be even worse is the fact that some actors don't see what the big deal is. I have a friend who was working on a pilot for a television show and had to have it explained to her why exactly the strike was going on and how it affected the writers.
I think the point is really that is not the movie stars's battle to fight. It's not their place to interfere between the writers and producers unless it is something they personally feel passionate about. It would be like wondering why AEA wasn't speaking out about the IATSE strike in NY. Supporting a union you aren't in makes little sense to me. It's true, though, that we are in an industry where a lot of the unions are interdependent, but movie stars (especially the A-list discussed in the article) are not exactly feeling personal or financial ramifications they way that P.A. John Doe is.
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