Movie and TV Stars Join Picket Lines in Fight over the Future of Hollywood

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher (C L), with National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland (C R) and actress Frances Fisher (C bottom), joins Writers Guild members at a picket line outside Netflix in Los Angeles on July 14, 2023. (AFP)
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher (C L), with National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland (C R) and actress Frances Fisher (C bottom), joins Writers Guild members at a picket line outside Netflix in Los Angeles on July 14, 2023. (AFP)
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Movie and TV Stars Join Picket Lines in Fight over the Future of Hollywood

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher (C L), with National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland (C R) and actress Frances Fisher (C bottom), joins Writers Guild members at a picket line outside Netflix in Los Angeles on July 14, 2023. (AFP)
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher (C L), with National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland (C R) and actress Frances Fisher (C bottom), joins Writers Guild members at a picket line outside Netflix in Los Angeles on July 14, 2023. (AFP)

"Ted Lasso" star Jason Sudeikis, Rosario Dawson and other top movie and TV actors joined picket lines alongside screenwriters Friday on the first full day of a walkout that has become Hollywood’s biggest labor fight in decades.

A day after the dispute brought production to a standstill across the entertainment industry, Sudeikis was among the picketers outside NBC in New York pressing for progress following the breakdown of contract talks with studios and streaming services. Dawson, star of the film "Rent" and the "Star Wars" TV series "Ahsoka," joined picketers outside Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California.

"Lord of the Rings" star Sean Astin marched with chanting protesters outside Netflix's offices in Hollywood. Also present at Netflix were "Titanic" and "Unforgiven" actor Frances Fisher and "The Nanny" star Fran Drescher, who is president of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

The actors’ arrival energized the picket lines outside Netflix, where music blared and the sidewalks were packed with demonstrators.

Elsewhere, "Once Upon a Time" actor Ginnifer Goodwin stood with protesters at Paramount Pictures.

The famous faces of Oscar and Emmy winners will likely be seen with some regularity on picket lines in New York and Los Angeles, adding star power to the demonstrations outside studios and corporate offices.

The walkout is the first double-barreled strike by actors and screenwriters in more than six decades.

In recent weeks, many actors made a show of solidarity with the 11,500 writers, who walked out in May. On Thursday, 65,000 members of the actors' union formally joined them on strike.

The two guilds have similar issues with studios and streaming services. They are concerned about contracts keeping up with inflation and about residual payments, which compensate creators and actors for use of their material beyond the original airing, such as in reruns or on streaming services. The unions also want to put up guardrails against the use of artificial intelligence mimicking their work on film and television.

Many on the picket lines took aim at Disney chief executive Bob Iger, who said Wednesday that the damage the strikes will do to the entertainment economy is "a shame."

"I think that when Bob Iger talks about what a shame it is, he needs to remember that in 1980, CEOs like him made 30 times what their lowest worker was making," actor Sean Gunn, who starred in "Guardians of the Galaxy," said outside Netflix.

Now Iger "makes 400 times what his lowest worker is. And I think that’s a shame, Bob. And maybe you should take a look in the mirror and ask yourself, ‘Why is that?’"

No talks are planned, and no end is in sight for the work stoppage. It is the first time both guilds have walked off sets since 1960, when then-actor Ronald Reagan was SAG’s leader.

"What we won in 1960 was our health and pension plans and the existence of residuals. That was the most important strike in LA union history, and now we’re on strike together again, and honestly, this strike is even bigger," Adam Conover, host of the TV series "Adam Ruins Everything" and member of the Writers Guild negotiating committee, said outside Netflix. "We’re going to win. If you are gaining momentum like we are, 70-odd days into a strike, you are going to win."

Conover was one of many picketers, including Sudeikis, who are members of both unions.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents employers including Disney, Netflix, Amazon and others, has lamented the walkout, saying it will hurt thousands of workers in industries that support film and television production.

The actors' strike will affect more than filming. Stars will no longer be allowed to promote their work through red carpet premieres or personal appearances. They cannot campaign for Emmy awards or take part in auditions or rehearsals.

The strike triggered cancellations of red carpet events scheduled for next week for "Special Ops: Lioness," starring Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman, and Christopher Nolan’s "Oppenheimer."

A "Haunted Mansion" premiere event at Disneyland on Saturday was set to go on as planned, but with no actors in attendance to promote the film.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said it was clear that the entertainment industry "is at a historic inflection point." She urged all parties to work around the clock until an agreement is reached.

"This affects all of us and is essential to our overall economy," Bass said in a statement.

The writers’ strike had already stopped much of television production, and the actors joining them immediately led to a shooting shutdown for many major films, including "Deadpool 3," "Gladiator 2" and the eighth installment of Tom Cruise’s "Mission Impossible" series. All are scheduled for release next year.

The writers' strike also shut down late-night talk shows and "Saturday Night Live," as well as several scripted shows that have either had their writers’ rooms or production paused, including "Stranger Things" on Netflix, "Hacks" on Max and "Family Guy" on Fox. Many more are sure to follow them now that performers also have been pulled.



South Korean Fans Soak up Nostalgia with Vintage Japanese Superheroes 

This picture taken on February 15, 2025 shows merchandise from Japanese superhero series "Choudenshi Bioman" displayed for a fan meeting at a concert hall in Seoul to mark the 35th anniversary of its release in South Korea. (AFP)
This picture taken on February 15, 2025 shows merchandise from Japanese superhero series "Choudenshi Bioman" displayed for a fan meeting at a concert hall in Seoul to mark the 35th anniversary of its release in South Korea. (AFP)
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South Korean Fans Soak up Nostalgia with Vintage Japanese Superheroes 

This picture taken on February 15, 2025 shows merchandise from Japanese superhero series "Choudenshi Bioman" displayed for a fan meeting at a concert hall in Seoul to mark the 35th anniversary of its release in South Korea. (AFP)
This picture taken on February 15, 2025 shows merchandise from Japanese superhero series "Choudenshi Bioman" displayed for a fan meeting at a concert hall in Seoul to mark the 35th anniversary of its release in South Korea. (AFP)

Die-hard South Korean fans cheer and clap as their favorite superheroes strike poses in brightly colored uniforms to the sounds of a soulful Japanese ballad, a nostalgic throwback to the days of VHS.

It has been decades since Japanese superhero series "Choudenshi Bioman" was last on TV, but its epic stories of good versus evil still resonate deeply for these South Korean millennials.

And while their masked heroes are now well into their sixties, a chance to meet them in person at a sold-out concert hall event this month in Seoul was too good to pass up -- even with ticket prices starting at 300,000 won ($210).

"Most of us here are office workers, and though the ticket price wasn't cheap, it wasn't beyond our means as lifelong fans," said Oh Myung-hoon, 39.

"It wasn't a matter of choice for fans like me. It was a must."

Part of the "Super Sentai" series, better known to Western audiences as the inspiration for the "Power Rangers" phenomenon of the 1990s, "Choudenshi Bioman" and its companion shows tell the story of a group of people with special powers fighting supervillains intent on world domination.

The show was broadcast at a time of Japan's transformation into a global cultural powerhouse, its animation and film studios producing content seen the world over.

But many Korean fans of "Choudenshi Bioman" were initially not even aware the show was Japanese.

- Japanese imports banned -

For decades, South Korea imposed sweeping restrictions on Japanese cultural imports due to historical tensions stemming from Tokyo's colonial rule over the peninsula in the early 20th century.

It was not until 1998 -- more than half a century after Korea's independence -- that Seoul began lifting its ban on Japanese media content.

Japanese superhero series -- best known in South Korea through "Bioman" and "Flashman" -- were among the few exceptions to the ban and imported on VHS tapes, making them a rare and cherished phenomenon in the 1980s and 1990s.

Even so, authorities required all Japanese text in the series to be replaced with Korean and the voices dubbed, effectively erasing any trace of their Japanese origins.

This allowed the series to thrive in an era when anti-Japanese sentiment remained strong, media columnist Kim Do-hoon told AFP.

"The media that dominated my youth was all Japanese, like the animation 'Galaxy Express 999', but they had to appear Korean through dubbing," the 49-year-old said.

"The 1970s and 80s were an era of peak anti-Japan sentiment, with the belief that anything related to Japan was bad."

But "thanks to South Korea's strong cultural exports and vibrant economy" times have changed, he added.

Some scenes managed to avoid the censorship and showed Japanese characters in the background -- puzzling young Korean kids.

Cha Jeong-in, a 39-year-old game developer, admits she was confused by the "unrecognizable letters".

"I asked myself 'what is it?'" she told AFP.

"I later learned it was all made in Japan."

- Good triumphs over evil -

For the actors who starred in the hero series, the heartfelt reception in Seoul was both exhilarating and perplexing -- especially in a country where Japanese content was once heavily censored.

"I had never expected something like this to happen 40 years after filming, so I was really surprised," said Kazunori Inaba, who played Red Mask in "Maskman".

The 68-year-old former actor, who now runs a ramen restaurant in Tokyo, said it was "difficult" for him to account for the devoted following his decades-old fantasy drama still enjoys in South Korea.

"If this work that we did can be a good bridge between Japan and Korea, then we have done a really good job," he told AFP.

"I think heroes are really important, especially when you're a child. As you grow up, you forget about them," he said.

"But rewatching them can help bring back the memories."

Game developer Cha said she spent $1,500 to come to Seoul from the Philippines, where she now lives.

"I thought that if I missed this chance, I'd never be able to see them face to face in my lifetime because of their advanced age," she told AFP.

"They all taught me that good always triumphs over evil and that I must not choose the path of wrongdoing," Cha said.

"They instilled those values in me."