John Cusack slams ‘grasping studios utilizing legal enterprise to remove actors’

John Cusack has slammed “studio greed” and accused execs of utilizing AI to exchange working actors in a livid Twitter thread.

The Say Anything star took to social media after the actors union SAG-AFTRA introduced plans for 160,000 members to go on strike this yr.

Hollywood is now on “double strike” for the primary time since 1960 because the WGA has been picketing since May 2.

Cusack has shared help for the strike, citing the rise of AI as one of many greatest threats going through working actors.

“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 Copyright identity theft.”

He went on to accuse studios of working a “criminal enterprise”, saying in 10 years they’ll declare they’d no concept AI would remove the necessity for actors.

His thread detailed his expertise engaged on the 1989 basic rom-com Say Anything, which he says twentieth Century Fox claimed to have misplaced cash regardless of grossing $20.7 million on the field workplace.

“The greed is almost a legendary comic trope,” Cusack mentioned. “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 the financial statements they were obligated to report.

“And to my shock – they claimed they had LOST 44 million dollars on the film.

“I thought wow, I almost bankrupted Fox! (not really).

“The film cost about 13 million to make – and money spent to release was minimal at the time.

“30 years in – that film lost millions every year! A neat accounting trick don’t ya think?”

Cusack shared the speech made by union President Fran Drescher, which additionally took pictures at studios utilizing AI to chop prices.

“We are the victims here. We are being victimized by a very greedy entity,” she mentioned.

“I cannot believe it, quite frankly: How far apart we are on so many things.

“How [the studios] plead poverty, that they’re losing money left and right when giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them.”