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John Cusack has slammed “studio greed” and accused execs of using AI to replace working actors in a furious Twitter thread.
The Say Anything star took to social media after the actors union SAG-AFTRA announced plans for 160,000 members to go on strike this year.
Hollywood is now on “double strike” for the first time since 1960 as the WGA has been picketing since May 2.
Cusack has shared support for the strike, citing the rise of AI as one of the biggest threats facing 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 running a “criminal enterprise”, saying in 10 years they’ll claim they had no idea AI would eliminate the need for actors.
His thread detailed his experience working on the 1989 classic rom-com Say Anything, which he says 20th Century Fox claimed to have lost money despite grossing $20.7 million at the box office.
“The greed is almost a legendary comic trope,” Cusack said. “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 also took shots at studios using AI to cut costs.
“We are the victims here. We are being victimized by a very greedy entity,” she said.
“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.”