Succession star Brian Cox leads UK actors' fight against AI

Succession star Brian Cox and Mission Impossible star Simon Pegg on Friday spearheaded a protest in London in support of striking US colleagues walking out over low pay and the “existential threat” posed by artificial intelligence.

Hollywood actors went on strike on July 14 after talks with studios broke down, joining film and television writers who have been on picket lines since May and further disrupting scores of productions.

Actors union Sag-Aftra and the Writers Guild of America want increases in base pay and residuals, plus assurances they will not be replaced by AI.

British actors' union Equity organised the rally in Leicester Square in London, where movie theatres hosted UK premieres including Barbie and Oppenheimer last week.

While actors on Equity contracts can still work, the union is in full support of the strike and keen to make sure no loopholes are sought, its general secretary Paul Fleming said on Monday.

David Oyelowo, Andy Serkis, Imelda Staunton, Naomie Harris and Hayley Atwell also joined Friday's rally, where supporters held placards saying: “Equity stands in solidarity with Sag-Aftra.”

US comedian and actor Rob Delaney, who is a member of Equity and Sag-Aftra, said the cross-Atlantic solidarity on show at the rally was a “beautiful thing”.

Scottish actor Cox, 77, who starred as media mogul Logan Roy in the HBO hit drama Succession, said the use of AI in the entertainment industry poses a “really serious” threat that must be halted.

“It's the thin end of a horrible wedge … because our image is so strong and they capture those images and they can do what they like with them,” he said.

“Well they cannot do what they like with them and they shouldn't be allowed to. We are going to stop it.”

The last time US actors union went on strike in 1980 over the advent of pay television and home video, the walkout lasted more than three months.

This time, the union says their pay has been “severely eroded” by streaming and has warned that AI poses “an existential threat”.