Disney Reportedly Crossed All Unethical Boundaries in WandaVision, Royally Screwed Over All Background Actors Without Their Permission
The SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes have taken a toll on Hollywood. The production houses, actors, directors, and artists have come down to the streets and are responding to the ongoing strike in the entertainment world. The reputed streaming platform Disney+ made headlines with respect to actor Elizabeth Olsen’s WandaVision recently.
According to the rumors floating from the world of entertainment, Disney reportedly crossed all the unethical limits and has drawn a big question mark on the future of background actors. Dozens of background actors have come forward with reports of the billion-dollar production house adapting to innovative technology to curb the employment of background artists.
Disney Allegedly Scanned The Faces Of All The Background Actors To Create AI Replicas
As we all know, background actors are merely used as artists without any speaking part on the screen. Amidst the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, according to a claim made by a union negotiator, the studios have come forward to shell out one day’s pay after they are scanned and with the help of the artificial intelligence their digital replicas can be used and re-used for the future.
Nowadays, the practice of body-scanning background actors has become prevalent in Hollywood. Recently, a few background actors were interviewed by the media outlet NPR, and they confessed how their future has been put on a stake by the production houses.
Alexandria Rubalcaba, one of the background actors from Elizabeth Olsen’s Disney+ series WandaVision, spoke about how the future of the background actors has been impacted. She revealed-
“You don’t know what’s going to get back to casting. You don’t know if they’re going to call up casting and say, ‘Oh this person is being difficult,’ and not hire them again because that’s how the system works. It’s getting into this gray area of, ‘what are they going to use it for in the future?'”
She further mentioned-
“Have your hands out. Have your hands in. Look this way. Look that way. Let us see your scared face. Let us see your surprised face. What if I don’t want to be on MarioVision or SarahVision? I fear that AI is eventually going to weed out background actors. They won’t have any use for us anymore.”
The ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA Strikes have brought forward the malpractices that had been a part of the entertainment world for a long time. Almost everyone from the artist’s guild is voicing out their opinions and standing in solidarity with the strike. The AI tools have shrouded the future of the background actors with uncertainty.
Disney Chief Robert Iger On WGA And SAG-AFTRA Strikes
Hollywood is going through one of the toughest phases amidst the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Actors, directors, and artists are coming forward and supporting the strike. During an appearance on the news outlet of CNBC’S segment Squawk Box, Disney CEO Bob Iger commented on the strikes and even mentioned that Hollywood is not being realistic with respect to their expectations. He said-
“It’s very disturbing to me. We’ve talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges we’re facing, the recovery from COVID which is ongoing, it’s not completely back. This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption. I understand any labor organization’s desire to work on behalf of its members to get the most compensation and be compensated fairly based on the value that they deliver.”
He further mentioned-
“We managed, as an industry, to negotiate a very good deal with the directors guild that reflects the value that the directors contribute to this great business. We wanted to do the same thing with the writers, and we’d like to do the same thing with the actors. There’s a level of expectation that they have, that is just not realistic. And they are adding to the set of the challenges that this business is already facing that is, quite frankly, very disruptive.”
The WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are having a negative impact on the entire entertainment industry. The release date of projects is being delayed, and the promotional events and the future of the upcoming projects have been adversely affected.
Source: Twitter
