Hollywood Strike: Tom Cruise negotiated for SAG-AFTRA over AI, stunt performers

Tom Cruise attends the Australian premiere of ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’
| Photo Credit: Rocket K

Hollywood star Tom Cruise lobbied the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to hear out concerns raised by SAG-AFTRA over AI and stunt performers, The Hollywood Reporter claims in a new report.

Cruise, the biggest of movie stars, reportedly sat in on a negotiation session between the artists union and producers-streamers in June. As per the report, SAG-AFTRA sought to institute more “guardrails on the use of generative AI in entertainment”, meant to ensure “performers give consent and are appropriately compensated when their performances are ingested into the technology.”

The union also had a number of proposals concerning stunt performers and coordinators represented in its 1,60,000-strong membership.

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Cruise urged the AMPTP to hear out the union’s concerns over both issues, The Hollywood Reporter said. He also asked SAG-AFTRA representatives to consider allowing actors to promote a film during a strike, given the delicate situation of the theatrical business.

Negotiations between the performers union and the AMPTP broke out last week. On July 13, SAG-AFTRA called a strike leading to the halting or delaying of multiple productions including Mission: Impossible 8.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is currently in theatres with Cruise reprising the role of Ethan Hunt.