Mike Massa, professional stuntman AND stunt double for Harrison Ford V Indiana Jones and the Dial of Doom, he set himself on fire on Monday at a SAG-AFTRA rally in Atlanta, Georgia.
Joined the Screen Actors Guild Union strike at the beginning of the month after negotiations with the Film and Television Producers Alliance (AMPTP) have waived residual streaming rights and protections from AI technology. At the end of the demonstration, Massa walked onto the stage wearing a burning jacket, the caption for the video on Instagram reads: “We are tired of AMPTP“.
In a later post, Massa added: “We wanted to make a name for ourselves, and I think we succeeded! It was amazing to see such a huge turnout from our local stunt community, management and actors who came to support us.” Bryan Cranston delivered an impassioned speech Tuesday at a rally in New York’s Times Square where he addressed Disney CEO Mr. Bob Igerwho recently called the union’s decision to strike “very anxious“.
“We have a message for you, Mr. Iger” Cranston said. “I know that you look at things differently. We do not expect you to understand who we are. But we ask that you listen to us, and especially listen to us when we tell you that our jobs will not be taken away and they will not be given to robots. We will not allow you to take away our right to work and a decent life, we will not allow you to take away our dignity!” Christine Baranski, Brendan Fraser, F. Murray Abraham, Wendell Pierce, Christian Slater, Jessica Chastain AND Steve Buscemi.
In response to the actors’ strike earlier this month declared AMPTP: “It’s the union’s choice, not ours. That’s how it was turned down our promotion offer wages and residual rights, significantly higher pension and health contribution ceilings, audition protection, option periods for shorter series, an innovative artificial intelligence proposal that protects the digital characteristics of actors and more”.
We are still far from apocalyptic scenarios like the one pictured in the disturbing CongressFrom Ari Folman? We can only hope for this…