‘Succession’ Star Brian Cox Says Actors Strike Will “Affect British Equity Far Worse Than It Will Probably Affect SAG-AFTRA”

Zac Ntim, Max Goldbart and Baz Bamigboye
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Succession star Brian Cox has said the actors strike will “affect British Equity far worse than it will probably affect SAG-AFTRA.”

“We are at the thin end of a really horrible wedge,” he said as he addressed the London Equity rally this afternoon in support of striking actors. He didn’t elaborate on why Equity would be harder hit by the strike, which has just entered it second week.

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The veteran British star stressed that things are also harder in the U.S. due to the lack of a national health service.

“SAG is an excellent union but in the U.S. we don’t have a national health service so what is important to SAG actors is health and they need that,” he went on about the dispute. “That’s why they need their residuals.”

Mission Impossible star Hayley Atwell backed Cox as she quoted research to Deadline saying that 87% of SAG members don’t earn enough to qualify for health insurance.

“There is an illusion that if you are seen on telly then you’re fine but for most people that is not the case,” she said. “This is not an industry that is thriving it is an industry on its knees.”

Cox’s comments were also highlighted by actor-producer David Oyelowo, who turned up at the protest.

“The gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ in our industry is widening at an alarming rate. The business has continued to evolve and the means of remunerating the people who actually make the stuff isn’t catching up with the evolution,” he said.

Turning to the dangers of AI, Cox said artificial intelligence is the “worst aspect” of the dispute.

He said a fellow actor was recently told by a studio in “no uncertain terms that they can do what the f*** they like” with his image.

“That is a completely unacceptable position and is a position we should be fighting against,” added Cox. “That is the worst aspect. The wages are one thing but the worst aspect is what AI can do to us.”

He later told Deadline “the great thing about this profession is that we are all brothers and sisters.”

Cox was joined at the protest in Central London by the likes of Andy Serkis, Hayley Atwell, Oyelowo, Simon Pegg, Naomie Harris, Imelda Staunton, and Rob Delaney. The acting contingent was also joined by prominent members of the UK trade movement including Labor MP John McDonnell, Bectu head Philippa Childs, and Eddie Dempsey from the rail union.

Serkis told Deadline that “the strike was inevitable.”

“It’s been brewing for a long time now and has just reached this inextricable position where it had to be done,” Serkis said before adding that his production company has paused several projected in development.

“I’m a SAG AFTRA member and an Equity member. I’m also a director and producer, so I see this from lots of different points of view and what is clear is that the distribution of wealth has become untenable. It’s just ridiculous. It has to change,” he added.

Black Mirror star Delaney got the crowd going when he branded the AMPTP “little toddlers,” saying with confidence SAG-AFTRA “will win.”

He was followed on the mic by BAFTA-winner and The Pact star Rakie Ayola, who focused her ire on the streaming services’ pocketing millions of dollars in subscription revenue while actors down the chain struggle to make ends meet.

Novi Brown, from Tyler Perry’s Sistas, was also present and told Deadline she was supposed to be promoting her show right now.

“I’ve done over 100 episodes and several films and I can’t retire, I still have to work,” she added.

“Art has a global impact. We were essential workers during the pandemic and everyone was watching what we were doing.”

Along with many others, Harry Potter star Staunton stressed the global nature of the strike support.

“We are all actors, writers and performers, so it is a global issue,” she added. “It’s not ‘over there and over here’.”

A second Equity solidarity march is simultaneously taking place at Manchester’s Media City – the workplace of hundreds of BBC and ITV employees, along with multiple production companies.

Equity has been clear it will “stand in unwavering solidarity” with SAG-AFTRA since the strike was called but UK anti-trade union laws state that “SAG-AFTRA members currently working under an Equity UK collective bargaining agreement should continue to report to work.”

The union released the guidance pertaining to this late last week and U.S. shows filming in the UK with majority international casts such as House of the Dragon and Industry, which fall under Equity collective bargaining agreements, are pushing on amidst the strike. Some UK-based projects, such as Rami Malek-starrer Amateur, have paused. Speaking to Deadline on the eve of the rally, Equity General Secretary Paul Fleming said “we are not going to have the UK used as a backdoor to undermine SAG-AFTRA’s dispute.”

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