Jessica Chastain is revealing the balance of supporting the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes while promoting indie films through interim agreements.
The “Memory” actress said during the Venice Film Festival press conference that she was “incredibly nervous” to attend the festival where the indie film is premiering.
“Some people on my team advised me against it,” Chastain said, adding, “I’m very aware of how lucky I am. It’s a wonderful profession what we get to do as actors. And we are quite often, because of that, made to feel like we have to be quiet in order to protect future working opportunities. And we are often told and reminded how grateful we should be. That is the environment that I think has allowed workplace abuse to go unchecked for many decades. And it’s also the environment that has saddled members of my union with unfair contracts.”
The Oscar winner stars in Michel Franco’s “Memory,” premiering Friday in Venice, as a now-sober social worker dealing with past trauma and a renewed relationship with a high school classmate, played by Peter Sarsgaard.
Chastain continued, “I am here because SAG-AFTRA has been explicitly clear that the way to support the strike is to post on social media, walk the picket lines, and to work and support interim agreement projects. It’s what our national board and our elected leadership has asked us to do. And when independent producers like the ones here sign these interim agreements, they are letting the world know and letting the AMPTP know that actors deserve a fair compensation, that AI protections should be implemented, and there should be sharing of streaming revenue. So I hope being here today encourages other independent producers and encourages actors to show up and support our union members. And hopefully, we’ll see an end to this strike soon. And hopefully, the AMPTP will go back to the table.”
“Ferrari” actor Adam Driver similarly expressed his support for the SAG strike at Venice.
“I’m very proud to be here to be a visual representation of a movie that’s not part of the AMPTP and to promote the SAG leadership directive which is an effective tactic which is the interim agreement,” Driver said. “Why is it that a smaller distribution company like Neon and STX International can meet the dream demands of what SAG is asking for, the dream version of SAG’s wishlist, but a big company like Netflix and Amazon can’t?”
Driver summed up, “Every time people from SAG go and support a movie that has met the terms of the interim agreement, it just makes it more obvious that these people are willing to support the people that they collaborate with — and the others are not. No big studio wrote us a check. And that’s why we’re here, standing in solidarity.”
