Sean Penn defends WGA strike at Cannes Film Festival

Sean Penn has recently spoken in favour of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike at the Cannes Film Festival.

“The industry has been upending the writers, actors and directors for a very, very long time,” said Penn at the press conference for his new movie Black Flies, which debuted in competition at the Cannes, via Variety.

The actor stated, “My full support is with the writers’ guild.”

Describing artificial intelligence as ‘human obscenity’, Penn noted, “There are a lot of new concepts that are being tossed about, including the use of AI. And it just strikes me as human obscenity that there’s been a pushback [from the studios] on that.”

Referring to producers as bankers’ guild, Penn remarked, “The first thing we should do in these [strike] conversations is change the [name of the] Producers Guild and title them how they behave, which is the bankers guild.”

“It’s difficult for so many writers and people in the industry who cannot work,” added the actor.

Variety reported that Penn shared a statement with the outlet following the press conference.

He clarified, “I misspoke. I meant to say AMPTP [Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers], not PGA.”