Colin Farrell, the Irish Oscar nominee and proud SAG-AFTRA member, joined the Writers Guild of America East rally on Thursday outside the East Coast offices of Paramount Global in Times Square.
"Their fight is our fight," Farrell said of his "brothers and sisters in WGAE" at Thursday's rally, which was also attended by Michael Kelly, Mariska Hargitay, Rachel Dratch, and US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
"We're here just to make sure that they know we support an equitable situation going forward where they're compensated for their incredible efforts through the years."
Farrell said: "There is no cinema and television, there is no entertainment, there is no profundity of storytelling without what writers do."
He continued: "The future going forward is the corporations get wealthier and wealthier is more questionable and more uncertain for writers.
"It's just not right, it's not fair.
"We're here to just lend our support.
"It's time to get back to the table. We know a deal is going to be done, so just cut it out and get back to the table and start the conversation again and treat writers with the respect --
"Because, look, for 25 years I've made a living, I've provided for my family off the backs of the creativity of writers. There are no corporations without the revenue the writers give the possibility to make.
"It's unfair what's going on. The business is changing. Writers need to be fairly compensated for the beauty of what they do."
“There is no cinema and television, there is no entertainment, there is no profundity of storytelling without what writers do.”
Collin Farrell and Michael Kelly out on the Times Square picket line in solidarity! #WGAstrong #WGAstrike #1u pic.twitter.com/f7ULNzaJP6
— Writers Guild of America, East (@WGAEast) May 25, 2023
In a video shared by Variety, the Dublin actor said that the ongoing stoppage is “a testament to the arrogance of those at the top that these people are now out of work and can’t because they are doing the right thing.”
Colin Farrell speaks at the WGA picket line: "It's a testament to the arrogance of those at the top that these people are now out of work because they are doing the right thing." https://t.co/WLAhBc0cqZ pic.twitter.com/zEqKpB9NnM
— Variety (@Variety) May 25, 2023
Farrell's appearance at Thursday's rally in New York City comes after his latest project "The Penguin" on MAX (formerly HBO Max) was shut down due to the strike.
MAX recently shared a trailer for "The Penguin" which is due to air in 2024, but the precise date will likely be towards the latter part of the year due to the strike.
Farrell and the cast/crew were all set to film in Westchester, New York on Tuesday, May 16, but picketers from the Writers Guild of America East showed up before they did and tied things up.
“The Batman: trying to shut The Penguin down since 1941. The @WGAEast: manages it in one day,” tweeted one of the striking writers.
The Batman: trying to shut The Penguin down since 1941
The @WGAEast: manages it in one day#WGAstrong #UnionStrong https://t.co/29b6bdOKfG
— Ryan Kennedy (@TheRyanK) May 16, 2023
The news wasn’t much better the following day, Deadline reported: “WGAE picketers also got to the show’s sites ahead of the crews on Wednesday, both for the on-location shoot at a church in Harlem and the set at Silvercup North. No filming was done that day.
"All in all, The Batman spinoff starring Colin Farrell was dark Tuesday–Thursday this week, with the show back up shooting smaller scenes today in Brooklyn,” the site added.
So who knows when "The Penguin" and all the other shows will see the light of day given the likely protracted nature of the strike. But definitely check out the trailer to see Farrell's truly remarkable transformation into Penguin – he’s completely unrecognizable.
Max jumped on producing a series about Penguin – one of the villains in the comic book series Batman – after Colin’s buzzed about transformation in last year’s well-received film "The Batman." It’ll run for eight episodes and no doubt more if it’s a hit.
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