Sean Penn stands up for the WGA during his press conference for his upcoming moving Black Flies at the Cannes Film Festival. Penn is also raising awareness for the use of AI in writing and labels it as a ‘human obscenity.’ He states:
“The industry has been upending the writers, actors and directors for a very, very long time… My full support is with the writers guild. 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.”
Penn calls out members of the industry for their focus on the bottom line:
“The first thing we should do in these [strike] conversations is change the [name of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television] 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.”
Penn’s upcoming film, Black Flies, premiered earlier this week. Directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, it’s an adaptation of the 2008 novel by Shannon Burke. The film focuses on an aspiring paramedic, Ollie Cross (Tyler Sheridan), who has eyes for medical school, but is overwhelmed by the constant emergencies Brooklyn has to offer. Penn’s character is a veteran who is supposedly Ollie’s ‘mentor.’
The cast and crew prepared for the film by observing what it’s like to be in the back of an ambulance saving lives in the middle of New York City. Penn stated that he was disappointed in America’s healthcare system after enduring what it’s like to be in the field:
“With so many frontline jobs, people go into them largely with a desire to serve, and then what they find is they are beleaguered, but short-term political game policies [mean] they are there to support a racket. This movie, I hope, adds to that conversation. We all hope it does because [paramedics] are treated as a really primitive force of saviors who are left to their own devices to create a better healthcare system and crap.”
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