Simon Pegg has announced the cancellation of an event to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his film The World’s End “out of respect” for the actors’ strike.
The final instalment in the Three Flavours Cornetto film trilogy – which also includes Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz – was set to be screened next Thursday at the BFI in London.
The event was also set to include a question and answer session with Pegg and Nick Frost, who star in all three films, along with director Edgar Wright.
In an Instagram post, Pegg wrote: “Out of respect to the ongoing Sag-Aftra strike, we are postponing next week’s 10th anniversary for The World’s End at the BFI on July 27th with myself, Edgar Wright and Nick Frost.
“We’d like to apologise to anyone who changed or made plans to attend the screening and we promise to reschedule at an appropriate time.”
The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (Sag-Aftra) has been holding industrial action since failing to reach an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
The union, which represents around 160,000 actors across the US, has concerns over a number of issues including pay and the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
The Writers Guild of America started industrial action on May 2, before Hollywood stars were pictured on the picket lines in the US this week.
Pegg said tickets for his event will be refunded, adding: “We send our very best to all those taking a stand and hope for a fair and equitable resolution.”
The Mission Impossible franchise star also encouraged actors and others to attend a demonstration on Friday in Leicester Square along with members of performing arts union Equity.
His post sparked a mixed reaction from his fans. Tris said: “Who does this hurt? Seems to be only the people with tickets and fans.”
While Matt echoed: “So people take time out of their lives, make plans, make sometimes unrefundable reservations to attend something and you cancel it because of something that is totally unrelated to the event at hand. Yeah, sorry that doesn’t pass the smell test.”
And Tim raged: “I don’t see how this helps the strike at all. Stupid move [in my opinion]. Just have the damn screening.”
Nevertheless, plenty came out in support of Simon’s post. Jesse wrote: “Good to know you support your fellow brothers in art and cinema!! We would do the same for our health care soldiers.”
Dolfyn added: “Fight the good fight! Feel the supportive love.”
And Gaz said: “Obviously this is gutting for those that were in attendance, but for the future of cinema it’s important we all take a step back and support those on the picket lines!
“Movies and TV are an important part of life, we’ve all made that very clear, so we need to ensure our kids and theirs will get an even better experience than we ever did.”
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