Hollywood is in a state of chaos right now with, unions for both actors and writers on strike. Many movies like Deadpool 3 have ceased production, while projects that weren't ready for cameras yet and seeing their scripts ignored. Members of the unions are under some pretty strict rules regarding what they can and cannot do, and that recently caused an issue for Zachary Levi. He made a public appearance and had to try and entertain a crowd, while being largely unable to speak about any of the things fans likely appeared to hear him discuss.
A video recently went viral on TikTok that shows DC’s Shazam! On stage at a convention, finding himself, due to strike rules, not being able to talk about the various projects that he’s been a part of in his career. He ends up trying to keep fans entertained by talking around his experiences in movies like Shazam! and Tangled, and the TV series Chuck without actually mentioning any of them by name.
@moviemaniacs Zachary Levi calls strike rules “so dumb”
♬ original sound - Movie Maniacs
SAG’s rules pertaining to the current strike prevent actors from not only working on future projects but also promoting work from struck companies. This means he can’t talk about the TV and movies which are likely the very reasons that he was asked to make this appearance in the first place. The appearance itself (which he had likely agreed to do before the strike) is ok, but his hands are tied when it comes to what he can say while he’s there.
We’ve seen how strongly the trike has impacted conventions just in the last few weeks. San Diego Comic-Con, which was finally starting to return to normal following the pandemic, was hit hard by the fact that no actors or writers were in attendance. It simply wasn’t the show we were used to seeing because what was being promoted, and who was promoting it, was severely limited.
Levi calls the situation “dumb,” though he doesn't appear to be talking about the strike specifically, just the situation he has found himself in. Stephen Amell recently got some heat for comments that seemed to be against the strike, but that doesn’t seem to be what’s happening here. It’s not hard to see from his Twitter account that Levi does support the strike itself, though he has previously made comments on Twitter that he feels actors should be free to monetize previous work when it doesn’t benefit the studios, as in the case of convention appearances.
Both the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strike are still going quite strong, and there doesn’t appear to be much likelihood they will be ending anytime soon. There’s little word regarding any actual talks between any of the parties involved. Hopefully, all these strikes can be resolved in ways that make the striking parties happy and things will return to normal before too long. There are a lot of fans who are probably looking forward to attending various conventions and asking their favorite star about their work.
