Brad Pitt Reportedly Halts Production of New Film to Support Strike

Back in May, the Writers Guild of America officially went on strike after negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for better pay and residuals failed. In July, the actor's guild SAG-AFTRA followed suit. The negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP officially broke down with no deal in place, which means most film and television productions have halted. Today, the news broke that Apex, the new Formula One movie from Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski, has also stopped production due to the strike. According to The Sun, the film's star, Brad Pitt, made the call to halt production in solidarity with SAG.

"Brad is arguably one of the nicest guys in Hollywood and this move seals that reputation," an unnamed source told The Sun. "He has been filming Apex, his new Formula 1 film, for the past few weeks but has now pulled the plug." They added, "Brad agreed that they would finish shoots booked in but has postponed planned production over the next two months ... The cast and crew of Apex have been filming in Budapest but Brad has called for the future dates to be put back, in solidarity with everyone striking."

"Everyone has been informed that there will be a two-month hiatus now," the source continued. "Conversations about when to start up again are ongoing but it's likely it will be in November when they will be going to Las Vegas to shoot some scenes ... Postponing the production was a massive call, especially financially, but Brad has listened to the concerns of the people he works with and wants to show his support."

Last week, an unnamed agent spoke with Variety and revealed some strikers were upset to see big stars at Wimbledon instead of on the picket lines, and Pitt's name was mentioned.

"The real place the A-listers can help is donating to relief funds and lobbying the studio heads behind the scenes," an agent told Variety. Pitt was mentioned along with Ariana Grande and Andrew Garfield after they were photographed at Wimbledon during the strike's first weekend. One "power publicist" told the outlet it wouldn't hurt for Pitt "to throw on a SAG-AFTRA shirt when he knows there will be paparazzi."

Earlier this week, Dwayne Johnson made a "historic" donation to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, which helps SAG-AFTRA members financially in times of hardship. Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest also donated $25,000 to the cause. 

Stay tuned for more updates about the current strikes in Hollywood.