Maybe, but then there were reminders that, in our sad present, studios were making complex digital scans of background performers and digitizing dead actors.
The latest season of Netflix’s “Black Mirror” landed a month before Hollywood’s actors went on strike—and, as usual, it seemed custom-built for its moment. The first and funniest episode, “Joan Is Awful,” follows Joan (Annie Murphy), a regular woman whose life is adapted, nearly in real time, into a mega-hit TV show starring Salma Hayek. The show airs on Streamberry, a Netflix stand-in that uses A.I. to replace actors who’ve sold their digital rights. A terrifying future? Maybe, but then there were reminders that, in our sad present, studios were making complex digital scans of background performers and digitizing dead actors. This led to some of the best jokes on the picket lines. One protester held a sign that read: “The only part of my body the studios can scan for $100 is my middle finger.”