Hollywood is shaken by writers’ strike, but no sign of it in Hungary

Tuesday marked the 128th day of the Hollywood writers’ strike and the 56th day of the actors’ strike. This affects many super-productions, but in Hungary, there is no stoppage.

Hollywood strike

In the United States, writers and actors are on strike, the first one has been going on for more than 4 months. As a result, many productions are on hiatus and filming has stopped or has not even started. Many films, including the second part of Dune, shot in Hungary and starring Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson and Zendaya, among others, are expected to be released in March 2024 instead of November this year, telex.hu reports.

The film was shot not only in Hungary, but also with the help of a Hungarian crew. For example, Zsuzsanna Sipos and her colleague Patrice Vermette won an Oscar in the production design category for the first part. The actors also joined the screenwriters’ strike. Part of this is that actors are not making any statements or promoting the finished product. For this reason, Máté Haumann, the Hungarian actor in the Christopher Nolan film Oppenheimer, has not been interviewed (read our article on him HERE).

The cameras keep rolling in Hungary

Hungary is also affected by the Hollywood writers’ strike, but filming has not stopped. Work on British TV series such as The Day of the Jackal, starring Eddie Redmayne, continues to progress.

As the cast of these are mainly members of the British Equity actors’ union, they are not affected by the shutdown. Variety.com reports that Hungarian studios producing foreign productions are weathering the storm of Hollywood strikes.

The 80th Venice International Film Festival began last week, but a strike prevented many of the world’s stars from travelling to the prestigious event. However, the director of the Budapest-based Victorian drama Poor Things, Giorgios Lanthimos, was there.

According to industry experts, the ongoing Hollywood strikes are not yet having a serious impact on the booming Budapest production hub, vg.hu reports.

Adam Goodman, founder-co-owner of Mid Atlantic Films, said “we are concerned, but we can keep working.” Goodman’s company is currently working on Lionsgate’s The Killer’s Game, starring Dave Bautista and Ben Kingsley.

Last year, more than 300 productions were made in Hungary, a record USD 690 million (HUF 247 billion) for the country. That’s a 20% increase from 2021, and industry professionals are expecting significant growth again following the strike, just as they did after the coronavirus outbreak.