Harrison Ford's Stuntman Mike Massa Sets Himself On Fire In The Biggest SAG-AFTRA Strike Flex Yet (Plus More Strike Updates)

Not to box stuntman Mike Massa into "Harrison Ford" doubling duties. This guy is a badass. His IMDb page is a who's-who, or rather "what's-what" of prestigious projects. Massa was Chris Pine's stunt guy on the Star Trek reboot, the stunt coordinator on two of the most recent Stranger Things episodes, and even coordinated stunts on reshoots for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. PRETTY, PRETTY, PRETTY GOOD GIGS THERE, MIKE.

Massa even makes the SAG-AFTRA logo pose after casually waltzing around on the stage like it's just another weekday. Only he's on fire. WTF. These stuntmen and stuntwomen are incredible.

In case you didn't know, stunt performers are part of the 160,000-member SAG-AFTRA union. Not only do stunt people not get awards recognition as they most definitely should. They quite literally risk their lives in many instances for the sake of entertainment. Or in this case for Mike Massa, setting himself aflame to make a point to those in the entertainment industry who are hoarding money away from him and many other artists who deserve fairer compensation.

Jessica Chastain dropped quite the truth bomb recently on one of the several issues that highlight what life is like for actors and performers who are just trying to get by. 

Shoot, looks like the tweet — or what would we call it now? The post on the social media platform "X" — cuts off. What it says is, SAG-AFTRA members need to make $26,000 per year to qualify for health insurance. The fact that 87% of the union doesn't make that much is pretty rough. Quite the staggering statistic.

Cool of Chastain to be out and about supporting the artists who are most impacted by the strike and current system that's being struck against.

Decided to add a parenthetical to the headline and Trojan horse this blog a bit for some more SAG-AFTRA strike-related updates. Dwayne Johnson made a seven-figure donation to the union, which could go far enough to help as many as 10,000 members.

…Aaaaaaand holy shit Bryan Cranston, letting it fucking rip at the podium to encourage everyone to hold strong despite the rather bleak reality of a work stoppage — especially in an industry so innately adversity-riddled, volatile and unpredictable.

I can't not use this, right?

On the whole AI issue, I found the story below interesting and somewhat ominous. Karim bleep-bloop-blipped and digitally defecated out a ~two-paragraph blog before I could get to it, but in his defense, it is about AI:

Will do my best to stay on top the major SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes as the plot continues to thicken. Sorry for the bad pun. But seriously, it's been such a crazy time for movies, TV and streaming since COVID hit. Here's to hoping a sensible resolution comes to pass much sooner rather than later.

What these artists are demanding is extremely reasonable. A stuntman shouldn't have to light himself on fire off the clock to emphasize that.

PS, for what it's worth, Massa's last gig was as Ford's double on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. It was a box office bomb that I feel like was misunderstood as hell and was, in fact, a damn good movie. 

Twitter @MattFitz_gerald/TikTok

Speaking of Trojan horses, you can read my pseudo-review of Dial of Destiny in this Ford-centric blog if interested: