00:00I can't quite believe that, that Disney have let go of the artists who brought the current
00:08Marvel Universe to life. Evangeline Lilly is speaking out after Disney's recent wave of
00:14layoffs impacted staff at Marvel Studios. The Ant-Man star took to social media this week
00:19voicing frustration after learning that longtime Marvel visual development artist Andy Park
00:24was among those let go. Disney CEO Josh DeMauro informed employees of the cuts in an April 14th
00:31memo with the source telling The Hollywood Reporter that roughly 1,000 jobs were eliminated
00:36across the company. Marvel Studios was included in the layoffs with members of its visual development
00:41team affected, including Park, a nearly 16-year veteran known to fans for his work designing
00:47iconic characters across the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Lilly said she reached out to Park
00:52directly after hearing the news. And just said, is this true? Is this really what's happening?
00:57And he said, yeah, it's true. I have been let go. Park's work with Marvel dates back to 2011's
01:05Captain America, The First Avenger, and Thor, and spans major titles including Avengers Endgame,
01:11along with contributions to the upcoming Avengers Doomsday. In her comments, Lilly also raised
01:16concerns about the growing role of artificial intelligence in creative fields, saying she
01:21was shocked that artists who helped originate these characters could be replaced.
01:25AI that will take their designs and take what those artists created and use it to create iterations
01:34of that. Tagging Disney directly, Lilly wrote, shame on you for turning your back on the people
01:40who built the power you are now using to throw them away. She continued questioning protections
01:45for artists, writing in part, why do they get to steal our brilliance and use it to make executives
01:50rich while the artists responsible for feeding their robots go hungry? It's unclear whether
01:55Disney plans to incorporate AI into this type of creative work. The Hollywood Reporter has reached
02:00out to Marvel Studios for comment. Lilly joined the MCU in 2015 as Hope Van Dyne, also known as the
02:07Wasp, appearing in Ant-Man, its sequels, and Avengers Endgame. For more updates on this story,
02:12be sure to head over to thehollywoodreporter.com. This is The Hollywood Reporter News.
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