Blog Stage - Acting in Film, TV, Theatre - Backstage

SAG Committee to Vote on Strike Authority; Passage Likely

The committee negotiating SAG’s new television and film contract will meet Wednesday to vote on a measure seeking strike authorization from guild members, and the measure will probably pass, according to union sources with knowledge of the meeting.

A spokeswoman for the guild confirmed that the negotiating committee would meet but said she did not know the meeting’s agenda.

Membership First, the dominant political party in Hollywood that favors a hard-line stance toward producers, recently lost its majority status on the guild’s national board to a consortium of factions in Hollywood, New York, and the regional branches that favor a more moderate approach. However, Membership First still controls nine of the 13 votes on the negotiating committee, making the measure’s passage likely, if not certain. The negotiating committee was given the authority over the summer to seek strike authorization by the guild’s national executive committee.

What Happened To Their Careers?

Ever wonder why former stars like Michael Keaton, Geena Davis, and John Lithgow (or almost-stars like Steve Zahn, Anna Faris and Timothy Olyphant) haven't enjoyed the long-lasting onscreen success they might have? Well, the A.V. Club does, and they've compiled a list of 26 actors who should fire their agents because they deserve better careers.

Now, we can't agree with everyone on this list. Jamie Lee Curtis has gotten older, naturally, and also made some poor film choices in the '90s. Bob Odenkirk was funny as half of the Mr. Show duo (with comedian David Cross), but has made crap movies as a director. And the list-makers even admit that some of their chosen actors gave poor performances in forgettable films. Sometimes it's up to the actor to create his own career, after all.

But which entry on the list is our favorite? Check it out below.

In and Out in Hollywood

So Clay Aiken is gay. There's a transgender contestant on America's Next Top Model. And more gay characters are being shown in prime-time than ever before. But gay actors still struggle with issues of how being gay may affect their careers, of course, their opportunities, the roles they can expect. Then there's the very real threat of discrimination. Bottom line: having to declare to the world your sexual preferences, in any way, must be uncomfortable. Knowing something intimate about a stranger, even a celebrity stranger, doesn't feel right to me. No wonder coming out still isn't exactly easy. But will we ever get past this whole mandatory declaration/ right-of-passage business for famous people who also happen to be, in their private lives, gay?

--Anna Bengel

I Couldn't Help but Wonder...

...how much more life can we wring out of the Sex and the City franchise? When it comes to Carrie Bradshaw, how much more must we take?

First, I heard Cynthia Nixon saying on the red carpet at the Emmys that Michael Patrick King has "some ideas" about a Sex and the City movie sequel. (What now, Carrie and Big are going to get divorced and remarried to each other?) Then the DVD comes out, the extended version. (Thank goodness: those first two and a half hours really only scratched the surface! There are so many more cliches to be mined.) And now this: Carrie the early years.

Space: The Final Frontier

I had an interesting chat with my father recently. Some odd days ago I was talking about a play I was in, and without  thinking I rattled off the word "space" in reference to just about everything.

"We're looking for a more convenient rehearsal space." "Barrow Street Theatre is an excellent space." "My friend lives in a converted space." "Spaceballs, what a great movie." etc.

My father replied:  "When did everything become a space? I remember when Theatres were Theatres and Apartments were Apartments."

Leo and Kate: Once a Decade

Has it really been 11 years since Leo and Kate shared the silver screen -- and the back of a car -- in the epic that put the tear in tearjerker, Titanic? Wow. Where have I been? Leo and Kate have been wracking up Oscar nominations and big bucks and screen cred, and now they're back locking lips again!

The trailer for Revolutionary Road, a new drama from Winslet's husband Sam Mendes about a couple struggling to raise two kids in the 1950s, has just been released.

Get out the tissues, people: this duo gets together only once a decade.

--Anna Bengel

Ryan Gosling Rocks

I'm on a weird-and-wacky-yet-often-wonderful movie bender: in the past week I've watched Once, Martian Child, and now Lars and the Real Girl, starring Ryan Gosling as a touching and touched-in-the-head young man named Lars who lives in his older brother's garage and has an intense, meaningful relationship with a blow-up sex doll ordered off the Internet.

PUNCH Puppet Slam at Galapogos

For about three years, the PUNCH! Puppet Slam has graced the Galapogos Art Space on a monthly  basis. PUNCH!, produced by Brooklyn-based art collective Drama of Works,  is the longest running puppetry slam in New York.

I am so upset I didn't know about this until now.

On October 18 at 8pm, the theme will be PUNCH! VIRGINS!,  an evening of performances by five PUNCH! newbies.  (We missed the "Slutty Puppets" installment, which was  September 18).

Talent includes Puerto Rican native Alejandro Arbona (pictured), Polish puppeteer Patryk Walinski, jetsetting ventriloquist Michael Zigfield, puppet surrealist Jeanette Yew, and Drama of Works regular Scott Weber.

The slam runs 'every other month or so,' according to a Drama of Works spokeswoman, at the new Galapogos Art Space in DUMBO.

PUNCH! VIRGINS! Puppet Slam. 18 October, 8PM.

Galapogos Art Space: 16 Main Street, DUMBO.  $7.

--Halley Bondy

Nice Try, SAG

By now, astute Strike Watchers have probably ambled over to Nikki Finke’s blog to take a gander at Alan Rosenberg and Doug Allen’s latest letter to SAG board members, AMPTP president Nick Counter, New Corp’s Peter Chernin, Disney’s Bob Iger, and lord knows who else. I’ve posted it at the end of this delightful blog post. A SAG rep confirmed via email that the letter on Finke’s site “appears to be a copy of what was sent” and that there is “no further comment. The letter speaks for itself.”

Remembering Paul

Tributes to the late Paul Newman have been pouring in, naturally, and here's a round-up of some of my favorites:

*People.com's look back at the actor's life and legend through photographs

* Dana Stevens' celebration of Newman's sexiness, and humanity

* What Newman can teach aspiring actors in just one small scene, says  Stephen Metcalf

* Quotations from fellow actors, including Robert Redford and George Clooney, on the man who blessed us all as both an actor and a humanitarian, from AP and Entertainment Tonight

--Anna Bengel