Inside Moves

Trade ad draws fire from striking unions

By VARIETY STAFF

At least one leading commercials producer has taken off the good taste gloves in its battle with the striking Screen Actors Guild.

The ad, placed in the most recent issue of Shoot magazine by RSA USA, shows a picture of a black woman’s breasts with the proclamation “In South Africa, this is what SAG means.” The ad also says, “To service clients, Marcus Nispel is setting up a temporary office in South Africa, where production is cost effective and they’ve never heard of SAG.”

A spokesman for the Screen Actors Guild said he was “shocked and appalled” by the ad. “It clearly insults women, actors and advertisers,” he added.

But RSA managing director Linda Ross said the ad was designed to gain attention through its shock value and added that response within the industry had been mostly positive. She portrayed the ad as a way to use humor to address the serious issue of commercial producers needing to stay in business amid efforts by strikers to disrupt commercial shoots.

“We have had some negative reaction about the ad being in questionable taste,” Ross admitted. “It’s a bit of shock value for shock value’s sake. But there is a lot of business at stake here.”

Ross said the South African office has not yet attracted much business but stressed that the ad was designed to send the message that the strike was not going to stop production at RSA.

German-born Nispel, who was included in the ad because he is RSA’s busiest and highest-profile director, said the ad is not meant to be insulting but rather to draw attention to larger issues such as runaway production.

“I got loads of messages from people who got a good chuckle about the ad,” Nispel said. “I wanted to make it clear that we can produce in other countries as well as we can here.”

The director said he has been using non-union actors. “I just shot with three non-union casts in a row and you can’t tell the difference,” he added.

Nispel gained notice in 1998 following disclosure of his 64-page “Manifesto,” detailing guidelines for shooting. He had been set to direct “End of Days” but left a few days before shooting began.

The Assn. of Independent Commercial Producers, which has maintained that producers are operating at pre-strike activity levels by using non-union actors and foreign locations, had no comment on the RSA ad. Tuesday was the 16th day of the strike by SAG and American Federation of Television & Radio Artists.

— Dave McNary

Fraser eyes role in West End ‘Cat’

Add Brendan Fraser to the list of those in talks to topline Bill Kenwright’s planned West End production of Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”

Fraser, who’s appeared in such Oscar-nommed highbrow fare as “Gods and Monsters,” cemented his reputation as a box office force in the $400 million-plus Paramount blockbuster “The Mummy.” He is also set to appear in TCF’s Harold Ramis-helmed “Bedazzled” and will reprise his role as the French Foreign Legion’s best in “Mummy II.”

Anthony Page, who directed Janet McTeer (“Tumbleweeds”) to a Tony in 1997’s Brit transfer of Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House,” is attached to helm the production, though insiders say he’s growing impatient with the wait on casting and may take another play.

Less clear is who will take on the female lead: Initially, Ashley Judd expressed interest, but the “Double Jeopardy” star may not have time in her sked as the “Roof” could be raised as early as this fall.

Other names previously floated as potentially interested in toplining the Williams legiter are the husband and wife team of Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise, who were said to have grown interested in a London theater stint while lensing “Eyes Wide Shut.”

Fraser is repped by Creative Artists Agency in L.A. Judd is repped by the William Morris Agency in Gotham.

— Claude Brodesser

Firms battle for larger chunk of TPS

PARIS — Speculation is persistent in France that companies with a stake in TPS are vying to get a larger chunk of the French TV satellite group.

Lyonnaise des Eaux, which already owns 25% of TPS, refused to comment on press reports that it has made overtures to private free TV network TF1 to buy out its 25% in the group. Free TV network M6 owns 25% of TPS, while France Telecom holds 17% and France Television, 8%. The Lyonnaise des Eaux position in TPS is strong, since it is a major shareholder in M6, with 35% of its stock.

TF1 told Daily Variety that it has had no firm offer to sell its shares in TPS.

TPS is a strong rival to CanalSatellite, with almost 1 million subscribers.

— Barbara Giudice