Strike talk at Oscar noms luncheon
Celebs urge SAG to negotiate
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Oscar contenders who attended the 27th annual nominees luncheon at the BevHilton were peppered by the media with the usual breathless questions about wardrobe and which star they would most like to meet.
Most reporters in the press room backstage were not interested in asking questions about issues, but the conversation turned serious whenever the writers strike came up.
Tony Gilroy, Brad Bird, Clooney and Moore -- all WGA members -- addressed the issue when asked.
Clooney urged the Screen Actors Guild to start negotiating its contract in earnest to get the town back to work for good.
"There's a popular belief by some in the union that your negotiating power increases the longer you wait," Clooney said. "I think there's a lot of strike fatigue, and I think you actually start losing negotiating power."
Clooney, who has been visiting trouble spots around the globe in his role as an ambassador for the U.N., pointed out that as a member of six unions, he has never crossed a picket line and never will.
He called the apparent breakthrough over the weekend in the WGA negotiations "a great, great sign," adding, "It looks very good. I would hope we in the Screen Actors Guild get back to the table."
Moore, nominated for the doc "Sicko," noted that the guild is striking over "pennies" and vowed that he would start a penny drive to send to heads of studios if they can't come to a deal with the writers. "It's so odd that they shut the town down over a couple pennies," he said.
Mortensen, nominated in the actor category for "Eastern Promises," stressed the need for the right agreement, vs. a quick agreement, on new media. He said corporate leaders are going to have to address the issue sooner or later, "and they ought to do it now instead of spending money on a PR firm."
Like Clooney and Moore, Gilroy and Bird indicated they would not attend the Oscars if an equitable agreement is not reached by then.
Bird, nominated for original screenplay and for animated film for "Ratatouille," allowed that technically, he could attend because the WGA doesn't cover animation writing. But he said he would not go if the strike's still on.
"I just hope that it gets resolved and won't be an issue. But certainly if the strike is still on, I would not cross the line," Bird said. "Really, I think it's in the studios' best interest to have an environment where writers can stay in the game."
Pointing out that Marc Cherry lived on residuals for years before making a lot of people money on "Desperate Housewives," he said that many creative folk in Hollywood rely on this money to get them through fallow periods.
"People have a false image of writers having swimming pools and servants," he said.
Gilroy, nominated for the "Michael Clayton" screenplay and direction, was cautiously optimistic about an end to the strike, noting he's been a member of the WGA for 20 years.
"I really hope that there's a settlement, and I really hope it's a good deal the leadership of the Writers Guild can sign off on," Gilroy said. "It's my absolute hope I can dress up and go (to the kudocast)."
All 13 of the screenwriters nominated this year, in both the original and adapted categories, attended the luncheon, though only few of them came to the press room.
Moore also injected a few political comments into the press sesh, talking about the role of health care in the presidential campaign. Noting that the tide has turned against the Iraq war since his 2003 acceptance speech for "Bowling for Columbine," he observed that three antiwar docus are nominated this year.
"The thing I was being booed off stage for is now being honored," he said. "Hope it all goes well, and I hope I behave myself."
