JAMES MCAVOY - STARS VOW TO BOYCOTT AWARDS SEASON

Hollywood stars including JAMES MCAVOY and TOM WILKINSON have pledged to boycott the upcoming Golden Globe and Academy Awards in support of the ongoing writers' strike. Golden Globe organisers from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association are desperately trying to reach an agreement with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) - after nominees vowed not to cross picket lines if striking writers choose to protest at the 13 January (08) awards ceremony. WGA union members have been locked in a dispute with studio bosses over royalty payments since the start of November (07). Wilkinson, who is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Michael Clayton, says, "If actors can't have solidarity with writers - the people who put the words in their mouths - then who can they have solidarity with?" Wilkinson and MCAvoy, a Best Actor nominee for Atonement, will be joined by protesters Aaron Sorkin, who was nominated for his Charlie Wilson's War Screenplay, and Marc Forster, who directed The Kite Runner.