WARREN BEATTY - STRIKE OPPOSITION GROWS

STRIKE OPPOSITION GROWS

Even while the Screen Actors Guild was engaged in talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers under the aegis of a federal mediator, its leaders were meeting secretly with high-profile actors urging them to support a possible strike, entertainment journalist Sharon Waxman reported on her website, waxword.com, on Monday. One of the meetings was attended by "about 20 of Hollywood's great stars from the past 30 years," Waxman wrote, citing one person who was present, including Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Nick Nolte, and Annette Bening. They were given slips of paper and asked to vote on whether they would support a strike. A SAG spokeswoman confirmed the meetings. Nevertheless, the fact that prominent actors were being asked to vote on a strike while mediation was taking place could backfire, Waxman indicated. An online petition against a strike had already gathered some 7,500 signatures within two days after the latest negotiations broke off.

25/11/2008