Even as Oscar organizers on Friday unveiled Hugh Jackman as the host of their gala film awards , the prospect of a U.S. actors strike was casting a long shadow over whether Hollywood 's big show would go on as usual .
Hollywood
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Even as Oscar organizers on Friday unveiled Hugh Jackman as the host of their gala film awards , the prospect of a U.S. actors strike was casting a long shadow over whether <m> Hollywood </m> 's big show would go on as usual .
Even as Oscar organizers on Friday unveiled Hugh Jackman as the host of their gala film awards , the prospect of a U.S. actors strike was casting a long shadow over whether <m> Hollywood </m> 's big show would go on as usual .
The Academy Awards ' February 22 date puts it directly in the path of a potential walkout by Screen Actors Guild members who vote next month on whether to give union leaders permission to call a strike in stalemated contract talks with major studios .
Movie making by the big studios has wound down since late June in anticipation of labor strife , compounding a general slowdown from the U.S. recession .
The tension has only been heightened by fatigue from a tumultuous 14-week Hollywood writers strike that ended in February and cost the Los Angeles area economy around $ 3 billion as production stopped on most prime-time TV shows .
`` A strike , if one occurred , would be nothing short of horrible , '' said Ron Howard , the former actor and Oscar-winning director of `` A Beautiful Mind '' whose latest film , `` Frost/Nixon , '' is considered a strong Oscar contender .
`` The timing could n't be worse , '' he said on Thursday .
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio , who on Thursday earned a Golden Globe nomination for his work in `` Revolutionary Road , '' said strike concerns are hitting `` everyone . ''
`` It 's really important that we come up with a solution , '' he said .
`` These are unheard-of times , and no one can predict what is going to happen '' with the U.S. economy .
SAG 'S DARK CLOUD
The Oscars , given out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , are annually Hollywood 's glitziest night .
Putting the show in jeopardy , however , was this week 's announcement by SAG that strike authorization ballots will be mailed to its 120,000 members on January 2 and tallied on January 23 , a full month before the Oscars .
That sequence of events raises the prospect of A-list stars boycotting the honors to avoid crossing their own union 's picket lines -- or even carrying picket signs themselves .
The same dynamic came into play last January when a work stoppage by 10,500 Writers Guild of America members threw the awards season into disarray and caused the star-filled Golden Globe Awards to be replaced by a news conference .
Only 5.8 million TV viewers tuned-in , far below the Globes ' typical 20 million audience .
Broadcaster NBC lost an estimated $ 10 million to $ 15 million in advertising revenue .
The writers strike was settled a month later , sparing the Academy Awards and its network , ABC , a similar fate .
But this time around , the Oscars are on the firing line and Australian actor Jackman , star of the `` X-Men '' movies as well as Broadway stage shows , may himself have to pull out .
`` At this point , we are moving forward with all of our plans to do our show , and of course we are monitoring what is going on , '' said Academy spokeswoman Leslie Unger .
SAG leaders say they need a credible strike threat to wrest a better contract deal from the studios than the `` final '' offer management presented before talks collapsed on June 30 .
They stress , however , that a `` yes '' vote does not automatically put a strike into effect , and it remains uncertain whether SAG can muster the support it needs -- 75 percent of those voting -- to pass its authorization .
Talks collapsed over issues that included how much actors would get paid for work on the Internet , and the financial impact of a possible strike on Hollywood remains unclear .
Most films slated for release in 2009 already have been shot , meaning the 2010 slate would see the brunt of a strike .
Some TV prime-time dramas and sitcoms will have completed production before SAG a work stoppage , though a walkout could hinder development of new series for Fall 2009 .