DAILY NEWS for
Thursday November 27 2008

The Screen Actors Guild will send out its strike authorization vote to members next month, making it possible for actors to strike as early as January -- prompting a bitter response from the majors.

In a message to SAG's 120,000 members sent Wednesday, SAG president Alan Rosenberg said a strike would be called by the national board "only if it becomes absolutely necessary."

"Your leadership believes that we must be empowered with the real threat of a work stoppage in order to let management know that we are committed to protecting the future of all actors," he wrote. "We ask for your support, knowing that you have entrusted us to fight for your rights, and to protect your wages, working conditions and your health and pension benefits. We take your trust very, very seriously and will work towards reaching a fair agreement without a work stoppage."

In a move that portends a volley of PR moves over the coming weeks, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers blasted back at Rosenberg shortly after the missive went out.

"SAG's latest mass email fails on three counts," the AMPTP said. "It fails to explain why SAG deserves more than everyone else in the industry. It fails to justify why SAG members should bail out a failed negotiating strategy by striking during a time of historic economic crisis. And it fails to explain why it makes sense to strike when SAG members will lose more during the first few days of the strike than they could ever expect to gain."

ALSO ON SITE

MOVIE REVIEWS of all the TOP FILMS

Twilight dir. Catherine Hardwicke Starring Kristen Stewart Robert Pattinson	Changeling dir. Clint Eastwood Starring Angelina Jolie John Malkovich	Bolt dir. Byron Howard Chris Williams Voiced by John Travolta Miley Cyrus

Quantum of Solace dir. Marc Forster Starring Daniel Craig Judi Dench	BOX OFFICE RESULTS Daily and Weekend Results at the Domestic Box Office	The Duchess dir. Saul Dibb Starring Keira Knightley Ralph Fiennes

Soul Men dir. Malcolm D. Lee Starring Bernie Mac Samuel L. Jackson	Madagascar 2 dir. Eric Darnell Tom McGrath Voices by Ben Stiller Chris Rock	Role Models dir. David Wain Starring Paul Rudd Seann William Scott

Synecdoche, New York dir. Charlie Kaufman Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman Samantha Morton	What Just Happened dir. Barry Levinson Starring Robert DeNiro Sean Penn Bruce Willis	RocknRolla dir. Guy Ritchie Starring Gerald Butler Tom Wilkinson

CINEMATHEQUE SALUTES SAMUEL L. JACKSON

Samuel L. Jackson hardly minds being called "the hardest working man in showbiz." Even if he doesn't think it's necessarily true.

Making four movies a year, he insists he is only "doing what I like to do. There are just so many opportunities in a lifetime. I like acting. Actors act. When I was doing theater, I was always rehearsing a play, reading a play, doing a play. I don't see why I can't do that in cinema, if the job's there."

That's why Jackson's motto is simple: "Go and do it."

He explains: "Painters get up every day and face the blank canvas. Writers get up and face the blank page. Everybody seems to think actors --well, people will say, 'You work all the time.' Well, you go to work every day, why shouldn't I? It's a job. It's a calling. It's something I feel the need to do and I get up and do it.

Jackson turns 60 this month. His personal calling began as a child.

"My aunt was a fourth-grade school teacher who taught performing arts. When she had plays and pageants, she always cast me when I was a small child. There was always a role for a boy. I also did plays in high school," he recalls.

It was at Morehouse College when he performed in "The Threepenny Opera" that his career took shape. "There was a public-speaking class and there weren't enough guys for the play. So our teacher said he would give us extra credit for the play. I auditioned and I got in the play, I was Ready Money Matt, one of the guys in the gang. And on opening night, you get that applause. I guess it's like a rush." And he makes a soft sigh of exultation, "Wow!"

It was also at Morehouse where he did his very first film and got his SAG card in 1971 for the little-remembered "Together for a Day."

Jackson worked in Atlanta -- "My first big professional job out of college was an improvisational theater company called the Academy Theater" -- before he moved to New York and spent the 1970s struggling. Things began to change when he performed in "Ragtime" in 1980. "I love watching old movies and I never thought I'd meet James Cagney, who was someone I admired from afar. And then we were in 'Ragtime' together," he says. "I was actually in a film with James Cagney! It's one of those far-reaching things that young actors today would go, 'Who?'"

Even though Jackson now segues from project to project - just this year he's done an uncredited appearance in "Iron Man," and a voice for the animated "Star Wars" as well as starring in "Lakeview Terrace," "Soul Men" and "The Spirit" - nothing has changed.

"Acting's acting. I treat every character with the same amount of seriousness. They're all people," he says - and he means it. There's no master plan at work here either.

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