There is only part of this job which I really don’t like: celebrity Halloween costume coverage. I don’t understand why celebrities, who spend most of their lives playing dress up for work, are enamored with Halloween. It’s just my hangup, I know, and I get that many people love Halloween and all of the costumes, etc. Well, SAG-AFTRA is watching. The actors’ union knows that their union members are going to put all of their unemployed energy into Halloween costumes and parties this year. So SAG-AFTRA made some Halloween costume guidelines.
Boo! SAG-AFTRA has issued some strict Halloween costume guidelines for striking actors. The union is prohibiting actors from dressing up as popular characters from struck content and then posting the images on social media. That means some of the most popular Halloween costumes this year — such as Barbie and Wednesday Addams — are not allowed.
Instead, the guild told members on Thursday to “choose costumes inspired by generalized characters and figures — ghost, zombie, spider, etc.” (Surely, however, somebody is going to show up at a party as a fake Carol Lombardini).
Members can dress up as characters from non-struck content, however, like an animated TV show. Marvel superheroes, however, are not allowed despite having comic book roots, because they’re owned by Disney.
Ryan Reynolds jokingly posted about the rule on X: “I look forward to screaming ‘scab’ at my 8 year old all night. She’s not in the union but she needs to learn”
A truly determined fan could cite character ownership technicalities here — Barbie, for instance, is owned by Mattel, yet the appearance of promoting the summer’s biggest movie from a major studio would surely be frowned upon and the whole idea is to be mindful of the message that a costume might send.
“Let’s use our collective power to send a loud and clear message to our struck employers that we will not promote their content without a fair contract,” the post continued.
The SAG-AFTRA strike is nearing its 100th day after talks broke off with studios on Saturday without a deal.
[From THR]
This is all the things – clever, stupid, hilarious, sad, real and a joke. Like, it reads as some fun guidelines for striking actors, but it’s actually real, and you know that there are absolutely actors who will have to change their costumes at the last minute. The explanations are going to get wildly baroque too – “No, I’m not dressed as Barbie from the movie, I’m dressed as Margot Robbie promoting Barbie pre-strike!” “No, I’m not dressed as Wednesday Addams, I’m dressed as a goth girl’s reimagined Wednesday Addams from the original Addams Family show.” Oh, this means no Harley Quinn, no Joker, none of that. Celebrities are going to be dressing like Mitch McConnell or George Santos.
Photos courtesy of Netflix, Warner Bros/Barbie.
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