No SAG feast for Beasts

SAG Awards Producer Kathy Connell has confirmed that festival-circuit award-winner "Beasts of the Southern Wild" won't be eligible for this winter's SAG Awards. 

The news was first reported by Scott Feinberg of the Hollywood Reporter. 

" 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' is currently ineligible for SAG Awards nominations consideration," Connell said, "as it does not meet the requirements stated in Section One of our rules and regulations which states: 'Motion pictures and television or cable productions made within SAG-AFTRA's jurisdiction must be signatory to a Screen Actors Guild ("SAG") or American Federation of Television and Radio Artists ("AFTRA"), or a SAG-AFTRA collective bargaining agreement.'

"The producers have until Oct. 25 to bring the film under compliance to make the actors eligible for consideration. It is their choice whether or not to do so. We hope they do."

"Beasts" director Benh Zeitlin famously used local non-pros, including young lead actress candidate Quvenzhane Wallis, to populate his movie. However, a source said the film's ineligibility is based purely on the lack of a SAG-AFTRA agreement and not the fact that child/non-pro actors are involved. The source added that it would be "quite easy" to get the SAG-AFTRA provisions to apply retroactively.

The film's Oscar prospects still figure to depend primarily on continuing to get Academy voters to see it and reminding those who saw it months and months ago how much they liked it.