Even if Jon Voight wins a trophy at this week's Screen Actors Guild Awards®, he won't be on hand to collect it. The actor, who is nominated for his lead role in the TV movie The Five People You Meet in Heaven, is not invited to the ceremony because of his financial core status with the Guild.
"Financial core" refers to a controversial option available to members of any union. When a union member declares this status, he or she resigns full membership, becomes a "fees-paying non-member," and may take non-union gigs. These individuals continue to pay a portion of dues and retain certain benefits and the right to work union jobs, but they are no longer allowed to vote or run in union elections or serve on the board.
SAG spokesperson Seth Oster confirmed that Voight is not invited to the awards. "Mr. Voight quit his union, and in doing so, he worked on at least one non-union film and incurred the wrath of many of his former union colleagues," said Oster. "In his status as a major movie star, Mr. Voight enjoys many protections that scores of working actors and struggling actors do not enjoy and may never have. That is what Screen Actors Guild exists to provide—protections to performers who wouldn't otherwise have them. We regret the choice that he made to leave his union and as a result, the president of SAG, Melissa Gilbert, in consultation with members of the awards committee, elected not to invite him to attend the awards dinner. We are honoring the performance, however, and should he win the award, it will be provided to him."
When contacted for comment by Back Stage West, Voight's representatives forwarded a copy of a letter that appeared as a full-page ad in Variety on Jan. 25. Voight addressed the letter to his fellow actors and wrote that he initially considered assuming financial core status in summer 2003, when a director friend approached the actor about participating in a non-union project. Voight wrote that his initial request for financial core status "was met with fear and panic from the SAG officer in charge of financial core" and that he decided to think about it for a few days.
Before he could come to a decision, he wrote, "all hell broke loose! Suddenly, there was what can only be described as a brutal attack on the small production, not only by SAG, but other unions as well." The project Voight is likely referring to is Deadly Course, a non-union film that shut down after being picketed by several unions, including SAG. In 2003, BSW reported that the unions believed that Voight was a producer on the film. Voight, however, denies this: In his letter, he says that he also hadn't worked on the film as an actor prior to production shutting down.
SAG member Peaches Johnson was part of the picket line, along with actors James Cromwell, Tess Harper, and others. "As an actor who stood up for our union during the commercial strike and who supports [herself] doing commercials, I think the message should be sent to Jon Voight: 'How dare you?'" she said. "It would be easy for me to go do non-union work, but I'm trying to keep our union strong. There are a lot of people I know who could use extra money or who could go do a friend a favor, but we don't turn our back on our profession."
Johnson said the 2003 picket wasn't targeted at Voight but was in support of crewmembers on the production. "They were trying to force [crewmembers] to work long hours," she said. "We just came to support the crewmembers."
In his letter, Voight detailed his eventual decision to declare financial core status. "Because of all the cruel bullying and unfair play, I then decided to apply for financial core to see if I could help salvage in any way this original pure vision," Voight wrote. He added, "I am neither sorry nor ashamed for my decision to join financial core. My sorrow comes only for a union that can be a great force, that can accomplish much good, and protect, promote, and nourish the actor in his individual pursuits, but does not yet understand that there will be some that will be happy to follow the union in all its rules and regulations, but there may be some that will differ, and follow a destiny of their own choosing, and that is their right, and that is our country's constitution."
Johnson, however, doesn't see it that way. "Financial core is for people who are having hardship. Jon Voight is not having hardship," she said. "Do you know how many actors I know who lost their medical insurance who stood with their union during the strike and who never once went and did non-union work? They had friends offering them work. There are a lot of celebrities that are offered [non-union] stuff all the time. They chose to stand together. He should be ashamed of himself."
Voight, who also expressed gratitude for his SAG nomination, ended the letter by congratulating his fellow nominees.