Ryan Reynolds will not allow his and Blake Lively’s eldest daughter, James, to cross the SAG-AFTRA picket line after the union revealed costume rules for Halloween amid the ongoing strike.
“I look forward to screaming ‘scab’ at my 8 year old all night,” Reynolds, 46, shared via X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, October 19. “She’s not in the union but she needs to learn.”
His post was in response to the SAG-AFTRA guidelines released on Wednesday, October 18, which explained how striking actors can dress up as their favorite film characters on Halloween without crossing the picket line.
“This Halloween, we wanted to make sure our members don’t inadvertently break strike rules, and have put together some quick tips on the dos and don’ts for costumes,” read the notice, which was shared via the official SAG-AFTRA strike website. “Check them out and have a spooktacular Halloween!”
A generalized message to striking actors noted that they can “choose costumes inspired by generalized characters and figures.” Examples included a ghost, zombie or spider.
One helpful tip said that stars can “dress up as characters from non-struck content, like an animated TV show.” However, they shouldn’t “post photos of costumes inspired by struck content to social media.”
The organization pleaded with striking actors to “send a loud and clear message to our struck employees that we will not promote their content without a fair contract.”
The Halloween-focused memo came days after SAG-AFTRA made a proposal to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) about how actors can benefit from the success of content on streaming services. On October 11, AMPTP and four major studio CEOs — Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley and Disney’s Bob Iger — left the talks.
In a statement from SAG-AFTRA the following day, reps revealed that their proposals had been “rejected” by the AMPTP and there was a refusal to counteroffer.
Additional compensation for actors has been the main point of contention during the SAG-AFTRA strike, which began in July. At the time, the SAG-AFTRA union joined the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which had been striking since May. The WGA strike was settled on September 27.
Actors including George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, Emma Stone, Ben Affleck and Tyler Perry met with SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher on Tuesday, October 17, to discuss what went wrong when the contract negotiation meeting was held earlier this month. Additional contract negotiation meetings regarding the strike have yet to be scheduled.
