"Beasts" Actors Inelgible for SAG Awards

[Big Magilla]

From today's Hollywood Reporter:

Beasts of the Southern Wild, the critically acclaimed indie drama that Fox Searchlight is positioning as a major awards contender, has been ruled ineligible for the Screen Actors Guild Awards because it was not made under the terms of SAG Low Budget Feature Agreement, which mandates the use of professional actors.

The move throws a small roadblock in front of the film's Oscar chances because the SAG Awards sometimes mirror the Academy's selections. However, the history of the SAG Awards suggests Searchlight still has a strong chance to get this film and its cast of unknowns some major Oscar attention.

Director Benh Zeitlin, out of financial necessity (he had a budget of just $1.3 million) and a desire for the greatest possible sense of authenticity (his film revolves around eccentric characters who populate a remote part of America's Gulf Coast) instead used locals who had never acted before and therefore were not SAG members. The stars of the film, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in January, are a 6-year-old schoolgirl (Quvenzhane Wallis) and a fortysomething local baker (Dwight Henry). Neither will be eligible for SAG Awards, nor will the cast be eligible for the best ensemble nod, which is SAG's equivalent of a best picture award.