The Robert Downey Jr. produced and starring The Sympathizer got here and went final 12 months with loads much less fanfare than many anticipated as a result of expertise concerned and the actual fact the miniseries was based mostly on Viet Thanh Nguyen‘s Pulitzer Prize successful novel of the identical identify. Nonetheless, some sudden fallout from the Emmy-nominated Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar created and written high-profile venture emerged right this moment from the Writers Guild of America West, and it actually ain’t fairly.
The acclaimed Oldboy director and the a number of Genie Award winner have each been expelled from the WGA West.
The ejection is results of Park and McKellar crossing a reasonably large line. In contradiction of all the principles of Hollywood labor greatest practices, the duo labored and wrote on the HBO miniseries throughout the 2023 strike that noticed the scribes’ guild and SAG-AFTRA carry Hollywood to a halt for nearly six months. The implications that Park and McKellar have now suffered, as was revealed by the WGAW in a missive to members right this moment, is the harshest the Guild can carry down on members, and on this case, some very high-profile members.
“Three different members had been disciplined for violating the strike guidelines throughout the 2023 MBA strike, and people members didn’t attraction,” the WGAW mentioned Friday of Park and McKellar, in addition to Anthony Cipriano (who’s suspended till Might 1, 2026). “In every of those circumstances, the boards determined these disciplines needs to be made public.”
Neither the WGAW, HBO, nor reps for the just lately Gersh signed McKellar or Park responded to Deadline’s request for remark tonight on the simply introduced expulsions.
With pencils shortly down, the WGA and its simply over 25,000 membership went on strike two years in the past from Might 2 to September 27 earlier than approving a take care of the studios and streamers. With some overlap with the WGA, the 160,00 member sturdy SAG-ACTRA went on strike from July 14 to November 9, 2023 earlier than coming to an settlement with AMPTP.
(L-R) Moderator: Viet Thanh Nguyen, Park Chan-wook [and translator], Don McKellar, Robert Downey Jr., Susan Downey, Niv Fichman, Hoa Xuande, Sandra Oh, Fred Nguyen Khan, & Duy Nguyen seem onstage throughout HBO’s The Sympathizer FYC Occasion in LA on April 10, 2024 (Picture by FilmMagic/FilmMagic for HBO)
Delayed to some extent like just about all the things throughout these onerous weeks and months, the seven-episode The Sympathizer debuted on the premium cabler on April 14, 2024, with showrunners Park and McKellar receiving writing credit for the entire Vietnam Warfare centered present. Enjoying 5 completely different roles, generally on display screen collectively, Oscar winner Downey was nominated for Excellent Supporting Actor in a Restricted or Anthology Collection or Film on the 76th Primetime Emmys, with the win going to Lamorne Morris for Fargo.
Since The Sympathizer, Park and McKellar have additionally labored collectively on the script for the Park helmed upcoming black comedy No Different Selection, which is ready to debut in Venice later this month.
Really useful to the WGA Board by the Strike Guidelines Compliance Committee, the expulsions for much from beginner members Park and McKellar could have little to no impact with No Different Selection. But, what this implies for the careers of McKellar and Park in Tinseltown going ahead doesn’t look good. Certain, the South Korean-born director and the Canadian-born McKellar have the flexibility to work within the world market, however now they’ve misplaced the flexibility to work for Disney, HBO, Netflix and different firms which can be signatories to the WGA’s collective bargaining settlement.
As we speak’s announcement on the hammer coming down on Park and McKellar, who’re clearly not interesting or therefore disputing the allegations of writing whereas their fellow members had been out of labor and/or on the picket traces, comes simply over a couple of months after the WGA made public another expulsions and disciplinary measures towards others. Again in early April and naming names, the Guild introduced disciplinary motion towards six members for alleged unauthorized work throughout the union’s 2023 strike, in addition to one extra member for an alleged violation of the guild’s structure.
With right this moment’s expulsion of McKellar and Park, plus the motion towards Cipriano, the WGA says “there aren’t any additional strike associated disciplines and all Article X proceedings arising from the 2023 strike have concluded.”
To that, in response to the WGA structure, “no suspended or expelled member could also be readmitted to membership within the Guild besides by motion of the Board, which can assess a high-quality and/or different circumstances earlier than readmission.”
