Staring at a strike, some productions won't sag

By Steven Zeitchik

SAG and AFTRA aren't the only ones drawing lines in the sand over a potential actor walkout. The divisions over production are starting to become clear in the impending strike -- i.e., which studio productions are braving the uncertainty and which are sitting it out.

As Gregg Kilday reports in Friday's THR, a number of productions are still planning on July production dates despite the potential for a shutdown. The reasoning: the amount of dollars lost if production comes to a halt, while not small change, pales in comparison to the margins these movies are shooting for. (That, or producers on these pics are feeling highly optimistic.)

So apart from previously publicized pics like "Transformers 2" and "Angels & Demons," which studios and producers are saying 'SAG who'?

*Gran Torino. The secretive Clint project, set to go at Warners, is aiming for a mid-July start in the hope of making a 2008 release date. Because, you know, a fall wouldn't be complete without two Eastwood pictures.

* Prince of Persia. Sure, it's a video-game adaptation. But kids love the vidgames, and Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer are betting big on the younger-skewing title, so they're plowing ahead despite the potential to hit pause right as they're finishing an, um level.

*Mardi Gras -- This one's a hybrid. The Screen Gems project will be done with most of its principal photography by the witching hour and will shoot some final scenes the first week of July. But they're interiors that can be shot on a stage instead of the Louisiana set if a strike interrupts. Still, we imagine Culpepper et al are hoping SAG stops the clock for juuuust a few days.

* "2012" -- There's a certain irony to this one, since the Roland Emmerich disaster pic was the first major project to come together after the writers' strike. Guess the thinking is that if emerged unscathed from the walkout that Verrone built, it'll survive the Rosenberg one too.

The summer will be plenty busy, though, as waiver-blessed productions crank up en masse. Nicholas Cage, Catherine Zeta Jones and Javier Bardem are all actors who won't be using a strike to take a summer vacation. Even Lindsay Lohan will be shooting in July. So you know it's going to be busy.