Editor

A new 10-foot, 200-pound likeness of the coveted Actor® statuette will debut at the 10th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® on Sunday, February 22, 2004 at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center, televised nationally on Turner Network Television (TNT) at 8 p.m. ET/PT, 7 p.m. CT, and 6 p.m. MT. The statue joins the four oversized Actors® which were introduced at the SAG Awards last year.

The painted fiberglass statue is being constructed at Scenario Design in Los Angeles, under the supervision of Scenario Design President Paul Buckley and Scenic and Sculpting Department Head Daniel Lucas. The first step in the construction process was sculpting of a 10-foot model of the 16-inch solid-bronze statuette. With the statuette and two-dimensional computer-generated blow-ups, sculptor Jeff Killbane replicated the Actor® statuette and its granite base eight times its size in urethane. From this model, a plaster mold was cast, then sanded to remove all imperfections. Next, a master mold of fiberglass and silicone was created. Within the mold is a steel armature to stiffen and support the final statue. A viscous mixture of chopped fiberglass and resin was packed into the two halves of this mold. Once hardened and assembled, the statue was laboriously hand sanded. It will be coated with base, then painted with a custom mixture to replicate the Actor’s® distinctive green-black patina and polished black granite base.

The oversized Actors® are the first Awards statue to be created by Scenario Design, whose prolific work includes set pieces for stage, film, commercials and music videos for such artists as Jennifer Lopez and Madonna, as well as museum, library and theme park displays both in the U.S. and abroad. Among them are the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum in Las Vegas, the Texas State History Museum, the new Interpretation Center at Ford Motor Company’s famed River Rouge Plant in Dearborn Michigan and the “Tower of Terror” and “Bugsland” at Disneyland.

The actual Actor® statuettes which will be awarded at the 10th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® stand 16 inches tall and weigh 12 pounds. Each one is cast in solid bronze using the lost wax process. The Actor® is the work of a team of fine arts professionals. The Actor® was originally sculpted by Edward Saenz and was designed by Jim Heimann and Jim Barrett. The statuette is cast at the American Fine Arts Foundry under the supervision of Flint Reisfelt.

Screen Actors Guild will not know how many of The Actor® statuettes it will need until the Awards presenters open the envelopes on February 22 at the Shrine Exposition Center.. Although the number of categories for outstanding performances in television and motion pictures during 2003 is known ahead of time, the possibility of multiple recipients sharing awards in Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Motion Picture, Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, and Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series makes the total number of statuettes that will be given out unpredictable. Any surplus of The Actor® will find a home in the Guild's vault until next year's event.

Each statuette carries a serial number engraved at its base. Numbering began with No. 1. The first statuette cast is on display at Screen Actors Guild headquarters in Los Angeles and 322 statuettes have been awarded since the first Actors® were presented in 1995.