That sound you just heard was a bunch of fingers crossing and teeth clenching coming from the general direction of Hollywood. That other sound you just heard was all of those same people saying simply, "Oh, shit." The Screen Actors Guild announced on Wednesday that it had set January 2nd as the date to send out its strike authorization ballots to its 120,000 members. The result of the vote will be announced on January 23rd, and if 75% of SAG members vote yes, then Hollywood could face its second major work stoppage in just over a year.

Perhaps the intoxicating knowledge that they're working in a fairly recession-proof industry has gone to the heads of those actors at the top of the Screen Actors Guild hierarchy. It's the only thing that could explain why now, when the economy has reached the "crisis" stage and is in the proverbial crapper, would SAG decide to put a strike authorization to vote. Yes, now. Awesome idea, guys!

It's been awhile since we last told you that nothing had happened in the negotiations between the Screen Actors Guild and the studios. And now we're back to tell you that something is about to happen. We think. On Sunday, the actors union took two major steps forward in the process toward resolution (we hope) or a strike (we fear). First, the SAG board voted to have a federal mediator brought in to try to revive negotiations that stalled in June. SAG's board also has authorized a vote by all members on whether to strike if the mediation doesn't work.

Even though the economy is in what's cheerily being called a "downturn," you wouldn't know it from the bustle around Hollywood studios lately, with more than 40 films being hustled into production for next spring and summer. Because of the writer's strike and the looming threat of an actor's strike, most studios halted production in late 2007 and, as a result, don't have much of a slate for their 2010-2011 release schedule. The few films that did go into production following the writer's strike had strike protection insurance in case the actors -- who still haven't reached an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and remain without a new contract -- decided to have a strike of their own. Now desperate to fill theaters with their usual crap in two years, studios are pushing to get movies made, crossing their fingers that the actor's union in-fighting continues.

Just a few days ago at Comic-Con, the video-game-turned-movie Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was being talked up as a June 2009 release. Note the date on the promotional poster which, without a picture of princely star Jake Gyllenhaal, might as well be an ad for a Pier 1 sale. Variety is now reporting that Walt Disney Pictures has pushed back the release date nearly a full year to Memorial Day weekend 2010. Hey, maybe next year at the con Disney will hand out little "10"s you can stick to the posters they gave you this year!

In Ridley Scott's reimagined version of the Robin Hood tale, it's the guy in the green tights who's a bit dodgy. (Perhaps even dodgier than Kevin Costner's accent in Prince of Thieves.) The Sheriff of Nottingham, as played by Russell Crowe, is supposed to be the sympathetic bloke. Even still, the good ol' sheriff didn't have the angels on his side when production on Nottingham was shut down this past weekend. According to The Hollywood Reporter, filming, which was to have begun in mid-August, "has been postponed indefinitely." It's not a tights famine or a dearth of merry men that's holding up things, but the triple threat of a possible SAG strike, lack of cooperation from Mother Nature, and a script rewrite. Such adversaries don't seem terribly exciting, considering the swashbuckling subject matter, but these days they're far more formidable than anything with a bow and arrow.

The Screen Actors Guild turned 75 this weekend, but there was not much for the guild to celebrate, as the contract deadline is looming with no deal in site.

The guild probably didn't celebrate Tom Hanks urging ratification of the AFTRA contract, either. See, the leadership is urging AFTRA (a sister union; many actors are in both unions) not to ratify, because ratification might make it more difficult for SAG to negotiate. In fact, it's become something of a battle between SAG and AFTRA. Two weeks ago, in fact, SAG falsely claimed Hanks and George Clooney were anti-AFTRA. If there was any lingering doubt, I think Hanks' signature on the email shattered that.

Like a lady going through the seemingly endless agony of contractions and finally squeezing out a ten-pound screaming baby, filmmakers are finally birthing Labor Pains. The film had encountered trouble when Capitol Films faced a "cash crunch," according to Variety, placing it in "limbo" for a time. This is the same difficulty that affected Nailed last month, but Labor picked up new financing at Cannes thanks to Nu Image/Millennium Films Overnight Productions. (The name just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?) Now with production set to begin next week, they've announced that Lindsay Lohan has signed on to star.