SAG-AFTRA has stepped in to prevent Beverly Hills-based Julien's Auctions from selling a collection of early audition tapes of Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Nicole Kidman and a number of other Hollywood stars.
"Auditions are not public performances, and under SAG-AFTRA collective bargaining agreements performers are entitled to expect them to remain private," SAG-AFTRA General Counsel Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said in a statement on Tuesday. "SAG-AFTRA, on behalf of our members, has requested that Julien's Auctions discontinue the sale of these private tapes, and they have agreed to do so immediately."
Also read: 'Today' Airs Early Audition Tapes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Nicole Kidman (Video)
The tapes, a few of which aired on NBC's "Today" last Friday, were submitted to the Beverly Hills-based auction house by three anonymous casting directors who worked on films including "Backdraft," "Shattered" and "Jurassic Park."
Julien's Auctions founder Darren Julien, who appeared on "Today" last week to promote the sale, told Matt Lauer he expected some of tapes to be snatched up by the public for thousands of dollars.
"The 'Jurassic Park' audition tapes, we anticipate two-four thousand, conservatively, but it could be $4,000 to $10,000," Julien explained. "We've never sold something like this, so it's hard to say."
And due to SAG-AFTRA's intervention in the matter, Julien's Auction house never will find out what the rare Hollywood memorabilia would have sold for.
When contacted by TheWrap, Julien confirmed his company would not be proceeding with the auction planned for April 5 and 6 "out of respect for [SAG-AFTRA's] request."
"It's one of those things where we have good relationship with everyone in Hollywood and we want to maintain that," Julien said.