THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT! To see what else is going on in the local

world of show business, SEE SHOW BIZ, PAGE A9.

Laura Sturza

Like the behind-the-scenes workers in the film and television

industry, local artisans who craft the Screen Actors Guild Awards’

trophies help create a product that will be shown to viewers

worldwide.

“Nobody knows how hard the people behind the scenes work to make

things happen,” said Ken Hanke, who made the original mold for the

statuettes that have been crafted by Burbank’s American Fine Arts

Foundry since 1995.

Hanke worked with sculptor Edward Saenz in creating the first mold

for his sculpture of “The Actor,” who holds smiling and frowning

masks. Forty-three statues will be handed out at the show, which airs

March 9.

American Fine Arts Foundry workers proved their mettle when

another foundry lost the original mold for SAG’s Life Achievement

Award. Burbank’s artisans were able to remake the mold from an

existing sculpture, said Daryl Anderson, a SAG Awards committee

member.

From the original rubber mold, foundry employees made hundreds of

wax duplicates of “The Actor” that are encased in a ceramic mold,

which is filled with molten bronze. The hot liquid cools and hardens

into a statue.

As in filmmaking, Hanke describes his work as “a series of

compromises” that includes considering “what to cut and what not to

cut,” in order to design molds that will yield the best finished

product.

At 12 pounds, the bronze sculptures, perched atop their marble

podiums, have surprised some winners with their heft, Hanke said. But

foundry worker Blanca Lemus, who corrects imperfections in the

sculpture’s wax model, enjoys imagining the stars who will receive

the award.

“That person may not know about me, but I enjoy being part of the

[statue’s] history,” Lemus said.

The foundry has also cast retirement plaques for Disney and the

Independent Feature Project’s Independent Spirit Awards, said Angel

Meza, the foundry’s production manager.

The 2002 Screen Actors Guild Awards, honoring outstanding TV and

film performances, will be telecast at 8 p.m. March 9 on TNT, which

is Channel 41 on Charter Communications cable.