The cast of Oppenheimer walked out of the film’s premiere in London on Thursday after the SAG-AFTRA officially voted to strike.
“I have to acknowledge the work of our incredible cast, led by Cillian Murphy,” director Christopher Nolan told the audience at the screening. “You’ve seen them here earlier on the red carpet. Unfortunately, they’re off to write their picket signs for the imminent strike by SAG.”
Ultimately, Nolan signed off with a message of solidarity: “We support them.” A roar of applause from the crowd suggested they felt the same.
The Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists announced its intention to strike on Thursday after failing to negotiate a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The guidelines of the strike prohibit actors from participating in press or promotional events in service of those projects — hence the Oppenheimer cast’s decision to leave the premiere.
Related Video
Along with Murphy, those aforementioned Oppenheimer cast members now on strike include Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Kenneth Branagh, Rami Malek, and many, many more. The biopic centers around J. Robert Oppenheimer (Murphy), the “father of the atomic bomb,” who co-leads an initiative to develop the first of its kind in a race against the Nazi Germans.
Oppenheimer is based on Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. But the risky subject matter didn’t keep Nolan from indulging his affinity for practical effects: For his adaptation, he and visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson recreated a nuclear explosion.
Read our explainer on the SAG-AFTRA strike and what it all means.
Christopher Nolan says the cast of #Oppenheimer left the premiere to ‘go and write their pickets’ and join the strike pic.twitter.com/rc2SaSxcfk
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) July 13, 2023
