“They are off to write their picket signs.”
Writer-director Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated historical epic Oppenheimer had its London premiere on Thursday evening (13 July), though its cast had to leave the event early due to the actors’ strike.
Also on Thursday, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announced that a strike had been ordered after talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) — the group that represents major studios and streamers, including Amazon, Apple, Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, Sony and Warner Bros. Discovery/HBO – broke down.
The strike has since taken effect, meaning over 160,000 members of SAG will stop working, essentially bringing Hollywood movie and TV production to a halt.
Speaking from the stage at the London premiere of Oppenheimer, Nolan told his audience:
“I have to to acknowledge the work of our incredible cast, led by Cillian Murphy. The list is enormous — Robert Downey Jr, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Kenneth Branagh, Rami Malek and so many more.
“You’ve seen them here earlier on the red carpet. Unfortunately, they are off to write their picket signs for what we believe to be an imminent strike by SAG, joining one of my guilds, the Writers Guild, in the struggle for fair wages for working members of their union and we support them.”
You can watch a video of the filmmaker’s comments – shared by Deadline – right here:
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
While they were in attendance at the premiere, the Oppenheimer cast voiced their support for the strike action – with Damon stating during a red carpet interview:
“Nobody wants a work stoppage but if our leadership is saying that the deal isn’t fair, then we gotta hold strong until we get a deal that’s fair for working actors.
“It’s the difference between having healthcare and not for a lot of actors, and we gotta do what’s right by them.”
Oppenheimer lands in cinemas on 21 July, where it will go head-to-head at the box office with the Margot Robbie-starring Barbie movie released the same day.
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