‘Oppenheimer’ cast walks out of premiere as Hollywood actors join strike

The cast of the upcoming Christopher Nolan-directed film ‘Oppenheimer’ walked out of the UK premiere of the film in London on Thursday in solidarity with the Hollywood actors union strike.

Oppenheimer cast members Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr, and Matt Damon, who were attending the premiere of Oppenheimer, walked out before the screening began, despite taking part in the red carpet photoshoot earlier.

“You’ve seen them here earlier on the red carpet,” Nolan announced in jest to the audience at the Oppenheimer premiere. “Unfortunately, they’re 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 the unions, and we support them.”

Under the rules of the trade union SAG, actors irrespective of star status are not allowed to do publicity for any of their films, even if they are unreleased, while a strike is under effect.

A strike has been called by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA), the trade union representing Hollywood actors, demanding a more equitable split of profits and better working conditions from streaming giants. The union also wants a guarantee from filmmakers that computer-generated faces and voices will not replace human actors.

The SAG union earlier said that it was yet to reach a labour agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, which represents major film studios including Netflix Inc. and Walt Disney Co.

The strike has been called at midnight Los Angeles time, and nearly 160,000 actors are expected to stop working at that moment. This will be the first major strike called by SAG in more than 40 years.

No more Barbie and Oppenheimer promos, guest appearances

The SAG strike will be a cause of disappointment for fans, as it will mean no promotions or guest appearances from the case of Barbie or Oppenheimer.

The strike has been lent support by Oppenheimer cast member Emily Blunt, who told Deadline, “I hope everyone makes a fair deal and we are here to celebrate this movie. And if they call it, we’ll be leaving together as cast in unity with everyone… We are gonna have to. We are gonna have to.”

Earlier, Margot Robbie, who will headline another highly anticipated film ‘Barbie’, lent her support to the strikers, saying, “I’m very much in support of all of the unions. And I’m a part of SAG so I would absolutely stand by that.”