'Oppenheimer' Cast Leaves Movie's Premiere as Actors Strike Begins

By Ashley Turner

Director Christopher Nolan announced at his London premiere of Oppenheimer Thursday that the cast has left and is "off to write their picket signs" in preparation for a strike by SAG-AFTRA. "I have to acknowledge the work of our incredible cast, led by Cillian Murphy," Nolan said on stage. "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 are supporting them." One by one, the Oppenheimer actors entered the Odeon Luxe theater's reception following their arrival. Every cast member who spoke with Deadline expressed their support for the strike action, including Florence Pugh and Emily Blunt, who left before Nolan came onstage, according to the outlet.

Earlier on the red carpet, Blunt told Deadline that if the guild voted for a walkout, she and the cast would leave. "I think right now we are just sort of — I hope everyone makes a fair deal and we are here to celebrate this movie. And if they call [a strike], we'll be leaving together as cast in unity with everyone…We are gonna have to. We are gonna have to. We will see what happens. Right now it's the joy to be together." SAG-AFTRA's strike comes following the ongoing writers strike, which is currently in its eleventh week. There are several reasons why the writers guild (WGA) is currently on strike, including a lack of fair compensation for writers, streaming residuals, and a minimum limit on writers rooms. Other factors are also involved, such as using artificial intelligence when developing scripts.

A good number of these issues are affecting the SAG-AFTRA strike as well. Major concerns affecting these negotiations include residuals for streaming views, regulations regarding the use of artificial intelligence, and the creation of a new algorithm for calculating streaming residuals. Ninety-eight percent of SAG-AFTRA members voted recently to approve a strike should negotiations, which began in June, fail. The strike will have far more consequences than just the Oppenheimer premiere. Productions are permitted to continue during the WGA strike if the scripts are already complete, but if both strikes take place at the same time, many productions will have to close, along with promotions for completed productions coming to theaters soon. The industry would take a hit as television networks and movie studios exhaust their stock of finished productions.

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