Oppenheimer Cast Leaves Premiere Early to Join Strike

The UK premiere of Oppenheimer was cut short last night when its cast left early to join the actors strike. Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, and Emily Blunt were among those staging a walkout in solidarity with 160,000 union members from SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists).

The film’s other major stars, including Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr, Kenneth Branagh and Rami Malek, left before the screening, which took place at the Odeon Luxe in London’s Leicester Square. In order to squeeze the Oppenheimer premiere in before the strike started, it was brought forward an hour.

Oppenheimer director Chris Nolan gave support to his striking actors, saying on stage at the event: “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.”

On the red carpet ahead of the strike, Emily Blunt told Deadline: “I think right now we are just sorting of…I hope everyone makes a fair deal and we are here to just celebrate this movie. And if they call it, we’ll be leaving together as a cast in unity with everyone…We’re going to have to. We will see what happens, but right now it’s a joy to be together.”

The Screen Actors Guild going on strike comes as contract negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP (Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers) broke down. Actors are demanding better pay and increased safeguarding around AI rights, especially with the studios allegedly making bizarre AI demands.

No actor is keen to cross the picket line by promoting a film, so Oppenheimer might be the last time we see the stars out at a premiere for some time.