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he cast of new movie Oppenheimer walked out of the UK premiere in London ”to go and write their picket signs” ahead of the announcement Hollywood actors were going on strike.
On Thursday evening, lead actors of Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated war biographic, including Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, and Emily Blunt walked out of the film’s premiere at the Odeon Luxe in Leicester Square in solidarity with US actors union Sag-Aftra.
“You’ve seen them here earlier on the red carpet,” Nolan announced to the cinema’s audience.
“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.”
Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr, Sir Kenneth Branagh and Rami Malek also left.
Soon after, Sag-Aftra announced its first major members strike in over 40 years.
The Oppenheimer premiere was moved forward an hour so that the cast could walk the red carpet before the announcement.
Arriving on the red carpet ahead of the screening, British actress Blunt warned that the cast would be leaving “in unity” if the strike was announced.
She told US outlet 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.”
When asked if she is “upping sticks”, she replied: “We’re going to have to. We are going to have to. We will see what happens, but right now it’s a joy to be together.”
The decision to strike came after negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) failed to produce new contracts for members on Thursday.
It comes after more than four weeks of bargaining with the AMPTP, who represent major studios and streamers, including Amazon, Apple, Disney, Netflix, Paramount, and Warner Bros Discovery.
The strike was announced by union president Fran Drescher and will start at midnight Pacific Time in the US – 8am BST.
It is now anticipated the strike will affect upcoming award shows, premieres, events and film festivals around the world, including the Toronto and Venice film festivals, and the 75th Emmys.
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