The cast of Oppenheimer left the London premiere early to “go and write their picket signs” in preparation for the “imminent” actors’ union strike.
On Thursday (July 13), the main cast of Christopher Nolan’s long-awaited military biopic, including Cillian Murphy, Florence Pugh, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and Rami Malek, walked out of the film’s UK premiere in solidarity with Sag-aftra.
“You’ve seen them here before on the red carpet,” Nolan announced to the theater audience.
“Unfortunately, they are going to write their picket signs for what we believe is an upcoming Sag strike, joining one of my guilds, the Writers Guild, in the fight for fair wages for working union members, and we support them .”
Before the screening, the actors walked the red carpet, posed for photos, interacted with fans and spoke to the press.
In an interview on the red carpet with DiversityDamon revealed that “once the strike is officially announced,” the cast “will obviously be walking in solidarity.”
“That’s why we moved that (red carpet) up, because we know the second he calls, we’re going home,” he said.
Sag-aftra has approved its membership of 160,000 TV and film actors to go on strike on Thursday at midnight, joining screenwriters who have been picketing since May – a historic move that will effectively shut down Hollywood, something that has not happened in more than 60 years.
The decision came hours after contract talks with the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Disney and Warner Bros failed to go ahead before a midnight deadline on Wednesday (July 12).
The current union’s demands are similar to those of its counterpart, the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Among the main demands of the former are increased wages, higher residuals and improved working conditions.
“Union members must withhold work until a fair contract is reached,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, Sag-aftra’s national executive and chief negotiator, told a news conference. “They left us with no alternative.”