Why did the cast of Oppenheimer leave the London premiere midway? 

The cast of Oppenheimer present at the Red Carpet of the film’s premiere in London walked away from the event to show solidarity with the strike by the actor’s union.

Cillian Murphy, Florence Pugh, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, and Rami Malek made a stunning appearance on the red carpet at the London premiere of “Oppenheimer,” but they left the event midway to show their support and solidarity with the strike called Hollywood’s actors union.

Why is the strike happening?

Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists (SAG-AFTRA) representing thousands of performers joined hands with screenwriters in the protest against the exploration of Hollywood. Since May, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike demanding better wages, work conditions and higher writer-to-show ratio for people working in the industry.

The resistance started after the negotiations failed with the television production companies and streaming services represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) as they could not provide any concrete form of reassurance. The protesters also rose up against the use of AI in the entertainment industry and demanded a tangible commitment from streaming services and productions that they will not let computer-generated faces replace human actors as it has a potential to pose a serious threat to art and artists. Many well-known names of the industry are standing with the cause including the cast of Oppenheimer who left the event before the screening of the film to join the strike. 

“You’ve seen them here earlier on the red carpet. 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, Christopher Nolan said in support of the resistance.  Matt Damon said, “We talked about it. Look, if it’s called now, everyone’s going to walk obviously in solidarity… That’s why we moved this [red carpet] up because we know the second it’s called, we’re going home.”

The resistance is in itself historical as it’s the first time since 1980 when Hollywood actors came together for a strike and after 1960, it’s happening for the first time when two Hollywood unions are on strike at the same time.

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