Director Christopher Nolan shrugged off the story of his cast walking off the London premiere of his latest film, claiming the strike is not about himself or the cast.
Nolan appeared on a pretaped showing of The View aired Friday to publicize his film Oppenheimer which was released the same day. While it is a violation of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists strike to participate in any publicity for projects within the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, as the director, Nolan is only a member of the Writer’s Guild of America, which is approaching its 80th day on strike but has no such rule.
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However, the Oppenheimer cast, including Matt Damon, Cillian Murphy, Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Olli Haaskivi, Robert Downey Jr., and more, walked out as soon as the news broke about the SAG-AFTRA strike. Nolan called the event “a very bittersweet moment.”
“I mean, we were all there together, having actors share that moment on the red carpet but knowing they would have to, as Matt put it, down tools, and go on strike,” Nolan said. “It’s a very necessary action. We’re very much in support of the working writers, working actors. This is not about Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon. It’s not about myself. It’s about working writers and working actors trying to pay their mortgages and keep food on the table.”
The AMPTP was unable to reach agreements with SAG-AFTRA or WGA but reached an agreement with the Directors Guild of America without fanfare. Studios like Amazon/MGM, Apple, NBCUniversal, Disney/ABC/Fox, Netflix, Paramount/CBS, Sony, Lionsgate, and Warner Bros are represented by the AMPTP.
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“The companies we all work for, they changed their business models over the last few years unilaterally, and the deals have not been changed to accommodate that,” Nolan went on. “And it’s one of those moments that comes along every few decades where action has to be taken, and hopefully, it can be swiftly resolved as possible.”
This is the first SAG-AFTRA strike in 43 years. This is the first time WGA and SAG-AFTRA are simultaneously on strike in 63 years, with Ronald Reagan — before he ran for president — at the helm of SAG-AFTRA at that time.
