The most explosive thing about Christopher Nolan’sOppenheimerisn’t the bomb, at least where filmmakerOliver Stoneis concerned. Nolan last wrote and directed the 2020 movieTenet,and his highly anticipatedOppenheimerhad its premiere in London earlier this week. But with the SAG-AFTRA strike on the horizon, the stars ofOppenheimerwalked out of the premiere. Nolan told those in attendance that the actors had gone home to prepare picket signs, and Stone was flabbergasted by their behavior. Stone said in an interview withDeadline:
“I know several producers are opening movies, like Oppenheimer. Chuck Roven, he was in London. I heard it was going to be canceled. I don’t know if it went ahead, but all the actors left. That was shocking that they really meant business and cut off right away all the promotion, which is big.”
Both actors Florence Pugh and Emily Blunt left Oppenheimer’s London premiere before Nolan ever had a chance to take the stage. Blunt also told the press that if the strike was approved she and her cast members would leave the event. And that’s exactly what happened.
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Stone Was Stunned, But He Understands the Strike All Too Well
The SAG-AFTRA protest is underway, and the Writers Guild of America strike has been dragging along for 11 long weeks, with no end in sight. Those actors in attendance at theOppenheimerpremiere who left did so to show their support for Hollywood’s writers. Their actions may have shocked Oliver Stone, but the filmmaker knows that a resolution won’t be a quick and easy fix.
“I don’t think it will be wrapped up quickly,” Stone said during the same interview. “Because well, I don’t understand the economics of Netflix and these new guys, but it’s the same old bullsh*t. You know they’re making money, and they always say they’re losing money. It’s the classic conflict that goes back to the 1880s in America.”
According to the same interview with Deadline, Stone suggested that the current strike is in part a result of the 1988 WGA strike, and the filmmaker made it plain that he supported the writers 35 years ago, even though he wasn’t a participant on the picket lines.
“The studio is always telling you that they’re losing money, but they always find a way to make a new level of profit for 10, 15 years," Stone continued. “It’s that perpetual industrial problem with a capitalist group that pays its executives more and more money and screws the average writer.”
