Moment Cillian Murphy and rest of Oppenheimer cast walk out of UK premiere in ‘solidarity’

Video footage shows the moment that Cillian Murphy and his Oppenheimer co-stars walked out of the UK premiere last night in solidarity with the SAG-AFTRA strike.

The London premiere was brought forward by about an hour before the strike was announced by the union, which has around 160,000 members of film industry staff including many Hollywood A-listers.

That mean that the stars could do some promotional stuff beforehand, but then left the event before the film was shown.

Whilst treading the red carpet before the strike action was taken, the stars spoke about the ongoing dispute, which centres around pay, conditions, and the implications of AI technology.

Following the announcement, stars are no longer allowed to engage in any work, including promotional work, hence why the celebrities involved in the film decided to take no further part.

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That included stars like Murphy, Florence Pugh, Kenneth Branagh, Matt Damon, and Emily Blunt.

Star Cillian Murphy, who plays the titular character, was tight-lipped, telling the reporters: “I stand by my colleagues that’s all I can say to you really, thank you.”

While his co-star Pugh was a bit more forthcoming, explaining: “It’s been a really really tense few days for a lot of people, not just for actors but for everybody in the industry who is going to be affected by this decision but affected by a decision that is necessary.

She continued: “Equally, premieres aren’t just for us.

"They are to honour a movie, to honour the crew that made them, so we feel lucky that we got to squeeze this in and also lucky that we get to stand by our peers in the decision that is made, and we hope that something comes of it soon.

Branagh added: “We know it is a critical time at this point in the industry and the issues that are involved need to be addressed in difficult conversations.

"I know that everybody in the industry is trying to get a fair deal, that is what is required, so we will support that.”

The movie’s director Christopher Nolan also weighed in on the decision to walk out of the premiere in London,

“You’ve seen them here earlier on the red carpet,” he told the audience.

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“Unfortunately, they’re off to write their picket signs for what we believe to be an imminent strike by SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists), joining one of my guilds, the Writers Guild, in the struggle for fair wages for working members of the unions, and we support them.”

The decision for the strike came hours after contract negotiations with companies like Amazon, Disney and Warner Bros., broke down before yesterday’s deadline

SAG-AFTRA members had already pre-approved the strike action if no solution could be found, meaning that the rest of the film industry joins the Writers Guild of America – who have been out for months – on the picket lines.

Oppenheimer is set to be released in cinemas on June 21.