New York’s ‘Oppenheimer’ red carpet canceled amid SAG-AFTRA strike

Following Thursday’s announcement that SAG-AFTRA will join the WGA during the pickets, thus excluding both on-camera work and promotional activity for the actors, red carpet cancellations have begun.

THE Special Operations: Lioness premiere, scheduled for July 18 in Los Angeles with stars Zoe Saldaña, Laysla De Oliveira, Nicole Kidman, Morgan Freeman and Michael Kelly, was the first carpet to be torn down, followed by OppenheimerThe red carpet in New York, set for July 17th.

“In support of SAG’s ongoing strike, the filmmakers of Oppenheimer will not proceed with the New York premiere as originally planned and will instead screen the film to celebrate the crew and craftsmen who helped make this landmark film,” Universal said in a statement.

Among the events still on the calendar (for now) is that of Disney Haunted house premiere at Disneyland on Saturday, which the studio is moving forward without its stars, and the Los Angeles premiere Mix on July 17th.

The strike began at midnight on Friday, with the actors picketing that morning. Under the guidelines, the 160,000 affected union members are barred from doing all major on- and off-camera work, such as voice-over and narration, as well as participating in promotional activities including premieres, interviews, festivals, FYC events, awards shows and podcasts. . Oppenheimer’s London premiere was just completed in time after Universal moved carpet time up to an hour to allow the star-studded cast to snap photos and do interviews before the strike went into effect. Stars Emily Blunt, Matt Damon and Cillian Murphy walked out of the event before the screening when the walkout was called.

SAG-AFTRA announced the halt after negotiations with the Alliance of Film and Television Producers faltered on Wednesday evening. The group representing studios and streamers said they “presented a deal that offered salary increases and historical residuals, substantially higher caps on pension and health care contributions, auditioning protections, reduced series option periods, and a game-changing intelligence proposition artificial that protects the digital likeness of the actors”. SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher called the offer “insulting and disrespectful of our massive contributions to this industry,” criticizing “the way they plead poverty when they give their CEOs hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s disgusting. Shame on them, they’re on the wrong side of history right now.”