Turns out James Woods was the real ticking time bomb of “Oppenheimer.”
The actor, who executive produced 2023’s Best Picture-winning feature, said during Megyn Kelly’s SiriusXM radio show that he was asked not to promote the historical film due to his very public support of Donald Trump.
“When ‘Oppenheimer’ came out, there was a discussion about my Twitter, and it was gently suggested that I basically remain invisible, which was painful,” Woods said.
Woods was an EP on the film after purchasing the rights to the nonfiction book “American Prometheus” by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, on which Christopher Nolan based the screenplay. “Oppenheimer” went on to win a slew of Oscars and also make history as the highest-grossing biopic ever.
“On the other hand, I’m a pragmatic person and I thought, a lot of people put their effort into this,” Woods said. “So I’m just going to be an invisible pariah because the people who are going to be voting for Oscars, which is very important for a film, to get Oscars — because it does help with the financial reward and the historical archive in which it will rest forever: Academy Award-winning Best Picture ‘Oppenheimer.’ I don’t want to deprive those people.”
Woods added he didn’t want people to refuse to watch the movie because of him.
“I don’t want that to happen and have the clickbait story be, ‘James Woods is the executive producer, we’re not going to watch that movie,’” Woods said. “So I stepped back and basically took one for the team. I was not even invited to the Producers Guild of America awards. And I’m a producer. By the way, it won.”
Woods, however, praised writer/director Nolan and producer Emma Thomas for their work on the film.
“If you can put anything in Christopher Nolan’s hands and he says ‘Yes,’ the heavens open up,” Woods said. “He’s a remarkable, great cineaste. His wife and producer partner, Emma Thomas — wonderful woman.”
Regardless of his lack of a public tie to “Oppenheimer,” Woods explained that he has still “been handsomely rewarded” as an EP. The deal was “done on a handshake” with Nolan, according to Woods, and it was all “decent people” who also produced the feature.
Universal did not respond to IndieWire’s request for comment.
Two-time Academy Award nominee Woods announced his acting retirement in 2017. He was later dropped by his agent in 2018. During the radio show appearance, Woods called his former agent Ken Kaplan a “piece of shit” and added that Kaplan “was probably 20 beers deep” when he dropped him on the Fourth of July, citing his political views as part of the decision to part ways.
Additional reporting by Tony Maglio.
