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James Woods has revealed he was advised to keep his Oppenheimer executive producer credit quiet over fears his pro-Donald Trump Twitter account could damage the film’s rollout.
The Hercules voice actor, 77, became an executive producer for the Christopher Nolan-directed movie, which chronicles the career of American theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer, after buying rights to the non-fiction book American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin upon which the screenplay is based.
Oppenheimer went on to win seven categories at the 96th Academy Awards ceremony including Best Picture, Directing, Actor in a Leading Role (Cillian Murphy), Actor in a Supporting Role (Robert Downey Jr), Cinematography, Film Editing and Original Score and was the third highest grossing film of 2023.
Speaking to Megyn Kelly on her SiriusXM show of his silent involvement, Woods said: “When Oppenheimer came out, there was a discussion about my Twitter, and it was gently suggested that I basically remain invisible, which was painful.”
The actor claimed there were fears his online support for Donald Trump over the years meant there were reputational risks to him being publicly associated with Oppenheimer ahead of its release and its subsequent awards season campaign.
The actor has largely stayed out of the limelight and was dropped by his agent for his political views, with his last screen credit being two episodes of Andrew Dice Clay’s sitcom Dice in 2017.
“On the other hand, I’m a pragmatic person and I thought a lot of people put their effort into this,” Woods added.
“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 to films because it helps with the financial reward and historical archive in which it rests forever, I don’t want to deprive those people.”
Woods said he did not want the Oppenheimer team to have to handle a “nutcase” making up stories about him and his right wing opinions.
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“I’ve had a million of them said, they’re all lies,” he said.
“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! 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.”
