James Woods was removed from 'Oppenheimer' credits for pro-Trump views

Hollywood executive producer and actor James Woods recently explained why his name did not appear in the credits of "Oppenheimer." 

He did so during an interview with Megyn Kelly for her SiriusXM program titled "The Megyn Kelly Show." She asked him about his role in "Oppenheimer," since for many months the executive producer was kept in the shadows, and he did not hesitate to answer that he "took one for the team."

As he detailed in statements obtained by Variety, at the same time that Christopher Nolan's film was coming out, he got into a controversy over an account he had on X in which he openly supported the former president, and that brought unexpected consequences:

"When ‘Oppenheimer’ came out, there was a discussion about my Twitter, and it was gently suggested that I basically remain invisible, which was painful."James Woods, executive producer of "Oppenheimer"

Regardless, he decided that the best thing for the film, which ultimately ended up winning Best Picture at the Oscars, was to step aside. And that's precisely what he did, as he explained to Kelly during their chat:

"On the other hand, I’m a pragmatic person and I thought, a lot of people put their effort into this. 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."James Woods, executive producer of "Oppenheimer"

It was a sacrifice he made not for himself, but for all the people who had put hours into Christopher Nolan's film. And he paid dearly for it. As he recalls, despite being an executive producer, he wasn't even invited to the Producers Guild of America awards. And so he stayed in the shadows until "Oppenheimer" was crowned Best Picture, at which point he revealed his role in the feature.

His credit as executive producer of "Oppenheimer" wasn't the only thing he lost for showing up in favor of Donald Trump. His agent also abandoned him. And he did it on July 4, when a post of his which he described as "patriotic" provoked the anger of his agent.

This pains Woods since, he explained, it shows how politics is, little by little, creeping into Hollywood and how being conservative is something that is looked down upon in the film industry. "I just don't know why there's this vicious underlying cancer that has destroyed our business," James Woods lamented.