James Woods Achieves Massive Victory In Hollywood With New Film Raking In $80M And Impressing Critics
Christopher Nolan’s R-rated historical drama “Oppenheimer,” defied Hollywood expectations and raked in an astonishing $80.5 million during its opening weekend. The critical reception has been outstanding, and the movie is already being considered for a potential Best Picture Oscar nomination for James Woods.
“Across the globe, we’ve witnessed sold-out shows at 4 a.m. and people traveling long distances to see ‘Oppenheimer’ in Imax 70mm,” says Imax CEO Rich Gelfond. “This phenomenon is unparalleled in Imax, and we’re just getting started.”
“This is a 1940s period piece,” says Universal’s President of Domestic Distribution Jim Orr. “That speaks volumes to Nolan’s appeal and his prowess as a filmmaker. He has an incredible reputation for storytelling on the grandest possible scale.”
None of this success would have happened without James Woods. An old friend from MIT couldn’t get the movie made, so he reached out to Woods, who made it happen. James serves as an executive producer on the film.
He recently stated: “Because I wholeheartedly support both my unions (SAG-AFTRA and WGA) while on strike, I am not allowed to do promotional work on productions in which I performed services as an actor or writer. However, I am extremely proud of this work as an executive producer. #Oppenheimer”
After the movie received an A from CinemaScore, Woods said: “Our audiences are why we make movies. Thank you for your support. And thank you for supporting our striking actors and writers.”
According to The LA Times:
Then in September of 2021—40 years after Sherwin started the book and 16 since it was published—a friend of Bird’s sent him a curious item in Variety noting that Nolan’s next project would be about Oppenheimer.
Bird and Sherwin had heard nothing about this. “I assumed maybe he was using a different book or just going from the public record,” Bird said.
But Nolan was indeed basing his movie on “American Prometheus,” thanks in part to the tenacity of someone who had never worked in Hollywood. Since 2015, the film rights had been under option by J. David Wargo, a successful New York businessman who studied physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was itching to get the book into production. Various scripts had been commissioned and rejected.
“Then, during the midst of the pandemic, Wargo got frustrated with the project and flew out to L.A. on a rented private plane and went to Hollywood,” Bird explained.
In L.A., Wargo met with the actor James Woods, an old friend, who set up a meeting with Charles Roven, one of Nolan’s longtime producers. Roven handed the book to the director. (Wargo and Woods are both executive producers on “Oppenheimer.”)
As it happened, Nolan had recently completed “Tenet,” a movie that references the atomic bomb, and one of its stars, Robert Pattinson, had given the director a book of Oppenheimer’s speeches as a wrapped gift.