James Woods told Megyn Kelly on Thursday that he “took one for the team” on Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer by mostly keeping his executive producer credit quiet due to concerns over his pro-Donald Trump Twitter account.

Woods joined Kelly on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Show on Thursday for his first interview in years. His acting career has mostly been on ice in recent years and many today know Woods more for his four million Twitter following where he is unapologetically in support of the former president.

During the chat, Woods dove more into his role on Oppenheimer, a connection many likely don’t know about because Woods mostly kept quiet while the movie was breaking box office records and racking up award nominations in 2023. Woods did attend the Oscars, revealing his executive producer role on the movie. Oppenheimer ended up winning Best Picture.

Woods recounted a story he’d told before about being dropped by his agent on the Fourth of July over his support of Trump. Woods claimed his agent said at the time that he was feeling “patriotic.” The actor’s last live action performance was in 2017, with some sporadic voice work since then.

Woods told Kelly he needed to embrace his “second act” after political leanings in Hollywood began impacting his career. What Woods did was buy the rights to American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. The book tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the development and construction of the atomic bomb. Woods and his producing partner approached producer Charles Roven about getting Christopher Nolan to adapt the book and everything was sealed with a handshake.

When it came time for awards voting though, Woods was “gently asked” to keep his comeback on the down low.

“When Oppenheimer came out, there was a discussion about my Twitter, and it was gently suggested that I basically remain invisible, which was painful — 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,” Woods recalled.

He said he ultimately decided it was best to remain quiet as producer to better promote others involved.

“I don’t want to deprive those people. I don’t want to have some nutcase come out of the woodwork, fabricate some ridiculous story about me — I’ve had a million of them said, they’re all lies — 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,” he said, adding, “That environment is not the one my father shed blood for.”

Among the events Woods ended up not being invited was the Producers Guild Awards.

Woods blasted modern Hollywood as politically biased against conservatives like himself, something he expressed shock over, naming outspoken liberals like Whoopi Goldberg and Rob Reiner as friends. He said he’s next trying to produce a film for longtime friend and collaborator Oliver Stone.

“I just don’t know why there’s this vicious underlying cancer that has destroyed our business,” Woods said.

Check out the entire Woods interview on The Megyn Kelly Show.

The post James Woods Tells Megyn Kelly He Was Asked To Keep Oppenheimer Producer Credit Quiet Over Pro-Trump Twitter Account first appeared on Mediaite.

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