Just over a year after its initial release, Oppenheimer is yet again in the news, but this time for a much more surprising reason than its record box office numbers or Oscars win.

While his name was listed amongst the masses in the final credits of the film, the average moviegoer is probably unaware that actor James Woods had his hands in the project — and as a producer, nonetheless.

Woods’ low profile on the movie was no accident, though. It was actually part of a much bigger, long-term strategy to help the film’s success, according to the actor himself.

Woods, an outspoken conservative and Donald Trump supporter, recently chatted with Megyn Kelly on her SiriusXM podcast about what went down.

Woods was in on the film project from the ground level. On the podcast, he recalled that he, along with David Wargo, brought producer Chuck Roven the book American Prometheus. He also said he asked him to call his friend, director Christopher Nolan, to get involved. Woods said they had been trying to get the project off the ground for five years.

As the film neared closer to its release, Woods said that a member of staff, whom he would not name, gently suggested that the executive producer keep a low profile, due to his historically far-right social media following.

“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 on the podcast. “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, to get Oscars because it does help with the financial reward and historical archive in which it will rest forever. I don’t want to deprive those people.”

Woods claimed that he even missed out on many events due to trying to keep his participation somewhat under wraps.

“I don’t want some nutcase to come out of the woodwork and fabricate some ridiculous story about me, I’ve had a million of them and they’re all lies,” Woods said. “I don’t want that to happen and have the clickbait story be, ‘James Woods is the executive producer of Oppenheimer, we’re not going to watch that movie!’ So I stepped back and basically took one for the team. You wouldn’t even know — I was not even invited to the Producers Guild of America awards. I’m a producer on the picture! And I was not invited to go to the Producers Guild of America awards. Which was fine.”

Woods posted on X after the episode, “I want to thank Megyn Kelly for inviting me on her show. In an environment where corporate media outlets have become hand servants for the loony left, it’s refreshing to talk with a strong, focused, well-informed American journalist of the highest caliber @megynkelly.”

Kelly responded, “Loved every minute James – you made us laugh, cheer & hold our hearts. What a treasure you are.”