Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer focuses on J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the American atomic bomb. And, besides Cillian Murphy in the lead role, the cast includes Casey Affleck, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Rami Malek and Florence Pugh.
Matt Damon and Cillian Murphy
PHOTO PROVIDED BY UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Here are five production secrets from the film.
Robert Pattinson…
Whether Oppenheimer was born, it is thanks to Robert Pattinson. In fact, the actor tenet gave Christopher Nolan a collection of Oppenheimer speeches as a post-shoot gift as a nod to the science fiction feature film’s reference to the scientist. Christopher Nolan dove into the book with passion and described the goal he set for himself with Oppenheimer“I wanted to take viewers inside the brain and the life of the person at the center of the greatest historical upheaval. Like it or not, J. Robert Oppenheimer is the most important person who ever lived. He created the world we live in…for better and for worse. And his story has to be seen to be believed.”
PHOTO PROVIDED BY UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Batman
“I met Chris 20 years ago and at the time I was already fan of his work because I had seen Memento And Insomnia“, detailed Cillian Murphy. He retains an unforgettable memory of this meeting since he passed the auditions for Batman – The Beginning to try to land the role of… Batman. Eventually, the filmmaker cast him for Scarecrow. “When Christopher Nolan asks you something, whatever the importance of the role, we accept. I never expected him to call me and offer me the role of Oppenheimer, but he did. When I hung up, I sat still, completely stunned. I felt so lucky. Then we got to work.”
Cillian Murphy and director Christopher Nolan on set.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Rebuild
The top-secret nuclear bomb development project, the Manhattan Project, had established its headquarters in Los Alamos, a city in New Mexico. Christopher Nolan considered putting his IMAX cameras in the locality since several buildings of the time have been preserved. Unfortunately, the presence of newer structures – including a Starbucks – would have forced the post-production teams to erase them during editing, which would have increased the budget by $100 million. The set designers therefore built the exteriors at Ghost Ranch in the same state, while the interiors were shot in Los Alamos. Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt, who plays his wife, therefore filmed scenes in the former Oppenheimer house.
Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY UNIVERSAL PICTURES
No to the army
Christopher Nolan got permission to shoot at White Sands, the location of the first nuclear test codenamed Oppenheimer Trinity. But as the place remains an active military base to this day, the production should have cut off all contact with the outside world and stopped filming about eight hours a day, which was not possible. The filmmaker therefore decided to build his own version of Trinity in Belen, New Mexico.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY UNIVERSAL PICTURES
No computer generated image
From the start of production, Christopher Nolan and Hoyte van Hoytema, his cinematographer, let Scott Fisher and Andrew Jackson, the special effects supervisors, know that there would be no computer-generated images. The two men then undertook a series of tests to recreate the nuclear explosion and its characteristic mushroom in IMAX format. They tried to throw paint against a wall, crush ping-pong balls, etc., and the method used by the special effects supervisors remains a secret!
Oppenheimer hits screens across the province on July 21.