One of the most famous scientists in American history is finally getting a biopic for the
first time. But what's competing for "movie of the summer" with Christopher Nolan's blockbuster epic?
The U.S. government detonated the first atomic bomb in New Mexico’s Jornada del Muerto desert
on July 16, 1945. This event — the Trinity test — changed the world forever. The U.S. soon dropped
two atomic weapons on Japan, ending World War II in the most destructive way possible. It
also sparked a Cold War arms race and created a world run by nuclear superpowers. Many people
contributed to the Manhattan Project, the American effort that led to the Trinity test, but one man
truly bore responsibility for the creation of the atomic bomb — J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Witnessing the first test of history’s deadliest weapon,
Oppenheimer’s mind recalled a scripture from the Bhagavad-Gita:
"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
Since then, this incredibly controversial invention has haunted Oppenheimer’s life
and legacy, and it’s surprising that no one has made a biopic about such a fascinating,
impactful man … until now. Nearly 80 years after atomic bombs changed the course of human history,
filmmaker Christopher Nolan will tell the physicist’s story on the big screen,
in a blockbuster that promises to be one of 2023’s best.
Christopher Nolan's 12th film, his first for Universal,
also promises to be the longest of his career.
Speaking with Variety, "Oppenheimer" actor Matt Damon revealed the biopic runs about
3 hours long, although he assured everyone that it's fast-paced. So
when should we expect to see the film light up the silver screen?
“Oppenheimer” will debut on July 21, 2023, which promises to be a huge day
for cinephiles. In a strange twist of fate — or perhaps a deliberate move — “Oppenheimer”
will compete with one of the most anticipated movies of the year: “Barbie,” which comes from,
Nolan's former partners at Warner Bros. In the battle between Mattel and the Manhattan
Project, will "Oppenheimer" nuke the competition, or will it bomb big time?
Well, as it's a Christopher Nolan movie, we trust that his dedicated fan base will turn out strong
for "Oppenheimer," although we'll be interested to see how this cinematic showdown unfolds.
"Oppenheimer" will be drawing inspiration from a Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "American Prometheus:
The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer" by Kai Bird and Martin
J. Sherwin. In his review of the book for the Guardian, James Buchan wrote,
"Oppenheimer was haunted by Hiroshima and came to believe that the Japanese were already
'essentially defeated.' He despised the science at Los Alamos. [...] Oppenheimer campaigned to
push the atomic genie, if not back into the bottle, at least into international control."
We're assuming that's how the movie will examine Oppenheimer — as a brilliant
scientist filled with regret. Lead actor Cillian Murphy gave
credence to this theory when speaking with the Guardian in February 2022:
"I'm interested in the man and what [inventing the atomic bomb] does to the individual. The mechanics
of it, that's not really for me — I don't have the intellectual capacity to understand them,
but these contradictory characters are fascinating. [...] People identify with
that because we all walk around with these contradictory ideas coexisting in our heads."
With such a complicated person, we can't wait to see how the movie examines Oppenheimer's story,
especially with an actor of Murphy's caliber bringing this historical figure to life.
"Oppenheimer" has one of the most stacked casts of any movie ever. In the title role
is Irish actor Cillian Murphy, who's been a long-time collaborator of Christopher Nolan's.
"Oppenheimer" will also mark a reunion between Murphy and his "Quiet Place Part II" co-star,
Emily Blunt, who will star as the scientist's wife, Kitty Oppenheimer.
"If we don't let scientists bring their families, we'll never get the best."
Next up, we've got Florence Pugh of "Midsommar" and "Black Widow" fame,
playing Communist Party member Jean Tatlock, who has an affair with Oppenheimer. Matt Damon
stars as Leslie Groves, the military figure who served as the director of the Manhattan Project,
while Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr., will reportedly play Lewis Strauss,
a key player when it came to developing nuclear weaponry.
And that's not all. "Uncut Gems" director Benny Safdie will portray the father of the hydrogen
bomb, Edward Teller, while the Oscar-winning Rami Malek will also play a scientist involved with the
Manhattan Project. David Dastmalchian from "The Dark Knight" is reuniting here with Christopher
Nolan, and he'll be joined by the likes of Josh Hartnett, Jack Quaid, and Oscar winner Gary
Oldman. Based on set photos, it even seems like Casey Affleck is going to show up in this thing.
Let's see ... we've also got Alden Ehrenreich,
Matthew Modine, Kenneth Branagh, and more. Clearly, "Oppenheimer"
is shaping up to be Nolan's most stacked film when it comes to raw acting talent.
Christopher Nolan is always pushing the boundaries of his filmmaking further and
further. Needless to say, Nolan isn't slowing down with "Oppenheimer." From a
practical effects perspective, it might be his most ambitious movie to date.
Speaking with Total Film,
the director elaborated a bit on a wild decision he made for the movie, saying,
"I think recreating the Trinity test without the use of computer graphics
was a huge challenge to take on. [...] From representing quantum dynamics and
quantum physics to the Trinity test itself, to recreating, with my team,
Los Alamos up on a mesa in New Mexico [...] there were huge practical challenges."
One of Christopher Nolan's most frequent collaborators is composer Hans Zimmer,
who has scored seven of his feature films,
from "Batman Begins" to "Dunkirk." But for Nolan's 2020 spy thriller "Tenet",
the filmmaker chose Ludwig Göransson to replace Zimmer after he opted to work on "Dune" instead.
As it turned out, Göransson was the right choice, lending his musical
talents to Nolan's action thriller to create melodies that sounded the same whether they
were played forward or backward, highlighting Nolan's time-warping themes. Needless to say,
we're excited about whatever Göransson has cooked up for "Oppenheimer."
Aside from his work with Nolan, Göransson composed the scores
for 2018's "Venom," the first two "Creed" films, and both of Marvel Studios' "Black
Panther" movies. Göransson's work on "The Mandalorian" earned him two Primetime Emmys.
Christopher Nolan held a two-day casting call in Sante Fe and Los Alamos before starting
production on “Oppenheimer” in January 2022. These were the actual sites where
Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project developed the atomic bomb in the 1940s.
Hundreds of hopefuls attended, eager to join Nolan’s latest picture. Production
soon began in New Mexico, filming in Los Alamos locations such as the Historic Fuller Lodge,
Oppenheimer’s home, and other surviving buildings like the women’s dorms and the United Church.
The “Oppenheimer” cast and crew then moved to the East Coast, filming at Princeton's
Institute for Advanced Study, for a brief period in April 2022. They also filmed some scenes on
the West Coast in California, especially at the University of California, Berkeley. By May 2022,
“Oppenheimer” had completed production after four months of rigorous shoots.
"The world will remember this day."
With the usual difficulties of period filmmaking and Nolan’s added vision
of recreating the effects of an atomic bomb practically,
“Oppenheimer” promises to be one of the most ambitious films of 2023.
In 2008's "The Dark Knight," director Christopher Nolan used 70mm IMAX cameras to give his pictures
a distinct look and feel. Though the second installment of his "The Dark Knight Trilogy"
was the first major motion picture to utilize high-resolution IMAX cameras, it wouldn't be
his last. No matter if it's Wally Pfister or Hoyte van Hoytema, who has shot every Nolan picture from
"Interstellar" onwards, behind the camera, the auteur filmmaker has kept his signature
cinematic look. No wonder he has been tasked with helping design the next set of IMAX cameras.
"Oppenheimer" follows Nolan's style, shooting on a combination of IMAX's 65mm and 65mm large-format
cameras. In addition to using multiple IMAX bodies this time around, Nolan's latest feature also
utilized IMAX's first attempt at black-and-white photography. The director told "Total Film,"
"We challenged the people at Kodak and Fotokem to make this work for us. For the first time ever,
we were able to shoot IMAX film in black-and-white. And the results were
thrilling and extraordinary. As soon as Hoyte and I saw the first tests come in,
we just knew that this was a format that we were immediately in love with."
Though writer/director Christopher Nolan reportedly used "American Prometheus" as
the basis for his latest picture, some wonder how accurate "Oppenheimer" will actually be. Of
course, this isn't the first time that Nolan has retold historical events in a dramatic fashion,
particularly those surrounding the Second World War. With his
2017 feature "Dunkirk," Nolan worked hard to stay true to the historical narrative,
including the small details, though even that film strayed from history on more than
one occasion. With "Oppenheimer," our hopes are high that it'll accurately articulate the
events of the Manhattan Project, and the inner turmoil of the man behind the atomic bomb.
The theoretical physicist was a chain smoker who died due to complications regarding throat cancer.
Additionally, the inclusion of Jean Tatlock, a former girlfriend and mistress of Oppenheimer's,
only complicates things further. It makes it all a perfect representation
of the scientist's personal life. Nolan told "Total Film" in December of 2022,
"It's a story of immense scope and scale. And one of the most challenging projects I've ever taken
on in terms of the scale of it, and in terms of encountering the breadth of Oppenheimer's story."
The Manhattan Project was a top-secret project in the United States during World War II which
led to the invention of the atomic bomb. Along with support from the United Kingdom and Canada,
the project ran from 1942 until 1946, just after the end of the war. Officially codenamed
the "Development of Substitute Materials," the project's first headquarters in Manhattan gave
it its famous nickname, which eventually became its official designation. In fact, the Manhattan
Project had access to a dozen different "project sites," including one at Berkeley,
California, and the most famous in Los Alamos, New Mexico, where much of "Oppenheimer" takes place.
Known as "Project Y," the Los Alamos location was home to Robert Oppenheimer.
He held the title of director of the laboratory from 1943 until October 1945,
just months after the bombs were dropped on Japan. This site was home to the "Trinity" test,
where Oppenheimer and his crew tested a bomb nicknamed “The Gadget” – Which was the same
design as the "Fat Man" nuclear warhead that was eventually dropped on Nagasaki. In 1954,
Oppenheimer was stripped of his clearance due to apparent ties to the Communist Party, a "black
mark" he was cleared of nearly 70 years later by U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.
After up-and-coming indie film director Christopher Nolan achieved success with his 2000
picture "Memento," he was thrown into the running to direct Warner Bros.'s next crime thriller,
"Insomnia." Afterward, Nolan fought to prove his worth to the studio, directing “Batman Begins”,
following that up with "The Prestige" and then arguably his most famous film,
"The Dark Knight." From 2002 onward, Nolan formed a recurring partnership with Warner Bros.,
who co-produced and distributed nine of the director's twelve feature films. Even
after Legendary Pictures, another one of Nolan's collaborators, left Warner
Bros. in favor of Universal Pictures, the filmmaker stuck by the studio. That is,
until fundamental disagreements about the film industry changed that.
In 2020, Nolan fought for a theatrical release for his spy thriller "Tenet,"
which he was granted along with a 10th-anniversary re-release of "Inception." This made "Tenet" one
of the only feature films released in theaters during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. So
imagine the filmmaker's surprise when Warner Bros. announced that their 2021 slate would
be released simultaneously to theaters and on their HBO Max streaming service.
"There's such controversy around it, because they didn't tell anyone. It's
not the way to do business, and it's not the best thing for the health of our industry."
By September 2021, Nolan opted to partner with Universal Pictures
in making "Oppenheimer," unceremoniously ending his nearly 20-year partnership with Warner Bros.
Like any good director, Christopher Nolan knows exactly who he wants to work with.
After choosing Universal Pictures over Warner Bros. to produce his upcoming feature, Nolan
recruited frequent collaborator Cillian Murphy to join his cast. After six feature films together,
including all three parts of the famed Dark Knight trilogy, "Inception," and "Dunkirk,"
Nolan finally found the perfect part for Murphy. The actor revealed to "Entertainment Weekly,"
"It was one of the best days of my life. I'll always turn up for Chris,
no matter what the part is, but, secretly, it's a dream to play a lead part."
After 18 years of working together, it's about time. While frequent Nolan collaborators Michael
Caine, Christian Bale, and Tom Hardy are all absent from the cast list of "Oppenheimer," the
director brought back a few other familiar faces, including Gary Oldman, who played Commissioner Jim
Gordon in the three "Batman" features. This time around, Oldman is playing Harry Truman,
the 33rd President of the United States, marking this their fourth collaboration together. Kenneth
Branagh, who starred in Nolan's last World War II epic "Dunkirk," also reunites with Nolan,
as do "The Dark Knight" trilogy actors Tom Conti and David Dastmalchian.
It's no secret that Christopher Nolan has an exceptional filmography. From strong
indie projects and short films to big-budget blockbusters and superhero trilogies, there's a
reason why Nolan is one of the most sought-after filmmakers in the business. With success after
success, both critically and financially, Nolan has yet to direct a dud. While many of Nolan's
pictures feature a fair amount of action, especially movies like the superhero origin
"Batman Begins" or the spy thriller "Tenet," don't expect any high-octane fighting sequences
here. Though "Oppenheimer" is set during World War II, there won't be any battle sequences. Rather,
like "The Prestige," his newest picture is driven by the characters and the world they live in.
This isn't the first time Nolan has highlighted nuclear warfare.
In 2012's "The Dark Knight Rises," Bane threatens Gotham with a nuclear warhead
he's hidden in the city. Once Batman finds the weapon, he successfully flies it across
the city out into the Atlantic Ocean, where it detonates safely over water.
Having previously helmed superhero movies, spy thrillers, sci-fi mind-benders,
and multiple historical dramas, it's anyone's guess as to what
genre Nolan might tackle next. Since 2014's "Interstellar," Nolan has released a new
movie every three years. "Dunkirk" came out in 2017, followed by "Tenet" in 2020,
and now "Oppenheimer" in 2023. While it's not an exact science, previously there were only
two years apart between Nolan's features, his standard from 2006's "The Prestige" to
2012's "The Dark Knight Rises," it's possible that Nolan will release his next film in 2026.
To date, we know nothing about what Nolan's next super-secret project might be, since nothing has
been officially announced. But it's unlikely the filmmaker doesn't have any other ideas brewing.
Back in 2015, it was announced that Nolan's "Memento" was getting the remake treatment,
but there's been no word since. Regardless, Nolan was never officially involved other
than having directed the original. Though he served as an executive producer on "Zack
Snyder's Justice League," Nolan likely won't continue producing DC Comics adaptations either,
especially after breaking up with Warner Bros. But whatever story Nolan decides to undertake next,
we can rest assured that he'll put his own twist on the thrilling tale.