Robert Downey Jr Explains Why Acting In Oppenheimer Was Like ‘Picking Fly S**t Out Of Pepper’

Posted on 17/04/2024 by Boris Clair

Following his Oscar win for his performance in Oppenheimer, Robert Downey Jr. has likened acting in the historical drama to “picking fly s**t out of pepper”.

In an Esquire interview published online last week, Robert explained how filming the US miniseries The Sympathizer helped him “unwind” from the rigour of his work on Christopher Nolan’s 2023 movie.

“I knew that playing Strauss, in Oppenheimer, was going to be like picking fly shit out of pepper—that it was going to be extremely exacting, that it was going to be… not confining, but liberating by its varied implicit limitations of what my usual toolbox is,” he said.

In Oppenheimer, Robert portrays Atomic Energy Commission member Lewis Strauss, the nemesis of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Meanwhile, he plays multiple roles in The Sympathizer, which US broadcaster HBO describes as an “espionage thriller and cross-culture satire” based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

In a W Magazine interview published online in January, the former Marvel actor said that playing Strauss was “counterintuitive for me”.

“I know that we’re all mixtures of what our persona is and who we really are. Nolan was inviting me to turn the mirror onto an unexplored portion of myself,” he said.

“And the character, to me, is everybody who has ever felt slighted by somebody who was more important than them. It gave me a lot of time to reflect. I wondered if I’ve come off like that to people in the past. And I wondered if I were them, if I wouldn’t seek to destroy me.”

The Very Important Reason Why Actors Are Given Red Scripts

Posted on 22/02/2024 by Boris Clair

Ever wondered how some of the world’s biggest movies are successfully kept under wraps until the day they’re screened?

Well, according to Cillian Murphy, the Oppenehimer script he was hand-delivered by director Christopher Nolan himself had a special detail that would stop them from being duplicated.

Why? Because the combo makes the scripts far harder to be illegally photocopied and leaked before a film hits the big screen.

Referencing the script, Cillian noted: “[Nolan’s scripts] are always printed on red paper with black ink, unhelpfully, I guess to prevent against photocopying. But I don’t know who photocopies in 2024.

“He’s always had a tradition of printing on red paper with black ink. And it has my name kind of watermarked on each page, so it’s my fault [if it leaks].”

Interstellar actress Jessica Chastain has also shown off her own red and black script given to her by Nolan for the 2014 sci-fi epic

During his 60 Minutes interview, Cillian also showed off a touching note from Nolan on the cover of his original script which read: “Dearest Cillian, finally a chance to see you lead…”

Before Oppenheimer, Cillian had appeared in supporting roles in five of the British filmmaker’s movies.

Florence Pugh Reveals Why Christopher Nolan Once Apologised To Her About Oppenheimer

Posted on 24/08/2023 by Boris Clair

And while Florence appears in one of the film’s most talked-about scenes, it seems the movie’s director was a little concerned he may have underused the Midsommar actor.

“I didn’t really know what was going on or what it was that was being made, except I knew that Chris really, really wanted me to know that it wasn’t a very big role, and he understands if I don’t want to come near it,” she told MTV UK.

“And I was like, ‘Doesn’t matter. Even if I’m a coffee maker at a café in the back of the room, let’s do it’.”

Florence continued: “I remember he apologised about the size of the role. I was like, ‘Please don’t apologise’.

“And then he said, ‘We’ll send you the script, and honestly, you just read it and decide if it’s like… I completely understand the sizing thing’. And I remember that evening when I got the script being like, ‘I don’t need to… I know I’m going to do it’.”

Oppenheimer is still in UK cinemas now.

The Making Of Oppenheimer: 15 Fascinating Behind-The-Scenes Facts

Posted on 12/08/2023 by Boris Clair

Clocking in at just over three hours, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is his longest and arguably most ambitious film yet.

The biopic sees Cillian Murphy giving a sure to be Oscar-nominated performance as the titular physicist, who is known as the ‘father of the atomic bomb’.

Its not just the lead star who is being tipped for award season glory either, with his cast mates, director Nolan and the film’s sound, special effects and wardrobe teams also likely to make it onto shortlists.

We’re still many months away from the Golden Globes and Oscars nominee announcements but to tide you over, here are 15 behind-the-scenes facts that remind you just how impressive Oppenheimer is…

The Trinity Test recreation was filmed without special effects

Nolan is no stranger to recreating dramatic events on the big screen but in perhaps his most ambitious move yet, the director decided to film the atomic bomb test without using any CGI or visual effects. That means what you see on screen really did take place – although on a smaller scale.

Visual effects supervisor Scott R. Fisher has explained how his team created real ‘miniature’ explosions and filmed those.

He told Total Film: “We don’t call them miniatures; we call them ‘big-atures’. We do them as big as we possibly can, but we do reduce the scale so it’s manageable.

“It’s getting it closer to the camera, and doing it as big as you can in the environment.”

<div class="js-react-hydrator" data-component-name="YouTube" data-component-id="168" data-component-props="{"itemType":"video","index":12,"contentListType":"embed","code":"

","type":"video","meta":{"author":"Universal Pictures","author_url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq0OueAsdxH6b8nyAspwViw","cache_age":86400,"description":"Oppenheimer – In Theaters Friday\n\nWritten and directed by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer is an IMAX®-shot epic thriller that thrusts audiences into the pulse-pounding paradox of the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it. \n \nThe film stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Emily Blunt as his wife, biologist and botanist Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer. Oscar® winner Matt Damon portrays General Leslie Groves Jr., director of the Manhattan Project, and Robert Downey, Jr. plays Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. \n \nAcademy Award® nominee Florence Pugh plays psychiatrist Jean Tatlock, Benny Safdie plays theoretical physicist Edward Teller, Michael Angarano plays Robert Serber and Josh Hartnett plays pioneering American nuclear scientist Ernest Lawrence.\n \nOppenheimer also stars Oscar® winner Rami Malek and reunites Nolan with eight-time Oscar® nominated actor, writer and filmmaker Kenneth Branagh. \n \nThe cast includes Dane DeHaan (Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets), Dylan Arnold (Halloween franchise), David Krumholtz (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story) and Matthew Modine (The Dark Knight Rises). \n \nThe film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin. The film is produced by Emma Thomas, Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan. \n\nOppenheimer is filmed in a combination of IMAX® 65mm and 65mm large-format film photography including, for the first time ever, sections in IMAX® black and white analogue photography. \n\nNolan’s films, including Tenet, Dunkirk, Interstellar, Inception and The Dark Knight trilogy, have earned more than $5 billion at the global box office and have been awarded 11 Oscars and 36 nominations, including two Best Picture nominations. \n\nSocial Handles:\nIG: https://www.instagram.com/oppenheimermovie \nTW: https://www.twitter.com/@oppenheimerfilm \nFB: https://www.facebook.com/OppenheimerMovie \nReddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/OppenheimerMovie/\nTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/oppenheimermovie\nWebsite: https://www.OppenheimerMovie.com \n#Oppenheimer","options":{"_cc_load_policy":{"label":"Closed captions","value":false},"_end":{"label":"End on","placeholder":"ex.: 11, 1m10s","value":""},"_start":{"label":"Start from","placeholder":"ex.: 11, 1m10s","value":""},"click_to_play":{"label":"Hold load & play until clicked","value":false}},"provider_name":"YouTube","thumbnail_height":720,"thumbnail_url":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5ZYD-H4V2M0/maxresdefault.jpg","thumbnail_width":1280,"title":"Oppenheimer | Trinity Test","type":"video","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZYD-H4V2M0","version":"1.0"},"flags":[],"enhancements":{},"fullBleed":false,"options":{"theme":"news","device":"desktop","editionInfo":{"id":"uk","name":"U.K.","link":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk","locale":"en_GB"},"slideshowAd":{"scriptTags":[],"otherHtml":""},"slideshowEndCard":{"scriptTags":[],"otherHtml":""},"isMapi":false,"isAmp":false,"isVideoEntry":false,"isEntry":true,"isMt":false,"entryId":"64d3a184e4b0fa822c0cfd3b","entryPermalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/oppenheimer-facts-behind-the-scenes-christopher-nolan-cillian-murphy_uk_64d3a184e4b0fa822c0cfd3b","entryTagsList":"florence-pugh,christopher-nolan,oppenheimer,emily-blunt,cillian-murphy,matt-damon","sectionSlug":"entertainment","deptSlug":null,"sectionRedirectUrl":null,"subcategories":"","isWide":false,"headerOverride":null,"noVideoAds":false,"disableFloat":false,"isNative":false,"commercialVideo":{"provider":"custom","site_and_category":"uk.entertainment","package":null},"isHighline":false,"vidibleConfigValues":{"cid":"60afc140cf94592c45d7390c","disabledWithMapiEntries":false,"overrides":{"all":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4"},"whitelisted":["56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439","56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529","570278d2e4b070ff77b98217","57027b4be4b070ff77b98d5c","56fe95c4e4b0041c4242016b","570279cfe4b06d08e3629954","5ba9e8821c2e65639162ccf1","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e","5b35266b158f855373e28256","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2","60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","60d0de02b627221e9d819408"],"playlists":{"default":"57bc306888d2ff1a7f6b5579","news":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","politics":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","entertainment":"56c6e7f2e4b0983aa64c60fc","tech":"56c6f70ae4b043c5bdcaebf9","parents":"56cc65c2e4b0239099455b42","lifestyle":"56cc66a9e4b01f81ef94e98c"},"playerUpdates":{"56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439":"60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b":"60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529":"60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced":"60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e":"60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2":"60d0de02b627221e9d819408"}},"connatixConfigValues":{"defaultPlayer":"8b034f64-513c-4987-b16f-42d6008f7feb","clickToPlayPlayer":"5a777b9b-81fe-41a6-8302-59e9953ee8a2","videoPagePlayer":"19654b65-409c-4b38-90db-80cbdea02cf4"},"customAmpComponents":[],"ampAssetsUrl":"https://amp.assets.huffpost.com","videoTraits":null,"positionInUnitCounts":{"buzz_head":{"count":0},"buzz_body":{"count":0},"buzz_bottom":{"count":0}},"positionInSubUnitCounts":{"article_body":{"count":15},"blog_summary":{"count":0},"before_you_go_slideshow":{"count":0}},"connatixCountsHelper":{"count":0},"buzzfeedTracking":{"context_page_id":"64d3a184e4b0fa822c0cfd3b","context_page_type":"buzz","destination":"huffpost","mode":"desktop","page_edition":"en-uk"},"tags":[{"name":"florence pugh","slug":"florence-pugh","links":{"relativeLink":"news/florence-pugh","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/florence-pugh","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/florence-pugh"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/florence-pugh/"},{"name":"Christopher Nolan","slug":"christopher-nolan","links":{"relativeLink":"news/christopher-nolan","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/christopher-nolan","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/christopher-nolan"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/christopher-nolan/"},{"name":"oppenheimer","slug":"oppenheimer","links":{"relativeLink":"news/oppenheimer","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/oppenheimer","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/oppenheimer"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/oppenheimer/"},{"name":"Emily Blunt","slug":"emily-blunt","links":{"relativeLink":"news/emily-blunt","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/emily-blunt","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/emily-blunt"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/emily-blunt/"},{"name":"cillian murphy","slug":"cillian-murphy","links":{"relativeLink":"news/cillian-murphy","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/cillian-murphy","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/cillian-murphy"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/cillian-murphy/"},{"name":"Matt Damon","slug":"matt-damon","links":{"relativeLink":"news/matt-damon","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/matt-damon","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/matt-damon"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/matt-damon/"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline-1\", \"entry_paragraph_1\", false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline\", \"entry_paragraph_2\", false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline-2\", \"entry_paragraph_3\", false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline-infinite\", \"repeating_dynamic_display\", false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n"],"adCount":0},"isCollectionEmbed":false}”>

[embedded content]

In order to create the intense burning created by the successful test run, Scott’s team used gasoline and propane, while aluminium powder and magnesium were added to replicate the blinding white light of a nuclear explosion.

Scott added: “We really wanted everyone to talk about that flash, that brightness. So we tried to replicate that as much as we could.”

The opening Prometheus quote is a nod to Nolan’s source material

Oppenheimer opens with an ominous opening caption, which reads: “Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. For this he was chained to a rock and tortured for eternity.”

The film is based on Kai Bird’s 2005 Oppenheimer biography American Prometheus and explaining the comparison, Kai writes in his book: “Like that rebellious Greek god Prometheus—who stole fire from Zeus and bestowed it upon humankind, Oppenheimer gave us atomic fire.

“But then, when he tried to control it, when he sought to make us aware of its terrible dangers, the powers-that-be, like Zeus, rose up in anger to punish him.”

Cillian Murphy got his role without auditioning

Oppenheimer marks Christopher and Cillian’s sixth film together – following the Batman trilogy, Inception and Dunkirk – and given their close relationship, the Irish actor no longer needs to audition for roles.

During an interview with Radio 2, Cillian recalled the moment when he received a casual call from Nolan, who explained he had the perfect lead role for him.

“If you’re lucky you get one or two of those [calls] in your career, you know?” he said. “It was the best, best feeling. It was kind of euphoric, and then you go ‘oh that’s a lot of work’. So I immediately just started working.

“I had like six months before, between when he called me and we started the shoot. The script was solid and was there. It was one of the greatest scripts I’ve ever read. It was magnificent.”

The cast lived together during filming

Oppenheimer sees America’s greatest scientific minds living together at the Los Alamos facility in New Mexico and for the movie, Nolan also moved his cast and crew into digs together.

Emily Blunt likened the situation to ‘summer camp’ and told People: “We were all in the same hotel in the middle of the New Mexican desert. We only had each other.”

But Cillian skipped their group hangouts

Emily Blunt and Matt Damon at the Oppenheimer premiere

Longterm pals Emily and Matt Damon organised group dinners for the cast during filming – but the former’s on-screen husband RSVP’d with a firm no.

Mary Poppins actor Emily added to People: “The sheer volume of what he had to take on and shoulder is so monumental.

“Of course he didn’t want to come and have dinner with us.”

Cillian added: “You know that when you have those big roles, that responsibility, you feel it’s kind of overwhelming.”

Another contributing factor was the Irish star’s strict diet, as he lost weight to play the scientist, who in real-life subsisted on cigarettes, martinis and not so much food.

“He was losing so much weight for the part that he just didn’t eat dinner, ever,” Matt told Entertainment Tonight.

The hard to hear dialogue is (sort of) intentional

While Oppenheimer is very much deserving of its five-star reviews, cinema-goers have complained about one thing: the sound levels.

Posting on social media after seeing the movie, numerous fans noted that some of the speech sounds muffled and exchanges on-screen can sometimes be difficult to fully hear.

This is down to the fact the IMAX cameras used by Nolan aren’t soundproofed.

Most directors would work around this by getting actors to re-record dialogue in post-production to make it clearer, but this is something he isn’t a fan of.

“I like to use the performance that was given in the moment rather than the actor re-voice it later,” Nolan told Insider. “Which is an artistic choice that some people disagree with, and that’s their right.”

The script was written in first person

In another unusual move, Nolan wrote the script in first person in order to reflect how most of the film is being told from Oppenheimer’s perspective and using his memories.

Matt Damon told Vulture: “I’ve never seen that done before. Instead of ‘Oppenheimer walks across the room,’ it’s ‘I walk across the room.’ This was a way for him to signal that, Okay, this is what the movie’s going to feel like. It’s going to feel immediate.”

Kodak had to manufacture a new type of film especially for Oppenheimer

Film purist Nolan filmed the biopic on large format cameras with IMAX 70mm film, but there was one small problem.

Oppenheimer features two timelines with one in colour and another in black-and-white. Unfortunately, black and white IMAX 70mm film didn’t exist so cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema put in a call to Kodak.

He told Variety: “They came out with test rolls for us to run through our camera. We had to re-engineer our cameras a little bit, and we had to remake our pressure plates and our backend lab work needed to be readjusted.”

“I do remember when Chris and I were sitting in the cinema and watching the results of our first black and white test and it was just freaking amazing. We had never seen anything like it.”

Cillian had no physics knowledge – but one co-star was well-prepared

The Inception star has admitted that he doesn’t “have the intellectual capacity to understand quantum mechanics” but the same can’t be said for Benny Safdie, who plays Edward Teller.

Prior to becoming an actor, Benny was a budding scientist and studied nuclear physics in high school.

“I was working with a physicist at Columbia University,” he told Vulture. “I was doing cosmic rays. It is a deep passion of mine.”

And another actor previously starred in another Oppenheimer-inspired project

Christopher Denham, who plays Klaus Fuchs, appeared in the 2014 series Manhattan, which took its name from the project developing the atomic weapons.

We won’t spoil the TV drama but Christopher’s Manhattan character, the entirely fictional Jim Meeks, has parallels to his Oppenheimer alter-ego.

There are no deleted scenes and there’ll never be a director’s cut

Nolan’s love of IMAX cameras and 70mm film makes movie-making incredibly expensive, so he makes sure every single second of his movies is mapped out before yelling ‘action’.

Cillian told Collider: “There’s no deleted scenes in Chris Nolan movies. That’s why there are no DVD extras on his movies because the script is the movie. He knows exactly what’s going to end up – he’s not fiddling around with it trying to change the story. That is the movie.”

Oppenheimer features Nolan’s first ever sex scenes

Despite having directed 11 feature films before starting work on his latest, Nolan had never directed intimate scenes before.

Oppenheimer features sex scenes with the titular scientist and Jean Tatlock, a member of the communist party who was his lover before and during his marriage (played by Florence Pugh).

Florence Pugh and Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer

Justifying the intimate moments, Nolan told Insider they are “essential” to understanding Oppenheimer’s life as a whole.

“His very intense relationship with Jean Tatlock […] is one of the most important things in his life,” he said. “But not least for the fact that Jean Tatlock was very explicitly a Communist and his obsession with her therefore had enormous ramifications for his later life and his ultimate fate.

“It felt very important to understand their relationship and to really see inside it and understand what made it tick without being coy or allusive about it, but to try to be intimate, to try and be in there with him and fully understand the relationship that was so important to him.”

Florence Pugh’s topless scene is very different in some cinemas around the globe

The intimate scenes between Oppenheimer and his lover earned the film its R rating, but some cinema-goers noticed an odd addition to one scene.

In countries including India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, digital censoring has been used to cover Florence’s body with a CGI black dress.

Nolan had been thinking about Oppenheimer since he was a teenager

The director grew up in England in the 1980s when the scientist was “a part of pop culture then, without us knowing a lot about him.”

He told Bulletin: “I think I first encountered Oppenheimer in that relation; I think he was referred to in Sting’s song about the Russians that came out then and talks about Oppenheimer’s ‘deadly toys.’

“It was the peak of CND, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the Greenham Common [protest]; the threat of nuclear war was when I was 12, 13, 14 – it was the biggest fear we all had,” he added.

And there’s even an Oppenheimer reference in Tenet

In the same interview, Nolan recalls learning of how the Los Alamos scientists were told there was a chance the atomic bomb could destroy the world.

He explained: “That struck me as the most dramatic situation in the history of the world, with any sort of possibility being an end to life on Earth. That’s a responsibility that nobody else in the history of the world had ever faced.

“I put a reference to that in my last film, Tenet; there’s dialogue, a reference to that exact situation by Oppenheimer. That film deals with a science-fiction extrapolation of that notion: Can you put the toothpaste back in the tube? The danger of knowledge, once knowledge is unveiled—once it’s known, once it’s fact—you can’t wind the clock back and put that away.”

Oppenheimer Stars Leave London Premiere As Part Of Strike By Hollywood Performers

Posted on 13/07/2023 by Boris Clair

Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan told the audience at the film’s London premiere Thursday night that stars of the film had left the premiere to “write their picket signs” as part of their involvement with the Screen Actors Guild strike.

In a video shared by Deadline, Nolan made the comments shortly before the strike was officially announced.

The BBC confirmed that actors Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy were among those who walked out.

Earlier, Blunt told Deadline at the premiere’s red carpet that they were prepared to walk off.

“I think right now we are just sort of … I hope everyone makes a fair deal, and we are here to celebrate this movie. And if they call it, we’ll be leaving together as a cast in unity with everyone … We are gonna have to. We are gonna have to. We will see what happens. Right now, it’s the joy to be together,” she said.

They are among some 160,000 performers joining the picket line after negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers fell apart Thursday. SAG members have been seeking new terms on minimum pay, residuals for shows on streaming services, pensions and the use of artificial intelligence, among several other issues.

“The companies have refused to meaningfully engage on some topics and on others completely stonewalled us,” Fran Drescher, SAG-AFTRA president and iconic star of the ’90s sitcom The Nanny, said in a statement. “Until they do negotiate in good faith, we cannot begin to reach a deal.”

This is the first SAG strike since 2000 and the first time in about 60 years that both the actors’ union and the Writers Guild of America members have been on strike at the same time. The latter has been picketing for more than two months.

Oppenheimer Is One Of The Most Anticipated Films Of The Year – Here’s What You Need To Know

Posted on 02/07/2023 by Boris Clair

Oppenheimer, the hotly anticipated Christopher Nolan film starring Cillian Murphy, is due to hit cinemas in just a few weeks.

The big-budget biographical thriller follows Robert J. Oppenheimer, who is known as ‘the father of the atomic bomb’ due to his work with on the Manhattan Project in developing the first nuclear weapons during World War II.

With an all-star cast, which includes Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr, and Florence Pugh, the blockbuster will no doubt have people rushing to the cinemas.

Got questions about the upcoming movie? Here’s everything you need to know.

Is Oppenheimer based on a true story?

Oppenheimer tells the story of the theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who helped develop the world’s first nuclear weapons.

Julius Robert Oppenheimer, pictured in c1946

The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 2005 biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.

Oppenheimer was heavily involved in The Manhattan Project, a research and development undertaking during World War II.

From 1942 to 1946, he was the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory that designed the bombs under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

At its peak, nearly 130,000 people were involved in the project, which at the time cost nearly $2billion, the equivalent of $24billion in 2021.

As a result of his work, Oppenheimer is a key figure within the narrative of atomic bomb ethics and political nuclear power.

Oppenheimer, who was a chain smoker, was diagnosed with throat cancer in late 1965.

On February 15, 1967, he fell into a coma and died at his home in Princeton, New Jersey on three days later at the age of 62.

Who is in the cast of Oppenheimer?

All the biggest names in Hollywood appear to have been cast in Oppenheimer.

While Cillian Murphy plays the titular role, Emily Blunt takes on the role of his on-screen wife, Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer.

Robert Downey Jr plays American businessman Lewis Strauss, Matt Damon is Liutenenant General Leslie Groves, and Florence Pugh stars as American psychiatrist Jean Tatlock.

The line-up also includes Kenneth Branagh, Rami Malek, Josh Peck, Gary Oldman, Casey Affleck, and Jack Quaid, as well as Matthias Schweighöfer, Christopher Denham, David Rysdahl, Guy Burnet, Harrison Gibertson, Emma Dumont, Gustaf Skarsgård, Trond Fausa Aurvåg, and Olli Haaskivi.

Benny Safdie, Michael Angarano, Josh Hartnett, Dane DeHann, Dylan Arnold, David Krumholtz, Alden Ehrenreich, Matthew Modine, David Dastmalchian, Jason Clarke, Devon Bostick, Alex Wolff, Tony Goldwynn, Scott Grimes, James D’Arcy, Olivia Thirlby, and Louise Lombard complete the cast.

What has been said about Oppenheimer already?

First reviews of the film are still under embargo, with the press tour also set to get underway shortly. However, details about the film have already started trickling out.

“Some people leave the movie absolutely devastated,” Nolan said about early screenings in an interview with Wired.

“They can’t speak. I mean, there’s an element of fear that’s there in the history and there in the underpinnings. But the love of the characters, the love of the relationships, is as strong as I’ve ever done.”

The director added: “It is an intense experience because it’s an intense story. I showed it to a filmmaker recently who said it’s kind of a horror movie. I don’t disagree.”

When is the release date for Oppenheimer?

Oppenheimer is scheduled to be released in cinemas on Friday 21 July – the same date as Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.

In addition to standard cinemas, Oppenheimer will be also available to watch at Imax cinemas.

The film is Christopher’s longest to date, clocking in with a run time of three hours.

Is there a trailer for Oppenheimer?

<div class="js-react-hydrator" data-component-name="YouTube" data-component-id="8636" data-component-props="{"itemType":"video","index":39,"contentListType":"embed","code":"

","type":"video","meta":{"author":"Universal Pictures","author_url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq0OueAsdxH6b8nyAspwViw","cache_age":86400,"description":"Oppenheimer – Only In Theaters 7 21 23\n\nWritten and directed by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer is an IMAX®-shot epic thriller that thrusts audiences into the pulse-pounding paradox of the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it. \n \nThe film stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Emily Blunt as his wife, biologist and botanist Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer. Oscar® winner Matt Damon portrays General Leslie Groves Jr., director of the Manhattan Project, and Robert Downey, Jr. plays Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. \n \nAcademy Award® nominee Florence Pugh plays psychiatrist Jean Tatlock, Benny Safdie plays theoretical physicist Edward Teller, Michael Angarano plays Robert Serber and Josh Hartnett plays pioneering American nuclear scientist Ernest Lawrence.\n \nOppenheimer also stars Oscar® winner Rami Malek and reunites Nolan with eight-time Oscar® nominated actor, writer and filmmaker Kenneth Branagh. \n \nThe cast includes Dane DeHaan (Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets), Dylan Arnold (Halloween franchise), David Krumholtz (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story) and Matthew Modine (The Dark Knight Rises). \n \nThe film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin. The film is produced by Emma Thomas, Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan. \n\nOppenheimer is filmed in a combination of IMAX® 65mm and 65mm large-format film photography including, for the first time ever, sections in IMAX® black and white analogue photography. \n\nNolan’s films, including Tenet, Dunkirk, Interstellar, Inception and The Dark Knight trilogy, have earned more than $5 billion at the global box office and have been awarded 11 Oscars and 36 nominations, including two Best Picture nominations. \n\nSocial Handles:\nIG: https://www.instagram.com/oppenheimermovie \nTW: https://www.twitter.com/@oppenheimerfilm \nFB: https://www.facebook.com/OppenheimerMovie \nReddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/OppenheimerMovie/\nTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/oppenheimermovie\nWebsite: https://www.OppenheimerMovie.com \n#Oppenheimer","options":{"_cc_load_policy":{"label":"Closed captions","value":false},"_end":{"label":"End on","placeholder":"ex.: 11, 1m10s","value":""},"_start":{"label":"Start from","placeholder":"ex.: 11, 1m10s","value":""},"click_to_play":{"label":"Hold load & play until clicked","value":false}},"provider_name":"YouTube","thumbnail_height":720,"thumbnail_url":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bK6ldnjE3Y0/maxresdefault.jpg","thumbnail_width":1280,"title":"Oppenheimer | Official Trailer","type":"video","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK6ldnjE3Y0","version":"1.0"},"flags":[],"enhancements":{},"fullBleed":false,"options":{"theme":"news","device":"desktop","editionInfo":{"id":"uk","name":"U.K.","link":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk","locale":"en_GB"},"slideshowAd":{"scriptTags":[],"otherHtml":""},"slideshowEndCard":{"scriptTags":[],"otherHtml":""},"isMapi":false,"isAmp":false,"isVideoEntry":false,"isEntry":true,"isMt":false,"entryId":"649da303e4b0dcb22c43b668","entryPermalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/oppenheimer-release-date-movie-true-story_uk_649da303e4b0dcb22c43b668","entryTagsList":"ukfilm,christopher-nolan,cillian-murphy,oppenheimer","sectionSlug":"entertainment","deptSlug":null,"sectionRedirectUrl":null,"subcategories":"","isWide":false,"headerOverride":null,"noVideoAds":false,"disableFloat":false,"isNative":false,"commercialVideo":{"provider":"custom","site_and_category":"uk.entertainment","package":null},"isHighline":false,"vidibleConfigValues":{"cid":"60afc140cf94592c45d7390c","disabledWithMapiEntries":false,"overrides":{"all":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4"},"whitelisted":["56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439","56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529","570278d2e4b070ff77b98217","57027b4be4b070ff77b98d5c","56fe95c4e4b0041c4242016b","570279cfe4b06d08e3629954","5ba9e8821c2e65639162ccf1","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e","5b35266b158f855373e28256","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2","60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","60d0de02b627221e9d819408"],"playlists":{"default":"57bc306888d2ff1a7f6b5579","news":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","politics":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","entertainment":"56c6e7f2e4b0983aa64c60fc","tech":"56c6f70ae4b043c5bdcaebf9","parents":"56cc65c2e4b0239099455b42","lifestyle":"56cc66a9e4b01f81ef94e98c"},"playerUpdates":{"56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439":"60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b":"60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529":"60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced":"60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e":"60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2":"60d0de02b627221e9d819408"}},"connatixConfigValues":{"defaultPlayer":"8b034f64-513c-4987-b16f-42d6008f7feb","clickToPlayPlayer":"5a777b9b-81fe-41a6-8302-59e9953ee8a2","videoPagePlayer":"19654b65-409c-4b38-90db-80cbdea02cf4"},"customAmpComponents":[],"ampAssetsUrl":"https://amp.assets.huffpost.com","videoTraits":null,"positionInUnitCounts":{"buzz_head":{"count":0},"buzz_body":{"count":0},"buzz_bottom":{"count":0}},"positionInSubUnitCounts":{"article_body":{"count":8},"blog_summary":{"count":0},"before_you_go_slideshow":{"count":0}},"connatixCountsHelper":{"count":0},"buzzfeedTracking":{"context_page_id":"649da303e4b0dcb22c43b668","context_page_type":"buzz","destination":"huffpost","mode":"desktop","page_edition":"en-uk"},"tags":[{"name":"ukfilm","slug":"ukfilm","links":{"relativeLink":"news/ukfilm","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/ukfilm","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/ukfilm"},"section":{"title":"Entertainment","slug":"entertainment"},"topic":{"title":"Film","slug":"ukfilm","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/ukfilm/"},{"name":"Christopher Nolan","slug":"christopher-nolan","links":{"relativeLink":"news/christopher-nolan","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/christopher-nolan","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/christopher-nolan"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/christopher-nolan/"},{"name":"cillian murphy","slug":"cillian-murphy","links":{"relativeLink":"news/cillian-murphy","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/cillian-murphy","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/cillian-murphy"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/cillian-murphy/"},{"name":"oppenheimer","slug":"oppenheimer","links":{"relativeLink":"news/oppenheimer","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/oppenheimer","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/oppenheimer"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/oppenheimer/"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["