Christopher Nolan has never been one to take an easy or straightforward path when making a movie.
He shoots on large-format film with large, cumbersome cameras to achieve the best possible cinematic image. He prefers practical effects to computer-generated ones. He also prefers real locations to studios. Even when that means recreating an atomic explosion in the harsh winds of the New Mexico desert in the middle of the night for "Oppenheimer," which opens July 21.
Despite Internet rumors, they did not detonate a real nuclear weapon, reports the AP agency. Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin's riveting linear narrative in “American Prometheus” served as the starting point for Nolan to craft a beguiling maze of suspense and drama.
Which is why, in his two decades of working in Hollywood, Nolan has become a franchise unto himself. On the one hand as the rare screenwriter and, on the other, as the director of auteur films. His intellectually stimulating and commercial films account for more than $5.000 billion in box office receipts.
That combination is part of the reason it's able to attract Oscar winners and movie stars. Not only as main actors, but also in other cases to participate in a scene or two.
“We've all been so intoxicated by his movies,” said Emily Blunt, who plays Kitty, the wife of J. Robert Oppenheimer. “That exploration of big themes in an entertaining way does not happen. It just doesn't happen. That depth, the depth of the material, and yet on this massive epic scale.”
Inspiration
In the vast and complex history of the brilliant physicist who oversaw the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb during World War II, Nolan saw exciting possibilities. Above all to play with gender and form. He was in the race to develop it before the Germans, espionage, romance, domestic turmoil, courtroom drama, bruised egos, political machinations, communist panic, and the charge of having created something that could destroy the world.
And then there was the man himself, loved by most, but hated by many. The one who, after achieving iconic status in American society, saw his reputation and sense of identity wiped out by the very institutions that built him.
“It's a very ambitious story to tell,” said Matt Damon, who plays General Leslie Groves Jr. “When I read the script, I had the same feeling I had when I read 'Interstellar,' which was: 'This is great. How the hell is he going to do this?'”
It's also not that disconnected from Nolan's other movies. As critic Tom Shone noted in his book on the director, "Looked at one way, Nolan's films are all allegories of men who first find their salvation in the structure only to find themselves betrayed or engulfed by it."
Nolan turned to Cillian Murphy to take on the mammoth task of playing Oppenheimer. Murphy had already starred in five Nolan films, including the Batman trilogy, “Dunkirk” (“Dunkirk”) and “Inception” (“The Origin”). But this would be her first time as a lead, something she had secretly pined for.
“You feel a responsibility, but then a great hunger and excitement to try to do it, to see where you can go,” Murphy said. For this, the actor prepared extensively for six months before filming, working closely with Nolan at all times. “It was a lot of work, but I loved it. There's this kind of chill, this energy when you're on a Chris Nolan set about the potential of what you're going to achieve."
The challenge
It would be an all-consuming role that would require some physical transformation to approximate that famously slim silhouette. A complex and contradictory figure, Oppenheimer emerged from a somewhat uncomfortable youth to become a Renaissance man. A being who seemed to have the same passion for the sacred Hindu text Bhagavad Gita, Proust, physics, languages, New Mexico, philosophical questions about disarmament and the perfectly mixed martini. But Murphy knew that he was in good hands with Nolan.
“He is the most natural director I have ever worked with. And the grades that he gives an actor, they are quite outstanding. The way he can gently take you to a different place with your performance is quite amazing in such a subtle and understated way,” Murphy said. "It can have a profound effect on the way you look at a scene from one take to the next."
Nolan wrote the film's main timeline in the first person. He did it to represent Oppenheimer's subjective experience.
“We want to see everything through Oppenheimer's point of view,” Nolan said. "That's a big challenge for an actor because he has to worry about the performance, the truth of the performance, but also make sure that it's always open to the audience."
In black and white
The other timeline, filmed in black and white, is more objective and focuses on Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.), a founding member of the Atomic Energy Commission and supporter of the development of the most destructive hydrogen bomb.
“Oppenheimer” is Nolan's first R-rated film (those under 17 can only see it with a parent or guardian) since 2002's “Insomnia.” It suits the gravity of the material.
“We are dealing with the most serious and adult story you can imagine. Very important and dramatic events that changed the world and defined the one we live in today," Nolan said. "You don't want to give in in any way."
Much of the filming took place in New Mexico. Including the actual Los Alamos laboratory, where thousands of scientists, technicians and their families lived and worked for two years in the effort to develop the bomb. Nolan recruited many of his frequent collaborators behind the scenes, including his wife and producer Emma Thomas. He also cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema, composer Ludwig Göransson, and special effects supervisors Scott Fisher and Andrew Jackson. Production designer Ruth de Jong and costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, meanwhile, made their debut with the filmmaker to help bring this world to life.
“It was a very focused set, a fun set too, not too serious. But the work was serious, the detail sweat was serious,” Blunt said. "Everyone needs to match Chris's excellence, or wants to."
When it came to recreating the Trinity test, Oppenheimer's chosen name for the first nuclear detonation, art and life blended viscerally.
“We wanted to put the audience there in that bunker,” Nolan said. "That meant really trying to make these things as beautiful and scary and inspiring as they would have been for people at the time."
Although no real nuclear weapons were used, they staged many real explosions to approximate the blindingly bright atomic fire and mushroom cloud.
“To do that safely in a real night desert environment, there is a degree of discipline, focus and adrenaline. It was executed for the film that echoes and reflects what these guys went through on the larger scale in a really interesting way,” Nolan said. “I felt like everyone had this very, very tight feeling of tension and focus on all those nights of shooting.”
The weather also “did what it had to do, according to the story,” Murphy said, as the wind picked up and whipped around the set.
“It is rumored that I am very lucky with the weather and it is not the case. It's just that we decided to shoot regardless of the weather," Nolan said. “In the case of the Trinity test, it was essential, fundamental to the story, that this great storm is coming with tremendous drama. And he did. That really brought the sequence to life."
He added: “The extreme of it put me very much in the mindset of what it must have been like for these guys. It really felt like we were outside."
In the cinema
Then, of course, there is the experience of watching "Oppenheimer."
“When you're making a movie, I feel like you're on the inside looking out,” Blunt said. "It's really overwhelming to see it reflected, especially one of this magnitude... I felt like my shell was going to break, it was so intense."
The hope is that when "Oppenheimer" is released, audiences will be as invested and looking for it on the biggest screen possible.
As more and more authors have had to mediate, either to go for smaller-scale releases or partner with streaming services to get the kind of budget that studios once might have had, such as Ridley Scott and Martin Scorsese have had to do this year, Nolan continues to make his movies on a grand scale.
“Each of his films have been revolutionary in their own way,” Murphy said. "It's an event every time a movie comes out, and rightly so."
