Christopher Nolan Says OPPENHEIMER Is "One of the Most Challenging Projects" He's Ever Taken On
Christopher Nolan has made some super ambitious films over the course of his career some of which tell these epic, crazy, and mind-bending stories. His next film is Oppenheimer, which tells the story of the creation of the atomic bomb, and in a recent interview, he said that it’s the most challenging film project that he’s worked on.
The story centers on J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), the scientist who ran the Manhattan Project that led to the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II. The film has been described as an “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.”
While talking with Total Film, the filmmaker talked about the movie and how he wanted to do the visual effects practically, with no CGI, and the challenges of that:
"I think recreating the Trinity test [the first nuclear weapon detonation, in New Mexico] without the use of computer graphics, was a huge challenge to take on. Andrew Jackson – my visual effects supervisor, I got him on board early on – was looking at how we could do a lot of the visual elements of the film practically, 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 in extraordinary weather, a lot of which was needed for the film, in terms of the very harsh conditions out there – there were huge practical challenges."
He then went on to talk about the scope of the film and why is was so challenging for him:
"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. There were big, logistical challenges, big practical challenges. But I had an extraordinary crew, and they really stepped up. It will be a while before we’re finished. But certainly as I watch the results come in, and as I’m putting the film together, I’m thrilled with what my team has been able to achieve.”
Nolan also discussed the story and telling that story through the eyes of Oppenheimer:
"We’re trying to tell the story of somebody’s life, and their journey through personal history and larger-scale history, and so the subjectivity of the story is everything to me. We want to view these events through Oppenheimer’s eyes. And that was the challenge for Cillian that I set him, to take us on this journey; that was the challenge for Hoyte van Hoytema, my designer, my whole team: how do we view this extraordinary story through the eyes of the person who was at the heart of it? All of our decisions on how to make this film were based on that real premise."
Well, I can’t wait to see how this movie turns out! I love Nolan’s filmmaking and storytelling storyle and I have no doubt that this is going to end up being an incredible film. Oppenheimer opens in cinemas on July 21, 2023. You can watch the first trailer that was released for it here.