Christopher Nolan Says There Are No CGI Shots in OPPENHEIMER
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer looks like an incredible movie and one of the things I’m most curious about is how Nolan and his creative team are going to bring the nuclear blast of the Atomic Bomb to life. The filmmaker previously talked about the movie and how he wanted to do the visual effects practically, with no CGI, and now he’s confirming that there’s no CGI in the movie.
During a recent interview with Collider, he said there is "zero" use of CGI in the historical biopic. That’s pretty damn impressive. CGI is used for everything these days, and I can’t wait to see how exactly he pulls this off. I also hope that we get a behind-the-scenes look at the process of bringing the nuclear blast to life.
I should note that there will be VFX used in the movie and digital software can be used to edit and manipulate live-action footage. But there will be no CGI. When talking about the challenges of that Nolan previously explained:
"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.”
There’s a lot of hype building for this movie and a lot of people are excited about it. I have no doubt that Nolan is going to deliver another epic film.
The film is described as “the pulse-pounding paradox of the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it.” The film stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist who ran the Manhattan Project that led to the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II. He is joined by Emily Blunt as his wife, biologist and botanist Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer, Matt Damon as General Leslie Groves Jr., director of the Manhattan Project, and Robert Downey, Jr. as Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.
The movie also stars Florence Pugh as psychiatrist Jean Tatlock, Benny Safdie plays theoretical physicist Edward Teller, Michael Angarano plays Robert Serber, Josh Hartnett plays pioneering American nuclear scientist Ernest Lawrence, along with Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh, Dane DeHaan, Dylan Arnold, David Krumholtz, Alden Ehrenreich, and Matthew Modine.
The 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. Oppenheimer 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.
Oppenheimer opens in theaters on July 21, 2023.