Whatever criticism you can throw at modern Hollywood, about the lack of originality, the over-reliance on special effects, the same over-reliance (only more annoying) on visual stimuli over an actual narrative – none of that applies to Chris Nolan’s films. Oppenheimer will be no different.
By critics and fans alike, Chris Nolan is considered a true and perhaps one of the last film auteurs. He is very old-school in his approach to filmmaking, which means that he will always choose practical effects over CGI (computer-generated images), even at those times when the latter would be, well, more practical. Oppenheimer sounds like one of those cases.
Oppenheimer is the upcoming historical biopic of the “father of the atomic bomb,” Robert Oppenheimer. Starring longtime Nolan collaborator Cillian Murphy as the titular character, the film will make ample use of Nolan-standard themes like the subjective experience of reality and time, but it will essentially retell that historic moment when Oppenheimer became “the man who moved the earth,” by creating the atomic bomb that would hasten the end of WWII.
The Trinity Test from the Manhattan Project, which preceded the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima by a month, will be shown in the film. The Trinity Test was the first atomic detonation, taking place in New Mexico in July 1945, and Nolan says he was able to shoot that scene by virtually recreating an atomic explosion. Little, if anything of what will be shown onscreen will be computer-generated, he says, which made this film his most challenging project to date. That feels like the understatement of the century.
“I think recreating the Trinity test without the use of computer graphics was a huge challenge to take on,” Nolan tells Total Film in an interview running in this month’s edition. “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.”
Nolan has grabbed headlines before for very expensive and challenging practical effects in his movies, particularly the Boeing 747 crash in TENET and the plane hijacking scene in The Dark Knight Rises. But this, a replica of the atomic detonation, is by far his most daring and perhaps most dangerous.
Oppenheimer will be out on July 21, 2023, so it will be part of the summer blockbuster programming. Universal Pictures has only released the teaser below for it as of the time of press, but with this interview, perhaps an actual trailer will come, offering a better appreciation of Nolan’s take on one of the most significant and violent moments in mankind’s history.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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