Christopher Nolan returns to cinemas this summer. But instead of an elaborate science fiction story, this time he tells a true story. In Oppenheimer, the invention of the atomic bomb is described with enormously elaborate effects. At the CinemaCon film fair in Las Vegas, Nolan explained, why he chose this film hero of all things for his 12th feature film.
For Nolan, Oppenheimer has impacted our world like no other
As the title suggests, Christopher Nolan’s new film deals with J. Robert Oppenheimer, who, as leader of the Manhattan Project, was a leader in the invention of the atomic bomb. Watching a horde of scientists discuss nuclear reactions in Los Alamos sounds less spectacular than, say, Nolan’s other period film Dunkirk. For the filmmaker, though, there is “no more dramatic story with more at stake”, Variety quotes him as saying . He explains Oppenheimer’s importance with undisguised superlatives:
If you want or not, J. Robert Oppenheimer is the most important person who ever lived.
How does Nolan justify this statement? According to him, Oppenheimer has shaped the world we live in, for better or for worse. According to the British director, his story has to be seen to be believed. His story is both a “Dream as well as a Nightmare”.
That’s what Nolan’s new film Oppenheimer is about
J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) is a theoretical physicist and, like his biologist wife Kitty (Emily Blunt), a scientist through and through. In the course of the Manhattan Project, as director of the Los Alamos Laboratory, he develops an unprecedented and dangerous weapon: the atomic bomb.
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Men like General Leslie Groves J. (Matt Damon) and Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.) of the US Atomic Energy Commission look over his shoulder. But does Oppenheimer risk destroying the earth with his invention, or does he deliver his work the other way around to save the world from itself?
Nolan’s biopic is said to cover around 45 years in the life of the influential scientist. That means, in addition to his work in the Manhattan project, the film should also show what impression the Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 on the scientist. Several hundred thousand people died as a result of the operation. The “father of the atomic bomb” then spoke out against the development of the hydrogen bomb, was monitored by the FBI and was suspected of being a spy for the Soviet Union.
When is Oppenheimer coming to the cinema?
Oppenheimer starts in German cinemas on July 20th. The cast also includes Florence Pugh, Oscar winner Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett and even Matthias Schweighöfer, who plays German physicist Werner Heisenberg. Hoyte Van Hoytema, who has worked with Nolan since the science fiction film Interstellar, is once again on board as cinematographer.