Christopher Nolan‘s “Oppenheimer” finally hits theaters today, his first film since 2020’s “Tenet,” which saw an awkward theatrical release thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. No such worries for this movie, though, as it’s part of Hollywood’s meme-worthy one-two punch at the box-office with Greta Gerwig‘s “Barbie.” And while “Barbie” will surely win the box-office battle between the two films this weekend, “Oppenheimer” has the lead right now in critical consensus, sitting at a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes against a 90% for Gerwig’s latest. That ties Nolan’s 94% rating for 2008’s “The Dark Knight” as his most well-received film of his career.
That comes as no surprise to “Oppenheimer” star Cillian Murphy, who couldn’t think more highly of Nolan’s new film. “I think it’s the best script I ever read,” Murphy told Rolling Stone about the picture. And Murphy knew the film would be a tour de force after he received the script and realized it was written entirely in the first person from Oppenheimer’s point of view. “He wanted it to be solely from Oppenheimer’s perspective,” continued Murphy. “And I think the film is sensational. As a person who loves films — I’m not saying it ’cos I’m in the fucking thing, I hate looking at myself — but as a lover of film, as a cinephile, I’m a Chris Nolan fan.”
“Oppenheimer” is the first time Murphy serves as leading man for Nolan. And playing the nuclear physicist is a dream come true for the actor, considering how complicated a character he is. Nolan thought Murphy would be perfect for the role for several reasons. “His ability to project power applies in a completely different way to a character like Oppenheimer, because Oppenheimer is this extraordinary strategic brain,” Nolan told RS. “There are all these levels of intention that are going on with the actions he’s taking, and he’s surrounded by people. So, the audience becomes members of this community who are hanging on to his every word, studying his every gesture, to try and understand it.”
And despite being three hours long, Murphy dropped an unbelievable nugget about the production of “Oppenheimer” on the WTF podcast: Nolan shot the entire film in less than two months. “We made the movie unbelievably quickly. We made it in 57 days,” the actor revealed. “The pace of that was insane.” Variety has some context there. It took Nolan 68 days to shoot 2017’s war movie “Dunkirk,” and 96 days to shoot “Tenet.” But Murphy wasn’t surprised by how expedited the shoot was on “Oppenheimer.” He knows from experience that Nolan shoots quickly and efficiently. “The sets are huge, but it feels like being on an independent movie,” Murphy added about working with Nolan, which he has been doing for over 20 years now. “There’s just Chris and the cameraman — one camera always, unless there’s some huge, huge set piece — and the boom op and that’s it. There’s no video village, there’s no monitors, nothing. He’s a very analog filmmaker.”
But that’s not to say shooting “Oppenheimer” wasn’t intense for Murphy. The actor told Deadline that sometimes shoots when for 18 hours a day, and Murphy couldn’t eat a great deal on set because he needed to remain in character, i.e.: skinny. “But, you know, it affects you completely,” Murphy said about shooting the film. “If you do anything intensely for 17, 18 hours a day like we were working on “Oppenheimer” – it was an incredibly fast shoot, it was like 57 days we shot the whole thing – if you do anything that intensely for that length of time a day, it’s gonna affect you. And then also I had to get really skinny for it so I wasn’t really eating, so you get to this very sort of hysterically lucid state of mind, but it’s an amazing feeling – you feel completely immersed in it and completely focused in it.”
It’s not as if Murphy didn’t enjoy making the film, though. He’s used to how Nolan works at this point. “Chris moves at a really fast pace, there’s no one standing around kind of shooting the shit or talking,” the actor continued. “When you come on the set at 7 and you wrap at whatever time, it’s constant work – there’s no waiting around cause Chris knows exactly what he wants and he moves at an incredibly fast pace so he expects everyone else to move at that pace, but you feel wonderfully exhausted at the end of it.”
And now Murphy and Nolan get to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Given the film’s initial critical acclaim, don’t be surprised if “Oppenheimer” gets Nolan Best Picture nominations during awards season this winter. And as for Murphy? As far as this writer is concerned, right now the Best Actor Oscar is his to lose. “Oppenheimer” is in theaters everywhere now.
