Tag: Oppenheimer

Making Sense of Life – On the Philosophy of ‘Barbie’ & ‘Oppenheimer’ | FirstShowing.net

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Making Sense of Life – On the Philosophy of ‘Barbie’ & ‘Oppenheimer’

by Alex Billington
July 24, 2023

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes.” –Proust. Two of the best movies of 2023 are now playing in theaters worldwide: Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. Yep – they’re both outstanding movies deserving of all the praise, both ambitious and unique and creative, both made by exceptionally talented filmmakers who understand the terrific power of visual storytelling. They may differ in many ways, especially in tone, but they’re actually quite similar in many other ways. I am in awe and delighted that we have two of the most philosophical movies I’ve seen in years, both big budget studio projects, both intellectually stimulating, showing on big screens and drawing big crowds. This is an invigorating moment for cinema that we should relish. What I appreciate the most is how much each film relies on intellectual storytelling, with no desire to pander to audiences or be accessible to everyone. There is so much to discuss about each, and I want to dig into the philosophy present in both films. To borrow a quote on Twitter: “It’s not Barbie and Oppenheimer. It’s Barbie, and it’s Oppenheimer.”

I’m elated these films are damn good and especially so smart. I’ve watched both Barbie and Oppenheimer twice already; the second viewing is so much more fascinating, as I can observe in closer detail everything these filmmakers are doing and how this works wonderfully in the movie. Intellectual filmmaking is rather uncommon these days and yet we have two big movies pushing boundaries again. Nolan’s Oppenheimer isn’t just a story about the man who led the team that created the atomic bomb, it’s about the moral implications and existential struggles that come with that. It’s about how hard it is to handle the guilt and sadness that comes with knowing your creation killed so many people, then lead into a world perpetually fearful of death. Gerwig’s Barbie, on the other hand, also deals with existential worries. What happens when you go out into the “real world” and learn that who you are, and the world you come from, are not actually representative of the real world. It was just a utopian fantasy, and the real world is much more sexist and greedy and careless. Both films ask similar profound philosophical questions: what does it mean to be you, how do you make sense of your life, specifically in relation to how your life has impacted the world – in both good & bad ways.

Watching Oppenheimer is like watching a horror movie (though critics are arguing about whether it’s horror or something else) – at some point we realize this well-respected, optimistic scientist is going to encounter some of the darkest darkness ever when confronted with the horror of what he built – even with the context of stopping the other great darkness threatening the world at the time. There are scenes in the second half that play like a psychological thriller, with visions of the dead appearing, the room shaking violently, bright light taking over. Nolan has artfully visualized this remarkably hard-to-describe feeling of dread and guilt and death. Oppenheimer is a biopic, it’s not about what the bomb did, because he wants to tell the story of this man and put us in his shoes. There are questions posed about whether he’s really a bad guy, because all he wanted to do was save the world. There’s also questions about – once you’ve created this deadly gadget, what next. How do you respond, how do you handle it, how do you move on, how do you even live? Everyone knows Oppenheimer’s famous quotes borrowed from the Bhagavad Gita, and the film shows us that he dealt with frighteningly existential dilemmas: is he death? Is he now the destroyer of worlds? What has he done?

One of the best analysis I’ve read is an examination of ending of Oppenheimer written by my colleague Bilge Ebiri for Vulture. In his analysis, he connects the opening shots and ending shots of the film and goes on to explain how it is a clever visual metaphor for Oppie’s obsession with a scientific understanding of the world. Ebiri points out how the ripples that he sees in the pond mirror the circles being drawn on maps at the end of the film, measuring the size of nuclear explosions atop cities in Russia (and elsewhere). The film’s editor, Jennifer Lame, explains: “Science to him is beauty and art and poetry. It just makes the movie so much more devastating at the end.” After going on this three hours journey with Oppie, he realizes his fascination with science and knowledge about the universe we all exist in has crossed over into the “real world” with devastating consequences. Perhaps he doesn’t realize it yet, at that point, but humanity is forever changed. He is responsible, in theory, but we can’t blame him (alone) nor can we blame his fascination with science. There are, of course, other conversations on the inevitability of atomic weapons – if it wasn’t Oppenheimer, someone else would’ve figured out how to use fission for a bomb. His article ends with a potent realization:

“Nolan’s closing images do serve as a warning and a portent of doom, and they are enormously moving as such. But they’re also one final glimpse into this character, revealing that in his mind at least, he has destroyed the world: He has destroyed his world, his very conception of reality. Where once he saw the astonishing connections that lay at the heart of all matter and even human relations, now he sees only horror and fire, of the destructive power that lies beneath the shape of all things.” Via Vulture

It’s an intricately complex film that asks – is one man truly, solely responsible for what he makes if others misuse our creations in nefarious ways, especially when it is simply unlocking the scientific secrets of our universe? Oppenheimer hits hard with this profound, overwhelming realization. It’s a grand examination of a life – that’s also an examination of humanity, of our real world, of men and war and the power they crave.

Barbie & Oppenheimer

Barbie actually digs much deeper into the philosophy of meaning and existence than Oppenheimer (strange, but true). It borrows from the Pinocchio story of a perfect, plastic woman who enters the real world and discovers what it means to be a “real” woman. Not just a perfect Barbie. One of the most beautiful scenes is when she first has a moment to herself in the real world: she’s sitting on the bench and suddenly breathes and takes in the world around her. She looks at the trees and sky, and notices both happiness and sadness, and the anger and depression and joy all around her. She sees kids playing, a couple arguing, happy and sad people and realizes this is the grand, magical complexity of life. It is everything all at once. It’s a visceral and visually stunning moment of existential clarity. Later on she literally meets her creator, and must confront the very idea of what it means to be Barbie and if she is free to be herself and live in this “real world” in the way she wants to live. She doesn’t even know what that is exactly, she’s on the road to figuring that out. All of this is played against the eye-opening, Plato’s cave experience of stepping out of Barbie Land for the first time and realizing the world isn’t this idealistic, glossy, pink reality. This is as close as movie can get to The Matrix narrative of “free your mind” and, as she does, escape into the real world for a “voyage of discovery”.

They even mention Proust Barbie at one point. (And there’s talk of philosophy books on Oppie’s shelves in one scene as well.) Barbie’s ultimate thesis is this question of who she is, how does she navigate and exist in the world, how her experiences and her understanding of the world changes who she is as a person. Ruth Handler, the original Mattel creator of the Barbie Doll, explains to her that the idea of Barbie is also more important that the actual perfect definition of or image of Barbie, that is what truly matters. It’s almost a direct reference to V for Vendetta, and V’s empowering speech that “beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof” – ideas can go beyond a person, ideas live beyond an individual person, or an individual Barbie. This is something profound she must contend with as well… Has the “idea” of Barbie she embodies become toxic, more harmful to the world than helpful? How can she free herself from that, confront the patriarchy, and re-establish an idea that truly represents how empowering she feels. It’s weird that an expensive Barbie movie made by Mattel dares to dip into this kind of philosophical discussion, but that’s part of the genius of this movie. It’s what makes these two Hollywood movies invigorating, so exciting, because they both dare to be intellectually provocative when so few contemporary Hollywood movies are…

It’s no coincidence that both films feature their main characters having mental breakdowns, trying to figure out who they are and what their place is in a world. The parallels are fascinating, in that they’re so different yet so similar in their exploration of existence and meaning and how one person (or even one idea) can have have a great impact on humanity and on our “real world”. Did Barbie change the world for the worse? Is she actually a harmful representation of toxic feminism? Did Oppenheimer change for the world for the worse? Is he actually a harmful representation of dangerous science? Thankfully both filmmakers are talented and intelligent enough to not provide one clear, definitive answer to these kind of questions – both movies are an exploration of ideas; conversation-starters, thought-provoking works of art. Barbie, even though it is pink and glossy and bright and fun, is also examining the same darker sides of the world as Oppenheimer. “Is one woman truly, solely responsible for what she [causes] if others misuse our creations in nefarious ways…?” Funny enough, referencing what I wrote earlier about Oppenheimer, Barbie is also “a grand examination of a life – that’s also an examination of humanity, of our real world, of men and war and the power they crave.”

As a lover of philosophy, of big ideas and big thinking, and of cinema that can make wonder about all these big ideas, I am delighted that these two movies are so profound and stirring and successful. The cliche idea of what “going to the movies” means has been getting louder & louder in these past few years: “shut off your brain and just enjoy it,” they love to say. However, real cinema, real intelligent storytelling, is about turning on your brain. It has the power to make you think, even make you re-examine your life, your choices, your identity. And maybe, just maybe, it may make you question who you are. Once again, there’s a perfect Proust quote for this: “If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less, but to dream more, to dream all the time.” A rejuvenating reminder that movies can do this. One of my favorite lines in Barbie is near the end when she’s talking with Ruth. She explains, maybe the things that you think make you you, are not actually the things that make you you. We all need to stop & think about this, process this conundrum, to truly understand ourselves and understand what makes us us, what defines humanity. We need to decide whether we truly want to make the world a better place, or if we all just want more power and/or perfection.

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Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ records biggest opening weekend ever for a female director

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‘Barbenheimer’ didn’t just work – it spun box office gold. The social media-fueled fusion of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer brought moviegoers back to the theaters in record numbers this weekend, vastly outperforming projections and giving a glimmer of hope to the lagging exhibition business, amid the sobering backdrop of strikes.

Warner Bros.’ Barbie claimed the top spot with a massive $155 million in ticket sales from North American theaters from 4,243 locations, surpassing The Super Mario Bros. Movie (as well as every Marvel movie this year) as the biggest opening of the year and breaking the first weekend record for a film directed by a woman (outshining Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman).

Universal’s Oppenheimer also soared past expectations, taking in $80.5 million from 3,610 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, marking Nolan’s biggest non-Batman debut and one of the best-ever starts for an R-rated biographical drama.

It’s also the first time that one movie opened to more than $100 million and another movie opened to more than $80 million in the same weekend. When all is settled, it will likely turn out to be the fourth biggest box office weekend of all time with over $300 million industry-wide. And all this in a marketplace that increasingly curved towards intellectual property-driven winner takes all.

The ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon may have started out as good-natured competition between two aesthetic opposites, but, as many hoped, both movies benefitted in the end. Internationally, Barbie earned $182 million from 69 territories, fueling a $337 million global weekend. Oppenheimer did $93.7 million from 78 territories, ranking above Barbie in India, for a $174.2 million global total.

The only real casualty was Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I, which despite strong reviews and a healthy opening weekend fell 64% in weekend two. Overshadowed by the ‘Barbenheimer’ glow as well as the blow of losing its IMAX screens to Oppenheimer, the Tom Cruise vehicle added $19.5 million, bringing its domestic total to $118.8 million.

Barbenheimer is not merely counterprogramming either. But while a certain section of enthusiastic moviegoers overlapped, in aggregate the audiences were distinct.

Women drove the historic Barbie opening, making up 65% of the audience, according to PostTrak, and 40% of ticket buyers were under the age of 25 for the PG-13 rated movie.

“It’s just a joyous time in the world. This is history in so many ways,” said Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros.’ president of domestic distribution. “I think this marketing campaign is one for the ages that people will be talking about forever.”

Oppenheimer audiences meanwhile were 62% male and 63% over the age of 25, with a somewhat surprising 32% that were between the ages of 18 and 24.

Both Barbie and Oppenheimer scored well with critics with 90% and 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, respectively, and audiences who gave both films an A CinemaScore. And social media has been awash with reactions and “takes” all weekend – good, bad, problematic and everywhere in between – the kind of organic, event cinema, watercooler debate that no marketing budget can buy.

“The ‘Barbenheimer’ thing was a real boost for both movies,” Goldstein said. “It is a crowning achievement for all of us.”

Oppenheimer had the vast majority (80%) of premium large format screens at its disposal. Some 25 theaters in North America boasted IMAX 70mm screenings ( Nolan’s preferred format ), most of which were completely sold out all weekend — accounting for 2% of the total gross. Theaters even scrambled to add more to accommodate the demand including 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. screenings, which also sold out.

“Nolan’s films are truly cinematic events,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution.

IMAX showings alone made up 26% of the domestic gross (or $21.1 million) from only 411 screens and 20% of the global gross, and “Oppenheimer” will have at least a three-week run on those high-demand screens.

“This is a phenomenon beyond compare,” said Rich Gelfond, the CEO of IMAX, in a statement. “Around the world, we’ve seen sellouts at 4:00 a.m. shows and people travelling hours across borders to see ‘Oppenheimer’ in IMAX 70mm.”

This is the comeback weekend Hollywood has been dreaming of since the pandemic. There have been big openings and successes – Spider-Man: No Way Home, Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water among them, but the fact that two movies are succeeding at the same time is notable.

“It was a truly historic weekend and continues the positive box office momentum of 2023,” said Michael O’Leary, President & CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners. “People recognized that something special was happening and they wanted to be a part of it.”

And yet in the background looms disaster as Hollywood studios continue to squabble with striking actors and writers over a fair contract.

Barbie and Oppenheimer were the last films on the 2023 calendar to get a massive, global press tour. Both went right up to the 11th hour, squeezing in every last moment with their movie stars. Oppenheimer even pushed up its London premiere by an hour, knowing that Emily Blunt, Matt Damon and Cillian Murphy would have to leave to symbolically join the picket lines by the time the movie began.

Without movie stars to promote their films, studios have started pushing some falls releases, including the high-profile Zendaya tennis drama Challengers.

But for now, it’s simply a positive story that could even continue for weeks to come.

“There could be a sequel next weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “The FOMO factor will rachet up because of this monumental box office event centered around the movie theater experience.”

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. Barbie, $155 million.

2. Oppenheimer, $80.5 million.

3. Sound of Freedom, $20.1 million.

4. Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part I, $19.5 million.

5. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, $6.7 million.

6. Insidious: The Red Door, $6.5 million.

7. Elemental, $5.8 million.

8. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, $2.8 million.

9. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, 1.1 million.

10. No Hard Feelings, $1.1 million.

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Review: Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ is a Harrowing Tale of One Man’s Life | FirstShowing.net

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Review: Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ is a Harrowing Tale of One Man’s Life

by Manuel São Bento
July 20, 2023

Christopher Nolan is undoubtedly one of the most influential filmmakers of this century. His movies are regularly featured in articles about the best films of each year, of each decade, and even some of the best in the history of cinema. For me personally, he’s a director whose name alone gets me into the theater every time. Nolan brought narrative complexity to blockbusters, transforming them into impactful stories that left viewers profoundly thinking about what they saw and what happened. The writer / director made audiences all around the world look at the theater experience as something more than an excuse to stuff themselves with popcorn. And he does it once again with Oppenheimer, his 12th feature film since Following in 1998.

Nolan’s last two movies, Dunkirk (2017) and Tenet (2020), were criticized – by a minority, admittedly – for being too confusing and difficult to follow. The first for its three distinct storylines occurring in the sky, the sea, and on the ground. The second for the visuals induced by the sci-fi premise of time going backwards. For these viewers, I don’t think Oppenheimer is going to be any simpler or easier to follow. It’s a narrative totally driven by extremely fast, intricate, scientific dialogue – tons of exposition about quantum physics & mechanics – and with rare moments of analogy explanations to help viewers grasp the most basic ideas.

Three heavy hours spent with dozens of characters each with a significant impact on the main plot or in the protagonist’s arc, as well as different timelines, several meetings and interrogations, sections in color and in black-and-white… all at a pace, sometimes, so brisk that any tiny external distraction can suddenly cost the comprehension of motivations, ambitions, location changes, character names and, mainly, awareness of time and space. Oppenheimer really justifies the use of the expression “it’s not for everyone.” That said…

Oppenheimer is, technically, another masterwork that all film lovers should see in the biggest IMAX screen possible. A phenomenal lesson in how to assemble an incredibly immersive blockbuster with less than half the budget of all others. Nolan has always been known for his insistence on practical effects and shooting on film, something that shows tremendously in DP Hoyte van Hoytema’s crystal-clear images and stunning cinematography. From the mesmerizing close-ups to the shifts between color and black-and-white, it’s one of the most visually fascinating biopics I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching.

Nevertheless, the technical standout must go to the sound production. Both the overall sound design and composer Ludwig Göransson’s score transform Oppenheimer into more than just a movie. In the first few seconds, I could feel the ground shaking, my body vibrating, and my heart pounding. It’s such a potent experience and so rarely felt in a theater that I’m afraid sensitive viewers may feel uncomfortable during some of the more…explosive…moments. It was one of the aspects that helped me maintain my focus on the story at hand and the respective character interactions. It’s an extra layer that contributes exceptionally to the tension and suspense of each scene in an already remarkably atmospheric film.

Nolan’s Oppenheimer movie is divided into three acts quite clearly. The first follows scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer’s (Cillian Murphy) early career up until the moment he becomes director of the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico, where the Manhattan Project was orchestrated. During this period, the audience meets many scientists, colleagues and professors, who accompanied the growth of Oppenheimer as a theoretical physicist, as well as the women who were part of his life. Everyone – I repeat, everyone – has an essential impact on his life, whether by helping to set the path that led Oppenheimer to Los Alamos, building the first atomic bomb, or dealing with the traumatic aftermath.

It’s in this first hour, more or less, that Oppenheimer presents exactly the type of movie it will be. A quasi-documentary that doesn’t waste time with irrelevant information or random conversations. Viewers can complain about the lack of interest or entertainment, but all the scenes have a purpose, so the 180-minute runtime is earned even if we feel its weight. The speed with which characters are introduced and with which, almost immediately, Oppenheimer advances in his career through new studies in different locations with other scientists and associates, is admittedly hard to follow initially.

Watching this movie requires a certain adjustment not only with regards to the frantic pace of the scenes themselves but also regarding the fact that a post-bomb narrative is running simultaneously. As we follow Oppenheimer’s scientific career, we also track the various “trials” about the makings of the “Father of the Atomic Bomb” and the people who surrounded him over the years. Contrary to what many might think, the switch between color and black-and-white isn’t necessarily related to time, rather to perspective: the former is subjective and almost always seen through the eyes of the protagonist, while the second is an objective, analytical lens examining the events that occurred.

The second act goes through the study of and development of the atomic bomb, culminating in the seminal Trinity Test. This sequence is a masterclass in how to build extreme tension and suspense. In a very clever and exponentially more powerful manner, Nolan reminds the audience that sound waves reaching the nearby observers aren’t instantaneous. An explosion at a certain distance implies that its sound only gets to us a few seconds later. Oppenheimer’s climactic moment of truth makes viewers hold their breath during a countdown loaded with intense levels of tension… and continue to hold for a few more seconds, which will make the calmest person in the room quite uneasy.

It’s one of the year’s most unforgettable sequences and it’s brilliantly executed… but beware of unrealistic expectations. The constant talk surrounding the practical recreation of the atomic bomb without special effects generated much anticipation for a moment that should be important for its meaning, not its potential spectacle. Oppenheimer is a superb audio-visual experience, undoubtedly, but those who actually expect to *see* an atomic bomb detonating on the big screen in all its splendor and terrifying grandeur, without any optical obstructions or camera deviations, will inevitably end up disappointed.

The Trinity Test is definitely Oppenheimer’s climactic peak, but the third act is surprisingly as captivating, if not more than the rest of the movie. Nolan chooses to address the personal, political, military, and human consequences of the scientific discovery that changed, forever, how the “new world” looks at war. The moral dilemmas that haunt Oppenheimer for most of the runtime jump – quite literally – to reality and the movie truly becomes a terrifying horror story with sequences so harrowing, disturbing, and scary that it won’t be easy to fall asleep the night after watching this.

Oppenheimer Review

The final few minutes answer questions that had remained ambiguous before in a shocking manner, and Oppenheimer’s deep character study is extended even further. Nolan explores to the fullest all the smallest details of his life and demonstrates, often through glimpses of the protagonist’s imagination, everything that Oppenheimer thinks about his actions, as well as all the people who, in some way, impacted his life. This brings me to one of the reasons, if not the main reason why the film works so damn well: the cast.

There are no words to describe how crucial the contributions of all the actors involved are to the audience’s involvement in the narrative. Oppenheimer treats his characters like the real human beings they were, and the fact that A-listers, Oscar-winning actors show up for just a couple of minutes in a single scene with few lines is a testament to the movie’s strive for authenticity and believably. Countless actors deserve endless praise, but I prefer to focus on the main ones, starting with Murphy.

In addition to an accurately scrawny physical resemblance to the real Oppenheimer, the Irish actor represents the scientist’s moral and ethical complexity with what is probably his career-best performance – a reminder that this is only his second leading role. For example, the chaos caused by the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is never explicitly seen. Nolan chooses to point the camera to the actor’s face when witnessing photos of the horror experienced in Japan in August of 1945.

Murphy manages to capture Oppenheimer’s mixed emotions perfectly. On one hand, he was responsible for one of the most groundbreaking scientific discoveries in human history. On the other hand, he absolutely feels guilty for the death of thousands of innocent people in a war that, supposedly, was already over. His obsession is analyzed in excruciating detail by Nolan, and the dilemmas that marked his life also passed on to the intimate affairs with his wife Kitty (Emily Blunt) and with Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh).

Oppenheimer’s events took place during a time when women lacked the respect, rights, and positions of power that, over time, have thankfully changed. Thus, Blunt and Pugh not only have limited screen time but often come across as vulnerable, dependent female characters. Kitty has an incredibly satisfying moment near the conclusion of the movie, but overall, both serve more to emphasize the dichotomy present in the main character’s arc. Pugh is also shown nude in most of her scenes, taking part in some of the weirdest sequences in Nolan’s filmography to date.

Right at the same level as Murphy is Robert Downey Jr. appearing in the black-and-white scenes. After more than a decade of playing a superhero, it’s refreshingly and genuinely fascinating to watch the actor take on the role of Lewis Strauss, a philanthropist who ultimately becomes the story’s antagonist. Despite acknowledging we’re talking about a biopic based on real events and with real people, I still prefer to avoid spoilers for viewers who aren’t aware of the full account – and let’s be honest, the vast majority of today’s audience probably don’t even recognize the name.

That said, RDJ is absolutely fantastic and, like Murphy and Blunt, is unlikely to miss any awards ceremony. Matt Damon plays General Leslie Groves, the military man responsible for the Manhattan Project and recruiting Oppenheimer. The movie possesses rare moments of humor, virtually all of which come from Damon’s performance, through sarcastic comments or ironic attitudes. Oppenheimer is packed with some of the most famous actors alive, so I don’t really need to go around in circles. The bottom line is that everyone is brilliant in their own way in their allocated time.

Aside from occasional problems with Oppenheimer’s unrelenting pacing, as well as its non-linear narrative structure, there isn’t much to pick on in such a well-crafted, well-written blockbuster. Jennifer Lame’s editing is inherently linked to these less positive aspects, but it also contributes greatly to the engaging, intriguing development of the narrative over three hours. A lack of general knowledge about world history, as well as that of the United States of America and its decision making during the WWII era, can bring some complications for those who wish to follow the story without any misunderstandings.

A final note for the outstanding makeup work. At a time when the use of artificial intelligence and de-aging technology is endlessly debated, Oppenheimer demonstrates that digital effects will never be able to beat the incomparable realism of practical effects and cinematic elements. The visualization of the characters is one of the most critical factors in distinguishing the various timelines. I also didn’t notice the sound mixing issue that many complain about in Nolan flicks, but I admit that the fact that subtitles are always available (in the country where I’m watching movies) affects my perception of whether the dialogue is really being drowned out by the background sound or if it’s just my non-native inability to understand everything that is said in the English language anyway.

Final Thoughts

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is a true masterclass in how to build extreme tension & suspense through fast, detailed dialogue, an insanely powerful sound production, and an equally explosive score from Ludwig Göransson. Words cannot fully describe Hoyte van Hoytema’s gorgeous cinematography. It is a harrowing, disturbing, genuinely frightening story about how one man’s compulsion and political power changed the world. Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., and Emily Blunt shouldn’t miss any awards ceremonies… they’re absolutely superb, as are the rest of the exceptional actors involved in the movie. Pacing, structure, and runtime, in addition to its quasi-documentary style and its narrative complexity, make this a difficult, heavy watch that will, for sure, leave some viewers disappointed, bored, or simply tired. Ultimately, Oppenheimer justifies the use of the expression “not for everyone”.

Manuel’s Rating: A-
Follow Manuel on Twitter – @msbreviews / Or Letterboxd – @msbreviews

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‘Oppenheimer’ stirs up conflicted history for Los Alamos and New Mexico downwinders

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The movie about a man who changed the course of the world’s history by shepherding the development of the first atomic bomb is expected to be a blockbuster, dramatic and full of suspense.

On the sidelines will be a community downwind from the testing site in the southern New Mexico desert, the impacts of which the U.S. government never has fully acknowledged. The movie on the life of scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and the top-secret work of the Manhattan Project sheds no light on those residents’ pain.

“They’ll never reflect on the fact that New Mexicans gave their lives. They did the dirtiest of jobs. They invaded our lives and our lands and then they left,” Tina Cordova, a cancer survivor and founder of a group of New Mexico downwinders, said of the scientists and military officials who established a secret city in Los Alamos during the 1940s and tested their work at the Trinity Site some 200 miles (322 kilometers) away.

Cordova’s group, the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, has been working with the Union of Concerned Scientists and others for years to bring attention to what the Manhattan Project did to people in New Mexico.

While film critics celebrate Oppenheimer and officials in Los Alamos prepare for the spotlight to be on their town, downwinders remain frustrated with the U.S. government — and now movie producers — for not recognizing their plight.

Advocates held vigils Saturday on the 78th anniversary of the Trinity Test in New Mexico and in New York City, where director Christopher Nolan and others participated in a panel discussion following a special screening of the film.

Nolan has called the Trinity Test an extraordinary moment in human history.

“I wanted to take the audience into that room and be there for when that button is pushed and really fully bring the audience to this moment in time,” he said in a clip being used by Universal Studios to promote the film.

The movie is based on Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s Pulitzer Prize-winning American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Nolan has said Oppenheimer’s story is both a dream and a nightmare.

Lilly Adams, a senior outreach coordinator with the Union of Concerned Scientists, participated in the New York City vigil and said it was meant to show support for New Mexicans who have been affected.

“The human cost of Oppenheimer’s Trinity Test, and all nuclear weapons activities, is a crucial part of the conversation around U.S. nuclear legacy,” she told The Associated Press in an email. “We have to reckon with this human cost to fully understand Oppenheimer’s legacy and the harm caused by nuclear weapons.”

In developing and testing nuclear weapons, Adams said the U.S. government effectively “poisoned its own people, many of whom are still waiting for recognition and justice.”

Adams and others have said they hope that those involved in making Oppenheimer help raise awareness about the downwinders, who have not been added to the list of those covered by the federal government’s compensation program for people exposed to radiation.

Government officials chose the Trinity Test Site because it was remote, flat and had predictable winds. Due to the secret nature of the project, residents in surrounding areas were not warned.

The Tularosa Basin was home to a rural population that lived off the land by raising livestock and tending to gardens and farms. They drew water from cisterns and holding ponds. They had no idea that the fine ash that settled on everything in the days following the explosion was from the world’s first atomic blast.

The government initially tried to hide it, saying that an explosion at a munitions dump caused the rumble and bright light, which could be seen more than 160 miles (257 kilometers) away.

It wasn’t until the U.S. dropped bombs on Japan weeks later that New Mexico residents realized what they had witnessed.

According to the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, large amounts of radiation shot up into the atmosphere and fallout descended over an area about 250 miles (402 kilometres) long and 200 miles (322 kilometres) wide. Scientists tracked part of the fallout pattern as far as the Atlantic Ocean, but the greatest concentration settled about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the test site.

For Cordova and younger generations who are dealing with cancer, the lack of acknowledgement by the government and those involved with the film is inexcusable.

“We were left here to live with the consequences,” Cordova said. “And they’ll over-glorify the science and the scientists and make no mention of us. And you know what? Shame on them.”

In Los Alamos, more than 200 miles (321 kilometres) north of the Tularosa Basin, reaction to the film has been much different. The legacy of Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project means Los Alamos is home to one of the nation’s premier national laboratories and has the highest percentage of people with doctorate degrees in the U.S.

Oppenheimer Drive cuts through the heart of Los Alamos, Hoppenheimer IPA is on tap at a local brewery and the physicist is the focus of an exhibit at the science museum, where some of his handwritten notes and ID card are displayed.

The city is hosting an Oppenheimer Festival that starts Thursday and runs through the end of July.

About 200 extras used in the film were locals, many of them Los Alamos National Laboratory employees.

During breaks, conversations among the extras centred on science and world problems, said Kelly Stewart, who works with Los Alamos County’s economic development division and was the film liaison when Nolan and his crew were on location at historic sites around town.

There’s a pride that’s woven into the town’s DNA, Stewart said, and it revolves around the lab’s work to address national security and global concerns.

The goal is to position Los Alamos as a place where people can begin to learn “the true stories” behind the events depicted in the film, Stewart said.

The county’s “Project Oppenheimer” effort began in early 2023 and has included forums, documentaries, art installations and exhibits to educate visitors about the science happening at the lab as well as the social implications of the Manhattan Project.

A special area will be set up during the festival where people can discuss the movie after seeing it.

She believes efforts to help people understand the community’s history will continue.

“There’s a huge interest here in our own community to keep revisiting that and discussing it,” she said.

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SAG-AFTRA Strike: Here’s Why Hollywood Actors Have Walked Off the Sets

Post By Fact Check , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

For the first time in 60 years, Hollywood is facing an industry-wide shutdown.

After four weeks of failed negotiations with the studios, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), which represents more than 1,50,000 film and television actors, announced on 13 July, that it would go on strike, joining the screenwriters on the picket lines who walked out in May.

But why are Hollywood’s actors and writers striking? What was the union’s deal with the studios about? And how will it impact your favourite shows and films? We explain:

SAG-AFTRA Strike: Here’s Why Hollywood Actors Have Walked Off the Sets

  1. 1. Why are Hollywood’s Actors and Writers Striking?

    Several writers and actors are picketing outside the studios.

    (Photo Courtesy: SAG-AFTRA/Twitter)

    The industry-wide strike of the actors and writers follows a row about pay and the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) with major film productions and streaming services like Netflix, Warner Bros, NBC Universal, Paramount, Amazon, and Disney, etc., that all fall under the umbrella of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

    • The two unions failed to reach an agreement with the studios on a fairer share of profits and increased protection from AI rights.

    • The unions raised their concerns about contracts not keeping up with inflation, residual payments (a form of royalty payments) in the OTT space, and the issue of ‘mini rooms’.

    • It also demanded putting up stringent barriers against AI mimicking their work in films and television programmes.

    Earlier in June, several A-list actors signed a letter to guild leadership stating that they were ready to strike, calling this moment “an unprecedented inflection point in the industry.”

    Would top stars participate in this strike?

    Entertainment industry lawyer Jonathan Handel told Al Jazeera, “There will be visibility from the big stars. But this strike is not about bringing more money to people who already have millions.”

    The strike will not benefit top actors financially since the individual contracts that their agents negotiate with the studios significantly surpass the union minimums at stake.

    • On Thursday, 13 July, the cast of Universal Studios’ most anticipated film of the year, Oppenheimer, walked out during the film’s London premiere in support of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

    • Lead actors of the film like Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, and Florence Pugh left the premiere after posing for the media.

    The cast of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.

    (Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

    Speaking about the strike, Damon told Variety, “It’s really about working actors. A lot of people are on the margins, and residual payments are getting them across that threshold. This isn’t an academic exercise. This is real life-and-death stuff. Hopefully, we get to a resolution quickly. No one wants a work stoppage, but we’ve got to get a fair deal.”

    Expand

  2. 2. What Do the Hollywood Studios Say?

    The AMPTP represents over 350 American television and film production companies in collective bargaining negotiations with entertainment industry trade unions like the WGA, SAG-AFTRA, and the Directors Guild of America, among others.

    • The trade association asserted that it has offered “historic pay and residual increases” along with higher caps on pension and health contributions in its proposal.

    • AMPTP also claimed that their offer addresses the union’s concerns with regard to audition protections and a “groundbreaking” approach to artificial intelligence, among other advantages.

    “A strike is certainly not the outcome we hoped for, as studios cannot operate without the performers that bring our TV shows and films to life. The Union has regrettably chosen a path that will lead to financial hardship for countless thousands of people who depend on the industry,” the AMPTP shared in a press statement.

    • The studios stressed that the industry upheaval has not been pleasant for them either.

    • It claimed that many studios’ share values have plummeted and profit margins have shrunk as moviegoers have been hesitant to return to theatres and home viewers have shifted away from cable and network television to OTT.

    Expand

  3. 3. How Will It Impact Your Favourite Shows and Films?

    Hollywood productions have drastically slowed down since the Writer’s Guild of America (GWA) strike began in early May this year. According to reports, some businesses have resorted to layoffs or even project cancellations.

    A still from The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

    (Photo Courtesy: YouTube)

    Several big and small businesses are attached to the entertainment industry, which makes the financial impact of the Hollywood strike substantially huge and tough to estimate.

    • Although its impact is not as immediate on film releases as they were already written and shot years ago and have a lengthy distance between the post-production process and their theatrical screenings, which can also be rescheduled.

    • In terms of soap operas and streaming shows, only a few US-based productions containing a specific contract and game and reality shows would continue without the actors.

    • According to FilmLA, no scripted television permits were issued in the first two weeks of July in Los Angeles.

    However, SAG-AFTRA has suggested that it could propose waivers to exempt small-scale and truly “independent films”.

    • Popular shows like The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power have finished scripts and were able to continue filming during the strike period but without any writers on set.

    • Disney has delayed a number of Marvel superhero films, stretching out their release dates.

    • Earlier this week, Fox unveiled the fall schedule of several unscripted television series like The Masked Singer, Celebrity Name That Tune, and Kitchen Nightmares.

    HBO’s Succession led the Emmy nominations 2023 by 27 nods.

    (Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

    • ABC has also announced its fall schedule, full of nightly lineups like Dancing With the Stars, Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, and repeated telecasts of Abbott Elementary.

    • The 75th Emmy Awards nominations, which were recently announced, have also been significantly affected by the strike.

    • As per reports, organisers are in discussions about postponing the 18 September ceremony by several months.

    Entertainment lawyer Handel told Al Jazeera, “Fifteen years ago, when the writers were on strike – it was a 100-day strike – and the estimate was a little over $2 billion (Rs 200 crores). So that translates to $20 million (Rs 16.48 crore) a day. Adjusted for inflation, that’s close to $30 million (Rs 3 crore) a day lost in California alone.”

    Would the strike impact overseas productions?

    SAG-AFTRA is an American labour union based in Los Angeles. However, the strike’s impact wouldn’t be confined to the United States.

    Handel told Al Jazeera, “When SAG-AFTRA actors are working on the movie being shot in Europe, or Australia, or Asia, or wherever, they will have to stop work.”

    • Important premieres, San Diego’s Comic-Con, and fall film festivals like the Toronto and Venice film festivals will also be affected by the strike.

    • The strike also prevents the union’s members from promoting films and television shows.

    Expand

  4. 4. When Is the Strike Likely to End?

    There is no definite answer to this question, as historically, some Hollywood strikes have lasted for several months and some barely over a few hours.

    • The last actors’ strike, which staged a major walkout in 1980, lasted for three months, whereas the 2007 writers’ strike lasted for 100 days.

    • Writers have already been picketing for more than 70 days now, as their union has yet to return to negotiating with the studious.

    SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher, at a press conference on 13 July, shared:

    “That’s up to them. We are open to talking to them tonight. It’s up to them if they’re willing to talk in a normal way that honours what we do. This is going to drag on and is not easily resolved because both sides view this as existential.”

    Adding that the strike may last until fall, Drescher asserted that “there’s a lot of bitterness between the writers and the studios and the actors and the studios” at the moment.

    Expand

Why are Hollywood’s Actors and Writers Striking?

Several writers and actors are picketing outside the studios.

(Photo Courtesy: SAG-AFTRA/Twitter)

The industry-wide strike of the actors and writers follows a row about pay and the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) with major film productions and streaming services like Netflix, Warner Bros, NBC Universal, Paramount, Amazon, and Disney, etc., that all fall under the umbrella of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

  • The two unions failed to reach an agreement with the studios on a fairer share of profits and increased protection from AI rights.

  • The unions raised their concerns about contracts not keeping up with inflation, residual payments (a form of royalty payments) in the OTT space, and the issue of ‘mini rooms’.

  • It also demanded putting up stringent barriers against AI mimicking their work in films and television programmes.

Earlier in June, several A-list actors signed a letter to guild leadership stating that they were ready to strike, calling this moment “an unprecedented inflection point in the industry.”

Would top stars participate in this strike?

Entertainment industry lawyer Jonathan Handel told Al Jazeera, “There will be visibility from the big stars. But this strike is not about bringing more money to people who already have millions.”

The strike will not benefit top actors financially since the individual contracts that their agents negotiate with the studios significantly surpass the union minimums at stake.

  • On Thursday, 13 July, the cast of Universal Studios’ most anticipated film of the year, Oppenheimer, walked out during the film’s London premiere in support of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

  • Lead actors of the film like Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, and Florence Pugh left the premiere after posing for the media.

The cast of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

Speaking about the strike, Damon told Variety, “It’s really about working actors. A lot of people are on the margins, and residual payments are getting them across that threshold. This isn’t an academic exercise. This is real life-and-death stuff. Hopefully, we get to a resolution quickly. No one wants a work stoppage, but we’ve got to get a fair deal.”

What Do the Hollywood Studios Say?

The AMPTP represents over 350 American television and film production companies in collective bargaining negotiations with entertainment industry trade unions like the WGA, SAG-AFTRA, and the Directors Guild of America, among others.

  • The trade association asserted that it has offered “historic pay and residual increases” along with higher caps on pension and health contributions in its proposal.

  • AMPTP also claimed that their offer addresses the union’s concerns with regard to audition protections and a “groundbreaking” approach to artificial intelligence, among other advantages.

“A strike is certainly not the outcome we hoped for, as studios cannot operate without the performers that bring our TV shows and films to life. The Union has regrettably chosen a path that will lead to financial hardship for countless thousands of people who depend on the industry,” the AMPTP shared in a press statement.

  • The studios stressed that the industry upheaval has not been pleasant for them either.

  • It claimed that many studios’ share values have plummeted and profit margins have shrunk as moviegoers have been hesitant to return to theatres and home viewers have shifted away from cable and network television to OTT.

How Will It Impact Your Favourite Shows and Films?

Hollywood productions have drastically slowed down since the Writer’s Guild of America (GWA) strike began in early May this year. According to reports, some businesses have resorted to layoffs or even project cancellations.

A still from The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

(Photo Courtesy: YouTube)

Several big and small businesses are attached to the entertainment industry, which makes the financial impact of the Hollywood strike substantially huge and tough to estimate.

  • Although its impact is not as immediate on film releases as they were already written and shot years ago and have a lengthy distance between the post-production process and their theatrical screenings, which can also be rescheduled.

  • In terms of soap operas and streaming shows, only a few US-based productions containing a specific contract and game and reality shows would continue without the actors.

  • According to FilmLA, no scripted television permits were issued in the first two weeks of July in Los Angeles.

However, SAG-AFTRA has suggested that it could propose waivers to exempt small-scale and truly “independent films”.

  • Popular shows like The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power have finished scripts and were able to continue filming during the strike period but without any writers on set.

  • Disney has delayed a number of Marvel superhero films, stretching out their release dates.

  • Earlier this week, Fox unveiled the fall schedule of several unscripted television series like The Masked Singer, Celebrity Name That Tune, and Kitchen Nightmares.

HBO’s Succession led the Emmy nominations 2023 by 27 nods.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

  • ABC has also announced its fall schedule, full of nightly lineups like Dancing With the Stars, Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, and repeated telecasts of Abbott Elementary.

  • The 75th Emmy Awards nominations, which were recently announced, have also been significantly affected by the strike.

  • As per reports, organisers are in discussions about postponing the 18 September ceremony by several months.

Entertainment lawyer Handel told Al Jazeera, “Fifteen years ago, when the writers were on strike – it was a 100-day strike – and the estimate was a little over $2 billion (Rs 200 crores). So that translates to $20 million (Rs 16.48 crore) a day. Adjusted for inflation, that’s close to $30 million (Rs 3 crore) a day lost in California alone.”

Would the strike impact overseas productions?

SAG-AFTRA is an American labour union based in Los Angeles. However, the strike’s impact wouldn’t be confined to the United States.

Handel told Al Jazeera, “When SAG-AFTRA actors are working on the movie being shot in Europe, or Australia, or Asia, or wherever, they will have to stop work.”

  • Important premieres, San Diego’s Comic-Con, and fall film festivals like the Toronto and Venice film festivals will also be affected by the strike.

  • The strike also prevents the union’s members from promoting films and television shows.

When Is the Strike Likely to End?

There is no definite answer to this question, as historically, some Hollywood strikes have lasted for several months and some barely over a few hours.

  • The last actors’ strike, which staged a major walkout in 1980, lasted for three months, whereas the 2007 writers’ strike lasted for 100 days.

  • Writers have already been picketing for more than 70 days now, as their union has yet to return to negotiating with the studious.

SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher, at a press conference on 13 July, shared:

“That’s up to them. We are open to talking to them tonight. It’s up to them if they’re willing to talk in a normal way that honours what we do. This is going to drag on and is not easily resolved because both sides view this as existential.”

Adding that the strike may last until fall, Drescher asserted that “there’s a lot of bitterness between the writers and the studios and the actors and the studios” at the moment.

Published: 

Source link

#SAGAFTRA #Strike #Heres #Hollywood #Actors #Walked #Sets

In ‘Oppenheimer,’ Christopher Nolan builds a thrilling, serious blockbuster for adults

Post By Entertainment , ,

Christopher Nolan has never been one to take the easy or straightforward route while making a movie.

He shoots on large-format film with large, cumbersome cameras to get the best possible cinematic image. He prefers practical effects over computer-generated ones and real locations over sound stages — even when that means recreating an atomic explosion in the harsh winds of the New Mexico desert in the middle of the night for “Oppenheimer,” out July 21.

Though, despite internet rumors, they did not detonate an actual nuclear weapon.

And as for the biography that inspired his newest film, Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s riveting, linear narrative “American Prometheus” was simply the starting point from which Nolan crafted a beguiling labyrinth of suspense and drama.

It’s why, in his two decades working in Hollywood, Nolan has become a franchise unto himself — the rare auteur writer-director who makes films that are both intellectually stimulating and commercial, accounting for more than $5 billion in box office receipts. That combination is part of the reason why he’s able to attract Oscar winners and movie stars not just to headline his films, but also to turn out for just a scene or two.

“We’ve all been so intoxicated by his films,” said Emily Blunt, who plays J. Robert Oppenheimer’s wife, Kitty. “That exploration of huge themes in an entertaining way doesn’t happen. It just doesn’t happen. That depth, the depth of the material, and yet on this massive epic scale.”

In the vast and complex story of the brilliant theoretical physicist who oversaw the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb during World War II, Nolan saw exciting possibilities to play with genre and form. There was the race to develop it before the Germans did, espionage, romance, domestic turmoil, a courtroom drama, bruised egos, political machinations, communist panic, and the burden of having created something that could destroy the world.

And then there was the man himself, beloved by most but hated by enough, who, after achieving icon status in American society, saw his reputation and sense of self annihilated by the very institutions that built him.

Kenneth Branagh, Rami Malek, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Cillian Murphy, Christopher Nolan, Robert Downey Jr. and Josh Hartnett attend the UK Premiere of’“Oppenheimer’
| Photo Credit:
EAMONN M. MCCORMACK

“It’s such an ambitious story to tell,” said Matt Damon, who plays Gen. Leslie Groves Jr. “Reading the script, I had the same feeling I had when I read ‘Interstellar,’ which was: ‘This is great. How the hell is he going to do this?’”

It’s not so disconnected from Nolan’s other films, either. As critic Tom Shone noted in his book about the director, “Looked at one way, Nolan’s films are all allegories of men who first find their salvation in structure only to find themselves betrayed or engulfed by it.”

Nolan turned to Cillian Murphy to take on the gargantuan task of portraying Oppenheimer. Murphy had already acted in five Nolan films, including the Batman trilogy, “Dunkirk” and “Inception,” but this would be his first time as a lead — something he had secretly pined for.

“You feel a responsibility, but then a great hunger and excitement to try and do it, to see where you can get,” said Murphy, who prepped extensively for six months before filming, working closely with Nolan throughout. “It was an awful lot of work, but I loved it. There is this kind of frisson, this energy when you’re on a Chris Nolan set about the potential for what you’re going to achieve.”

It would be an all-consuming role that would require some physical transformation to approximate that famously thin silhouette. A complex, contradictory figure, Oppenheimer emerged from a somewhat awkward youth to become a renaissance man who seemed to carry equal passion for the Bhagavad Gita, Proust, physics, languages, New Mexico, philosophical questions about disarmament and the perfectly mixed martini. But Murphy knew he was in safe hands with Nolan.

“He’s the most natural director I’ve ever worked with. And the notes that he gives to an actor, are quite remarkable. How he can gently bring you to a different place with your performance is quite stunning in such a subtle, low-key, understated way,” Murphy said. “It can have a profound effect on the way you look at a scene from one take to another take.”

Nolan wrote the main timeline of the film in the first person, to represent Oppenheimer’s subjective experience.

“We want to see everything through Oppenheimer’s point of view,” Nolan said. “That’s a huge challenge for an actor to take on because they’re having to worry about the performance, the truth of the performance, but also make sure that that’s always open to the audience.”

The other timeline, filmed in black and white, is more objective and focused on Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.), a founding member of the Atomic Energy Commission and a supporter of the development of the more destructive hydrogen bomb.

Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr, Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Christopher Nolan attend the “Oppenheimer” premiere at Cinema Le Grand Rex on July 11, 2023 in Paris, France

Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr, Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Christopher Nolan attend the “Oppenheimer” premiere at Cinema Le Grand Rex on July 11, 2023 in Paris, France
| Photo Credit:
PASCAL LE SEGRETAIN

“Oppenheimer” is Nolan’s first R-rated film since 2002’s “Insomnia,” which after years of working exclusively in PG-13, he’s comfortable with. It fits the gravity of the material.

“We’re dealing with the most serious and adult story you could imagine — very important, dramatic events that changed the world and defined the world we live in today,” Nolan said. “You don’t want to compromise in any way.”

Much of the filming took place in New Mexico, including at the real Los Alamos laboratory where thousands of scientists, technicians and their families lived and worked for two years in the effort to develop the bomb. Nolan enlisted many of his frequent behind-the-scenes collaborators, including his wife and producer Emma Thomas, cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema, composer Ludwig Göransson and special effects supervisors Scott Fisher and Andrew Jackson, as well as some newcomers like production designer Ruth de Jong and costume designer Ellen Mirojnick to help bring this world to life.

“It was a very focused set — fun set as well, not too serious. But the work was serious, the sweating of the details was serious,” Blunt said. “Everyone needs to kind of match Chris’ excellence, or want to.”

When it came to recreating the Trinity test, Oppenheimer’s chosen name for the first nuclear detonation, art and life blended in a visceral way.

“We wanted to put the audience there in that bunker,” Nolan said. “That meant really trying to make these things as beautiful and frightening and awe inspiring as they would have been to the people at the time.”

Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy

Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy
| Photo Credit:
MAJA SMIEJKOWSKA

Though no real nukes were used, they did stage a lot of real explosions to approximate the blindingly bright atomic fire and mushroom cloud.

“To do those safely in a real environment out in the nighttime desert, there’s a degree of discipline and focus and adrenaline and just executing that for the film that echoes and mirrors what these guys went through on the grandest scale in a really interesting way,” Nolan said. “I felt everybody had that very, very tight sense of tension and focus around all those shooting nights.”

The weather also “did what it needed to do, as per history,” Murphy said, as the wind picked up and whipped around the set.

“I’m rumored to be very lucky with the weather and it’s not the case. It’s just that we decide to shoot whatever the weather,” Nolan said. “In the case of the Trinity test, it was essential, central to the story that this big storm rolls in with tremendous drama. And it did. That really made the sequence come to life.”

He added: “The extremity of it put me very much in the mindset of what it must have been like for these guys. It really felt like we were out in it.”

Then, of course, there is the experience of watching “Oppenheimer.”

“When you’re making a movie, I feel like you’re on the inside looking out,” Blunt said. “It’s really overwhelming to see it reflected back at you, especially one of this magnitude. … I just felt like my breastplate was going to shatter, it was so intense.”

Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh and Matt Damon attend the London Photocall for Universal Pictures’ “Oppenheimer” at Trafalgar Square on July 12, 2023 in London, England

Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh and Matt Damon attend the London Photocall for Universal Pictures’ “Oppenheimer” at Trafalgar Square on July 12, 2023 in London, England
| Photo Credit:
Neil P. Mockford

The hope is that when “Oppenheimer” is unleashed on the world, audiences will be as invested and will seek it out on the biggest screen they can find. The film has a run in IMAX theaters around the country, not something often afforded serious-minded, R-rated movies in the middle of the busy summer season. But this is also the essential Nolan impossibility. As more and more auteurs have had to compromise — to either go smaller or team with streamers to get the kind of budget they might once have had at studios, like even Ridley Scott and Martin Scorsese have had to do this year — Nolan continues to make his movies on the grandest scale.

“Each of his films has been revolutionary in their own way,” Murphy said. “It’s an event every time he releases a film, and rightly so.”

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Christopher Nolan breaks down the best ways to watch a movie, ahead of ‘Oppenheimer’ release

Post By Entertainment , , , , , , , ,

It’s no secret that Christopher Nolan made “ Oppenheimer ” to be seen on the big screen. But not all big screens are created equal.

That’s part of the reason why Universal Pictures has made “Oppenheimer” tickets available early for over a thousand “premium large format” (or PLF) screens, with options including IMAX 70mm, 70mm, IMAX digital, 35mm, Dolby Cinema and more.

Knowing that even those words can get overwhelming and technical, Nolan went a step further: In an interview with The Associated Press, he offered a guide to his favorite formats, explaining why it matters and even where he likes to sit so that audiences don’t feel like they need a film school degree (or one in theoretical physics) before settling on a theater.

“You rarely get the chance to really talk to moviegoers directly about why you love a particular format and why if they can find an IMAX screen to see the film on that’s great,” Nolan said. “We put a lot of effort into shooting the film in a way that we can get it out on these large format screens. It really is just a great way of giving people an experience that they can’t possibly get in the home.”

In a film about about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who oversaw the development of first atomic bomb during World War II, this will be especially pivotal in viewing the Trinity Test, the first detonation of a nuclear weapon. Nolan and his effects teams recreated the blast, with all its blinding brilliance.

“We knew that this had to be the showstopper,” Nolan said. “We’re able to do things with picture now that before we were really only able to do with sound in terms of an oversize impact for the audience—an almost physical sense of response to the film.”

“Oppenheimer,” starring Cillian Murphy, opens in theaters on July 21.

THE BIG PICTURE

“Oppenheimer” was shot using some of the highest resolution film cameras that exist. Like “ Dunkirk ” and “ Tenet,” “Oppenheimer” was filmed entirely on large format film stock, meaning a combination of IMAX 65mm and Panavision 65mm (think David Lean/”Lawrence of Arabia”), that’s then projected in 70mm.

“The sharpness and the clarity and the depth of the image is unparalleled,” Nolan said. “The headline, for me, is by shooting on IMAX 70mm film, you’re really letting the screen disappear. You’re getting a feeling of 3D without the glasses. You’ve got a huge screen and you’re filling the peripheral vision of the audience. You’re immersing them in the world of the film.”

Nolan has been shooting with IMAX cameras since “The Dark Knight.” Audiences would regularly gasp at seeing its first shot projected in IMAX 70mm. Though it’s “just a helicopter shot” of some buildings in Chicago, it helps explain the ineffable power of the format.

On a technical level, the IMAX film resolution is almost 10 times more than a 35mm projector and each frame has some 18,000 pixels of resolution versus a home HD screen that has 1,920 pixels.

Director Christopher Nolan, center, and Cillian Murphy, right, on the set of ‘Oppenheimer’
| Photo Credit:
Melinda Sue Gordon

WHY IS IT SHOT ON 65MM AND PROJECTED IN 70MM?

The 5mm difference goes back to when that extra space on the film had to be reserved for the soundtrack. With digital sound, that’s unnecessary and it is “purely a visual enhancement,” Nolan explained.

DO THE DIFFERENT FORMATS IMPACT HOW THE FILM IS SHOT?

“We have to plan very carefully because by shooting an IMAX film, you capture a lot of information,” he said. “Your movie is going to translate very well to all the formats because you’re getting the ultimate amount of visual information. But there are different shapes to the screen — what we call aspect ratios. What you have to plan is how you then frame your imagery so that it can be presented in different theaters with equal success.”

Starting with “The Dark Knight,” they developed a system that they call “center punching the action” so that nothing is lost.

Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema is also always aware of the “frame lines for the different theaters” when looking through the camera.

On the biggest presentations, IMAX 1.43:1 (the massive square screen) the screen essentially disappears for the audience. For other formats like 35mm, the top and the bottom get cropped.

But, Nolan said, “from a creative point of view, what we’ve found over the years is that there’s no compromise to composition.”

WHY NOT MAKE AN ENTIRE MOVIE IN IMAX?

The IMAX cameras are just too loud for dialogue heavy scenes, but Nolan is optimistic about the new cameras being developed.

WHAT’S THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BLACK AND WHITE SEQUENCES?

Some of “Oppenheimer” is presented in black and white for a very specific story reason.

“I knew that I had two timelines that we were running in the film,” Nolan said. “One is in color, and that’s Oppenheimer’s subjective experience. That’s the bulk of the film. Then the other is a black and white timeline. It’s a more objective view of his story from a different character’s point of view.”

Nolan’s desire for the black and white portions to be of equal image quality to the rest of the film led to the development of the first ever black and white IMAX film stock, which Kodak made and Fotokem developed.

“We shot a lot of our hair and makeup tests using black and white. And then we would go to the IMAX film projector at CityWalk and project it there,” he said. “I’ve just never seen anything like it. To see such a massive black and white film image? It’s just a wonderful thing.”

Christopher Nolan, right, and Emma Thomas accept the “NATO Spirit of the Industry Award” at the Big Screen Achievement Awards during CinemaCon

Christopher Nolan, right, and Emma Thomas accept the “NATO Spirit of the Industry Award” at the Big Screen Achievement Awards during CinemaCon
| Photo Credit:
Chris Pizzello

NOLAN’S FAVORITE THEATRICAL FORMATS

For Nolan, the “best possible experience” to view “Oppenheimer” in theaters is the IMAX 70mm film presentations. These are also among the rarest, currently set for 25 locations in North America including the AMC Universal CityWalk in Los Angeles, the AMC Lincoln Square in New York, the Cinemark Dallas, the Regal King of Prussia near Philadelphia and the AutoNation IMAX in Fort Lauderdale.

The prints span over 11 miles of film stock, weigh some 600 pounds and run through film projectors horizontally.

There will also be over one hundred 70mm prints (“a fabulous presentation,” Nolan said) sent to theaters around the world, with over 77 (and more to come) on sale in North America at major chains and many independent locations like the Music Box in Chicago and the AFI Silver in Washington D.C.

“The two formats are sort of different and I love them both,” he said.

The sequences projected in IMAX 70mm really “come to life” on those screens, and vice versa for the 70mm sequences on those specific projectors. In IMAX theaters, for example, things shot with IMAX film cameras will expand vertically to fill the entire screen.

Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in a scene from the film ‘Oppenheimer,’ written and directed by Christopher Nolan

Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in a scene from the film ‘Oppenheimer,’ written and directed by Christopher Nolan
| Photo Credit:
UNIVERSAL PICTURES

IMAX DIGITAL, LASER AND EXHIBITOR PLF OPTIONS

The vast majority of moviegoers in North America will have easier access to digital presentations. These include IMAX digital, which can sometimes mean a laser projected image and other times involves a retro formatted screen, and what’s called “exhibitor PLF,” meaning large format screen and projection systems developed by individual theater chains (like Regal RPX, Cinemark XD and Cineplex UltraAVX). When in doubt, look for an “X” in the name.

But don’t dismay: It’ll still look great, according to Nolan, whose team has worked for six months to digitize the original film for other formats to ensure the best experience on every screen.

“This is the exciting thing about shooting an IMAX film: When you scan it for the digital format, you’re working with the absolute best possible image that you could acquire, and that translates wonderfully to the new projector formats like the laser projectors,” he said.

Nolan said the “IMAX impact” over the last 20 to 30 years has resulted in more theaters paying more attention to presentation, from projection to sound, which has been “great for filmmakers.”

WHERE ARE THE BEST SEATS?

Well, that comes down to personal preference but here’s where Nolan likes to sit.

“When I’m in a theater that’s Cinemascope ratio, I like to be right near the front, middle of the third row,” he said. “When I’m in a stadium, IMAX 1.43:1, then I actually like to be a little behind the center line right up at the middle. So, a little further back.”

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