Christopher Nolan’s upcoming “Oppenheimer” film will include a recreation of the first nuclear weapon detonation – all done without the use of computer-generated effects.
Cillian Murphy stars as J. Robert Oppenheimer, a leading figure in the Manhattan Project and the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II.
Nolan has notably opted for practical effects over digital effects wherever possible, leading to the real blowing up of a Boeing 747 in “Tenet”. So when it came time to recreate the first time a nuke went off, you can bet they tried to do it as true to life as they could. He tells Total Film:
“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.”
Nolan says his film boasts immense scope and scale, which resulted in huge logistical and practical challenges. He says it “will be a while before we’re finished”, but as he’s putting the film together, he has been “thrilled with what my team has been able to achieve”.
Nolan’s recent go-to cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema reunited with him again for “Oppenheimer” and the pair convinced IMAX to create a new kind of film stock for them:
“We challenged the people at Kodak Photochem to make this work for us. And they stepped up. For the first time ever, we were able to shoot IMAX film in black and white. And the results were thrilling and extraordinary. As soon as Hoyte and I saw the first tests come in, we just knew that this was a format that we were immediately in love with.”
The film will utilise the same trick Nolan used in “Memento” by switching between color and black-and-white: “the way in which we tell this story, it’s very subjectively [told], but also with a more objective story strand that intertwines with that. It was really the perfect time to go back to that [color-switching] device”.
Universal Pictures will release “Oppenheimer” in cinemas on July 21st 2023.
