James Cameron Talks His “Oppenheimer” Issues

By
Garth Franklin
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Universal Pictures

Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” won the Best Picture Oscar for its year and was widely, almost universally, acclaimed.

Audiences everywhere really clicked with the film too, turning it into a near billion dollar hit – something unheard of for a three-hour R-rated biopic about a scientist.

But if there’s one criticism it did score is that the film’s relentless sticking to the perspective of its protagonist meant that we never saw the impact of the Manhattan Project’s work – the atomic blasts on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Japanese side of the story was never really shown, something filmmaker James Cameron plans to correct when he directs his upcoming film “Ghosts of Hiroshima” based on the 2010 novel “The Last Train From Hiroshima: The Survivors Lost Book”.

Speaking with Deadline, Cameron was asked about the success of “Oppenheimer” and his reaction to it. He says:

“Yeah…it’s interesting what he [Nolan] stayed away from. Look, I love the filmmaking, but I did feel that it was a bit of a moral cop out. Because it’s not like Oppenheimer didn’t know the effects.

He’s got one brief scene in the film where we see — and I don’t like to criticize another filmmaker’s film – but there’s only one brief moment where he sees some charred bodies in the audience and then the film goes on to show how it deeply moved him.

But I felt that it dodged the subject. I don’t know whether the studio or Chris felt that that was a third rail that they didn’t want to touch, but I want to go straight at the third rail. I’m just stupid that way.”

Nolan has been asked about this before, and the interviewer shared Nolan’s comments on the matter with Cameron, the “Inception” and “Batman Begins” helmer indicated his film wasn’t the place for that story. Cameron says:

“Okay, I’ll put up my hand. I’ll do it, Chris. No problem. You come to my premiere and say nice things…I can’t tell you today what’s going to be in the movie. I’ve been making notes for 15 years and I haven’t written a word of the script yet because there’s a point where it’s all there, and then you start to write. That’s how I always work. I explore around, I remember the things that impact me. I start to assemble ’em into a narrative. And then there’s a moment where you’re ready to write. And I’m not in that head space right now.”

Cameron has been working on the project ever since he optioned the rights to Charles R. Pellegrino’s book back in 2010. Cameron adds that he hopes to make the film prior to directing “Avatar 4”, which doesn’t open until 2029.

The novel follows life in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki before, during and after the bombings, with the focus on various survivors of the bombings. Cameron’s next film in cinemas is “Avatar: Fire and Ash” with the movie opening this December. A brand-new still from that film released today, check it out below.