Christopher Nolan’s dark historical drama “Oppenheimer” has been digitally altered in several countries outside the United States, including India, to comply with film ratings standards.
The key scene alteration involves a conversation between Cillian Murphy’s theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Florence Pugh’s Communist Party member Jean Tatlock.
In the regular version of the film, Tatlock converses with Oppenheimer in a hotel room with Tatlock topless throughout the scene.
In the sequence that plays in Indian and Middle Eastern movie theaters however, digital effects have been used which put her character in a black dress.
Sources for Variety indicate that the alterations were done to secure a release in countries such as India and the Middle East which have strict rules over the kind of content that can play in cinemas.
In India, the edit has allowed the film to pass with a U/A certificate – meaning it can contain moderate adult themes and can be watched by those under 12 with parental guidance.
The change comes as the film has already been dealing with controversy in India as it quotes text from the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita which Oppenheimer recalls when the first nuclear bomb was detonated. The line is spoken during an intimate scene between Oppenheimer and Tatlock.
The $100 million-budgeted R-rated biopic pulled in $180 million at the worldwide box-office in its opening weekend.
Source: Variety
