Earlier this year, production began on Oppenheimer, the next film of director Christopher Nolan (Tenet, Dunkirk, The Dark Knight trilogy). It is a biopic of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project scientist labeled “the father of the atomic bomb.” Starring Cillian Murphy, with whom Nolan has worked before, in the title role, it comes out in mid-July, a favorite slot for Nolan. Over the weekend, its first trailer launched:
This trailer reveals more about the aesthetic of the film than what it will depict (although given these are historical events we’re talking about, those shouldn’t be too much of a surprise). And that aesthetic is promising. There are hints of the weighty philosophical themes and technical sophistication that Nolan, almost alone of blockbuster filmmakers working today, seems capable of delivering in blockbusters. And there are also glimpses of the stunning vistas and labor-intensive practical effects that help make Nolan’s spectacle so special. Though let’s hope the effects aren’t too practical; given the film’s subject matter, I was darkly amused by a tweet claiming that “Christopher Nolan says he recreated the first nuclear weapon detonation without the use of CGI for ‘OPPENHEIMER’.”
When production began on Oppenheimer, I noted an argument that Nolan’s film represented a kind of “last stand” for intelligent filmmaking for adults. Historical biopics are a struggling subgenre. But we should not be surprised that Nolan, who has long been a special kind of blockbuster filmmaker, would choose to make one, centered on the highly complex subject of atomic weapons. Whether this risk pays off, both artistically (which seems likely) and commercially (a less-certain proposition), we’ll see in July. I, for one, look forward to being blown away by Nolan’s depiction of the Trinity Nuclear Test in theaters — I hope not literally.
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