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Oppenheimerturns out to be a great cinematic spectacle that follows the life story of American physicist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, who played a significant role in creating the atomic bomb. Through the efforts of director, Christopher Nolan, an ensemble cast including Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr., and crew, the movie surpassed expectations earning $957.47 million at the worldwide box office.
Given that it has achieved an incredible feat, Downey Jr. reflected on how this movie is a new ray of hope in cinema.
Robert Downey Jr. Reflected onOppenheimer‘s Success
Robert Downey Jr., who is worldwide famous for his role as Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, portrayed the role of Lewis Strauss, a high-ranking member of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission inOppenheimer.While talking about his movie in a recentNew York Timesinterview, he reflected on the unexpected success that the movie attained with theBarbenheimerphenomenon being one of the greater reasons.
Cillian Murphy’s Behavior on ‘Oppenheimer’ Set Started a “Rumor” Among the Crew That Reminded Director of Heath Ledger
As director Christopher Nolan commented on how the movie genre was a risky move in the summer, it left many surprised.
“Oh yeah. They were saying that to me until the night it opened. So that opening weekend was thrilling. The numbers coming in were defying all of our greatest hopes. We always have done well putting challenging material out there, but it was a complete shock for Emma [Thomas, the producer who’s also his wife] and me the level at which it worked. Because we’d made the film very efficiently.”
TheSherlock Holmesactor called it a “Fiscally responsible event cinema.”He continued,
“It almost laughs in the face of what I grew up in the ’80s, bloated, big-budget behemoth that you go, ‘It doesn’t matter, because they’re still going to double their money.’”
Like His ‘Oppenheimer’ Co-star, Cillian Murphy Almost Went Down a Very Different Career Path Before Turning To Acting
While the actor didn’t mention MCU movies, he seemingly implied that the movie attained a massive success without spending a mammoth of money on its production cost, which in this case, was $100 million. Whereas, Marvel movies have been disappointing fans, leading to box-office failures despite spending a fortune on their production. Unlike them, the Cillian Murphy-led movie’s success is reciprocal to the immense efforts that the cast and crew went through. Nolan in a different interview talked about the practical challenges that he had to face while making this project.
Christopher Nolan Faced ‘Huge Practical Challenges’ While MakingOppenheimer
Admiral Lewis Strauss and Robert J. Oppenheimer inOppenheimer [2023]Since Nolan is renowned for practical filmmaking, he decided to follow the same strategy while making this project. In Total Film’s 2023 Preview issue viaGames Radar, he talked about how challenging it was to recreate the Trinity Test without relying on CGI.
“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.”
He explained that he brought on visual effects supervisor, Andrew Jackson“early on”to look 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.”
He further commented,“In terms of the very harsh conditions out there – there were huge practical challenges.”
“It’s a story of immense scope and scale. And one of the most challenging projects I’ve ever taken on in terms of the scale of it, and in terms of encountering the breadth of Oppenheimer’s story.”
The movie ended up becoming a visual masterpiece, gaining widespread acclaim from critics and moviegoers. It has also earned a leading 13 nominations at the 96th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Directing for Nolan, Best Actor forCillian Murphy, and Best Supporting Actor for Downey Jr.
Priya Sharma
Articles Published :1321
Priya Sharma, Senior Content Writer and Social Media Manager at FandomWire and Animated Times. Having graduated in Journalism and Mass Communication, she possesses extensive expertise in crafting engaging and informative content. She has written over 2000 articles across Animated Times and FandomWire on pop culture, showing her dedication to delivering diverse and trending content to readers across the world. Apart from pop culture, she is quite enthusiastic about the Hallyu culture and is exploring the world of anime, expanding the horizons of her knowledge.
