THE first trailer for Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer was released earlier today, featuring Cillian Murphy as the eponymous J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American theoretical physicist who is credited for the invention of nuclear weapons.
The trailer for the biopic does not reveal too much but rather introduces the internal struggle Oppenheimer wrestled with while leading the Manhattan project, a top secret project by the US government during World War Two that was charged with building the first atomic bomb.
"It's a story of immense scope and scale," Nolan previously told in an interview. "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. There were big, logistical challenges, big practical challenges.
"But I had an extraordinary crew, and they really stepped up. It will be awhile before we're finished. But certainly, as I watch the results come in, and as I'm putting the film together, I'm thrilled with what my team has been able to achieve."
The movie has already begun making noise on social media for recreating the Trinity test, the earliest nuclear weapons test that was conducted by the US government. For this film, in true Nolan fashion, it has been done practically and without the use of computer-generated effects – and no, he did not actually detonate a nuclear bomb.
"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," the filmmaker remarked.
"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 reunites with cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema who previously lensed Interstellar, Dunkirk and Tenet, promising dazzling visuals. Alongside Cillian Murphy are an ensemble of Hollywood A-listers, including Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Gary Oldman, Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett, Dane DeHaan, Jack Quaid, Matthew Modine, Alden Ehrenreich, and dozens of others.
The film will be released on July 21, 2023 and is based on Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel 'American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer'. – The Vibes, December 19, 2022
