Nolan, the director of ambitious blockbuster films ranging from “Inception” to “The Dark Knight”, had recently completed the production of “Tenet” when his eyes fell on J. Robert Oppenheimer's 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography “American Prometheus”.
He was immediately inspired to bring the ambitious genius and egotistical tragedy, “Dream and Nightmare”, to life on the big screen as accurately as possible.
Oppenheimer, who gained global fame as the “Father of the Bomb”, soon came to deeply regret the consequences of his invention, campaigning for nuclear disarmament, and ultimately having his reputation tarnished by his former communist sympathies.
Nolan said, “His story offers no easy answers. But it offers some of the most fascinating and interesting paradoxes I have ever encountered.”
While Nolan is often associated with genres like sci-fi, he decided to create “Oppenheimer” with three other film tropes – the hero's journey, the heist movie and the courtroom drama.
The scientist enters into a bomb-making race with the Nazis, assembles a crack team of experts to get the job done, and is forced to plead his case in court, with the trio in constant action .
Cillian Murphy, a frequent and trusted collaborator from the previous five Nolan films, was cast in the lead role, with Robert Downey Jr. as his bitter, secret rival, Lewis Strauss.
Both men won Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor awards respectively on Sunday.
The stellar cast included Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Kenneth Branagh, Gary Oldman and Rami Malek.
“It was like 'Battle of the Bulge' or 'Ben-Hur,' one of those movies where you just look around and every single person in the movie is someone you admire,” actor Matthew Modine. Has said in a book. film.
