You’d think that with a movie centering around such a jovial topic, there’d be a lot of partying and enjoying the usual evening escapades for the production crew, but it seems that Cillian Murphy and Christopher Nolan barely stopped to catch their breaths while filming Oppenheimer.
It’s not that the acclaimed Dunkirk director is a staunch enemy of fun, or takes himself too seriously. The challenge arises when you happen to be directing a movie about one of the most tragic figures in history, not to mention one of the most pivotal moments in the annals of our human civilization, and naturally tend to forget that there might be anything beyond the character in front of your camera lens and the sound of the clapperboard signifying the beginning of your next take.
And sure, there is such a tradition as directors and their lead actors just taking a moment to bask everything in and reflect on the journey they’ve shared together, but according to what Cillian Murphy tells IGN, he specifically asked Nolan to go hard on him. And go hard on him, he did.
“I said to Chris at the beginning, I said, ‘The best performances you’ve ever gotten from me are the ones where you push me and just push me as far as you can on this one,’ And he did. And I love that.”
There was also no fooling around. “There was no hanging around or shooting the [expletive]. We were just working.”
And we’ll soon be able to see the result of that labor when Oppenheimer opens in theaters on July 21. Don’t worry, folks, the picture will be a hit. I mean, the crew of the movie’s biggest rival and mortal enemy, Barbie, didn’t toil away nearly as hard, did they?
