The cast of Oppenheimer is describing the movie as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, a phenomenon that might end up redefining the industry amid this period of tenuous uncertainty. And who’s to question them? Even the script that Christopher Nolan came up with was peculiar this time, using a voice that had never been attempted by his contemporary filmmakers before.
Oppenheimer depicts the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, known to history as the “father of the atomic bomb,” and the person who spearheaded the infamous Manhattan Project. Cillian Murphy, not unfamiliar with Nolan’s work thanks to his roles in The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, and Dunkirk, is taking on the overwhelming responsibility of portraying this character, and according to his co-stars, Oppenheimer is rightly Cillian’s movie — they’re just along for the ride.
While speaking to IGN, Matt Damon discussed joining the biopic and the challenges of portraying General Leslie Groves, who, much like the rest of the cast, is based on a real-life person important to the Manhattan Project. He even revealed an interesting tidbit about Nolan’s peculiar script, which was written in first-person POV, that of Oppenheimer’s, from the beginning:
“The script was written in the first person, which I’d never seen before. And it gave you the feeling that the movie does, which is all through the eyes of Oppenheimer. And [Nolan] was so clear, he was like, ‘Look, this is all going to be through Cillian’s eyes, and we are putting this entire behemoth on his back.'”
Having come up with the treatment in first-person view means that Oppenheimer will be following Cillian Murphy from start to finish, depicting this tale of abject human folly from the haunted eyes of the person that indirectly led us to the atomic age.
Personally, I can’t wait to catch Oppenheimer in a theater when the movie opens, to stiff competition in the form of Barbie, on July 21.
