In his movies, director Christopher Nolan (Inception, Dunkirk, Memento) loves to manipulate time. Now he’s even doing it in his trailers.
With the first teaser of Oppenheimer, about the man (J. Robert Oppenheimer) who created the atomic bomb, Nolan is streaming it live on a loop. Why? So that the ticking clock at the bottom of the screen (one that is counting down to the film’s launch in theaters) is constantly accurate down to the 1000th of a second. No doubt the movie will take the same tact in terms of its narrative structure (think what Nolan did with Dunkirk, for example).
The effect of this first look is simply to build tension but also establish a mythic tone of epic (and tragic) proportions. To that end, key lines of ominous dialogue are heard by cast members Emily Blunt (as Oppenheimer’s wife) and Robert Downey, Jr. (as Lewis Strauss, the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission). Cillian Murphy — a Nolan regular (Batman Begins, Inception, Dunkirk) — stars in the title role and is the only person seen here.
Also listed in the all-star cast are Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett, Matthew Modine, Alden Ehrenreich, Jason Clarke, and Kenneth Branagh.
This venture also marks the first time Nolan has produced a studio film outside of Warner Bros., having now shifted to Universal Pictures. Nolan’s switch was triggered by his displeasure with WB when they decided to send their theatrical releases straight to streamer HBO Max in 2021 during the height of the pandemic, robbing filmmakers of their theatrical exclusivity.
Shot in IMAX cameras (of course), Oppenheimer hits theaters next summer on July 21, 2023.
Click on any image for larger gallery
