Oppenheimer(Movie)

Introduction of Oppenheimer:

The epic biographical thriller movie “Oppenheimer”, which Christopher Nolan wrote and directed, was released in 2023. The movie, which is based on the 2005 biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, a theoretical physicist who played a key role in the Manhattan Project’s development of the first nuclear weapons, ushering in the Atomic Age.
Emily Blunt plays Oppenheimer’s wife Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer, Matt Damon plays General Leslie Groves, Oppenheimer’s military handler, and Robert Downey Jr. plays Lewis Strauss, a senior member of the US Atomic Energy Commission. Cillian Murphy plays the title character. The supporting cast also includes Kenneth Branagh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, and Florence Pugh. Its IMDb rating is 8.6/10.
After winning a bidding war for the script, Universal Pictures announced the movie in September 2021. In October, Murphy agreed to play Oppenheimer, and the rest of the core cast joined in between November 2021 and April 2022. Filming took place between February and May 2022, with pre-production starting in January 2022. Oppenheimer was captured on IMAX 65mm and 65mm large-format film, with sequences captured for the first time in IMAX analogue black-and-white photography. Like in his earlier films, Nolan relied heavily on physical effects and barely any computer-generated images.

Cast:

Cillian Murphy

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Robert Downey Jr.

Lewis Strauss

Florence Pugh

Jean Tatlock

Emily Blunt

Kitty Oppenheimer

Matt Damon

Leslie Groves

Devon Bostick

Seth Neddermeyer

Jack Quaid

Richard Feynman

Storyline:

Young, talented J. Robert Oppenheimer struggles with anxiety and homesickness while working for Patrick Blackett at the Cavendish Laboratory. He even leaves a poisoned apple for Blackett. Unknowingly finding it, visiting speaker Niels Bohr is prevented from eating it by Oppenheimer. He returned to the United States after earning his physics PhD at the University of Göttingen in Germany due to a lack of quantum physics research.

He began working for the California Institute of Technology while also beginning to lecture at the University of California, Berkeley. Along the way, he meets important people including Katherine Puening, with whom he subsequently marries, Ernest Lawrence, the 1939 Nobel Prize laureate who emphasizes the value of practical applications, and Jean Tatlock, with whom he has an on-and-off romantic involvement until her suicide. He and Albert Einstein had a conversation about the vast implications of nuclear weapons and the enormous knowledge burden they carry.

After Oppenheimer assures them that he has no sympathy for communism, Leslie Groves approaches him and asks for his assistance in developing the atomic weapon. Despite his worries about possible global repercussions, Oppenheimer gathered a group of scientists to work together and develop the atomic bomb in Los Alamos. Oppenheimer is particularly motivated by the threat posed by the Nazis and their treatment of Jews.

Some of the scientists working on the project started to wonder if they should keep building the bomb as Germany capitulated in World War II. However, work on the project continues, and the Trinity test is conducted despite the inherent risk that it would start a chain reaction that would have catastrophic effects or even bring about the end of the world. The test, however, was successful.

As a result, US President Harry S. Truman decided to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atomic bombs. Oppenheimer meets with Truman in his office after being devastated by the massive carnage brought on by these bombings. Truman is offended by Oppenheimer’s emotional state and views it as a weakness. He clears Oppenheimer of any blame for the bombings during their discussion, but Oppenheimer insists he is to blame.

Oppenheimer became a strong opponent of additional nuclear research in the years to follow, particularly the development of the hydrogen bomb. However, given the heated context of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, his position becomes a source of dispute. Government officials are suspicious of Oppenheimer because of his alleged left-wing affiliations and friendship with Tatlock, who has been linked to communist tendencies.

Strongman Lewis Strauss, who harbours animosity for Oppenheimer and holds fervent anti-communist sentiments, seizes the chance to capitalize on these accusations. In addition to having his security clearance revoked, Oppenheimer’s reputation suffers as a result of the discovery of his relationship with Tatlock and the assumption that he had ties to communists.

As a result, his voice is effectively silenced in discussions about atomic energy and national security. However, Strauss’ activities backfired in his own hearing when a former Met Lab worker testified against him, highlighting his personal issues with an agenda against Oppenheimer. The Senate rejected Strauss’ request for a cabinet seat.

Release Date of Oppenheimer:

On July 11, 2023, Oppenheimer had its Paris premiere at Le Grand Rex. On July 21, 2023, Universal Pictures released the film in theatres across the US and the UK.

Box Office:

Oppenheimer’s global revenue as of November 28, 2023, was $952.6 million, with $325.4 million coming from sales in the US and Canada and $627.2 million from sales in other countries. After Joker (2019), it has the second-highest lifetime box office gross of any R-rated movie. After surpassing Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) in September 2023, Oppenheimer became the highest-grossing biographical picture ever made.
August 2023 saw Oppenheimer become the highest-grossing movie ever not to top the domestic box office. However, in its sixth weekend, it surpassed Barbie for the first time, topping the global box office with a total of $38.12 million. Additionally, it has surpassed Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk (2017) to become the biggest-grossing World War II film.
Not only did Oppenheimer become one of the top five highest-grossing IMAX films, but it also made $183 million (about 20% of its overall gross), with over $17 million coming from the 30 screens that screened IMAX 70 mm prints. The movie was scheduled for re-release on November 3 in IMAX theatres, which will feature six IMAX 70mm prints. These theatres had reported selling out of the movie when it first opened.

Filming:

By January 2022, pre-production had already started in New Mexico, where actors were sought for a two-day casting call in Santa Fe and Los Alamos for the roles of locals, soldiers, and scientists. In February, there was yet another casting call. Beginning in late February 2022, Hoyte van Hoytema served as the director of photography. For “one scene, a page and a half” in May, Gary Oldman stated he would spend a day on set.
Flora Nolan, Nolan’s oldest daughter, had also filmed a scene in which she portrayed a young woman caught in an explosion as a result of an Oppenheimer vision. He felt that including the scenario was the greatest way to convey the idea that “the point is that if you create the ultimate destructive power, it will also destroy those who are near and dear to you.”
The picture was shot on both 65 mm and IMAX large-format film. Additionally, it is the first movie to use IMAX black-and-white photography for certain scenes. Filming at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, took place during the second week of April. California served as the location for additional filming, mostly around the University of California, Berkeley campus. Murphy had been ascending a 100-foot steel tower, a copy of the original location utilized in the Trinity Project when the production team had filmed scenes in Belen, New Mexico. May 2022 marked the end of filming.

Instead of using computer-generated images, the Trinity nuclear test was reenacted during filming using actual explosives. Gasoline, propane, aluminium powder, and magnesium were combined to produce a unique set. Scott R. Fisher, the movie’s special effects supervisor, called the miniatures used for the practical effect “bigatures” since the team made an effort to make the models as huge as possible. Additionally, a community in the 1940s was entirely created for the movie. Additionally, scenes have been shot in the renovated original cabin of Oppenheimer. Kai Bird, who was also there on-site, was impressed by Murphy’s portrayal of Oppenheimer as the movie was being made.