Oppenheimer: Emily Blunt Was Stunned by Cosplayers at Screening

Oppenheimer became one of the biggest surprises of 2023, with the film going on to have a nearly billion-dollar gross at the global box office. The film, both on its own and as part of the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon, gave audiences a lot to talk about — and one side effect of that definitely surprised one of the film's stars. Emily Blunt, who portrayed Katherine "Kitty" Oppenheimer in Oppenheimer, revealed her reaction to the audience members she saw in cosplay while sneaking into a screening of the film.

"We are all awestruck by the success of it, and that people ran to the theaters over and over again," Blunt told Anne Hathaway during a recent Variety's Actors on Actors interview. "I don't think even Chris understands how it all happened. People want the full kidnap of an experience, and you're going to get that with a Chris Nolan movie."

"Because of the strike, we didn't get to watch the movie with an audience," Blunt continued. "I realized that Oppenheimer was going to be a very significant moment in cinema history when John [Krasinski, her husband] and I managed to find two seats at an Imax in Nyack, N.Y., in a shopping mall. We snuck in when the lights went dark, and I saw a group of teenage boys coming in dressed as [Cillian Murphy]. In Nyack, N.Y.! I got chills. I called Cillian [Murphy] afterwards and said, "You're not going to believe what I just saw.""

What Is Oppenheimer About?

Oppenheimer follows the life of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory during the Manhattan Project, and his contributions that led to the creation of the atomic bomb. The film stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, Emily Blunt as Katherine "Kitty" Oppenheimer, Matt Damon as Leslie Groves, Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock, Benny Safdie as Edward Teller, Michael Angarano as Robert Serber, Josh Hartnett as Ernest Lawrence, Dylan Arnold as Frank Oppenheimer, David Krumholtz as Isidor Isaac Rabi, Matthew Modine as Vannevar Bush, Josh Peck as Kenneth Bainbridge, Devon Bostick as Seth Neddermeyer, Matthias Schweighöfer as Werner Heisenberg, Christopher Denham as Klaus Fuchs, Guy Burnet as George Eltenton, Danny Deferrari as Enrico Fermi, Emma Dumont as Jackie Oppenheimer, Gustaf Skarsgård as Hans Bethe, Trond Fausa Aurvåg as George Kistiakowsky, and Gary Oldman as Harry S. Truman.

"It's a story of immense scope and scale," director Christopher Nolan previously said of the film in an interview with Total Film late last year. "And one of the most challenging projects I've ever taken on in terms of the scale of it, and in terms of encountering the breadth of Oppenheimer's story. There were big, logistical challenges, big practical challenges. But I had an extraordinary crew, and they really stepped up. It will be a while before we're finished. But certainly as I watch the results come in, and as I'm putting the film together, I'm thrilled with what my team has been able to achieve."

What Is Christopher Nolan's Next Movie?

As Nolan recently revealed to Yahoo! Entertainment, he has a unique perspective on the ongoing conversation around Oppenheimer, and would like his follow-up film to be a bit different thematically.

"I definitely– part of me wants to leave the story behind," Nolan explained. "I mean, it's a great privilege to be able to talk about a film that you've made that's now going into the home and on 4k and Blu-ray and all the rest. It's great to be able to sit here and talk to you about the success of the movie. That's a huge privilege. But the subject matter is very dark. It's nihilistic. And, yeah, there's part of me that's quite keen to move on and maybe do something, you know, not quite as bleak."

What do you think of Emily Blunt's new comments about Oppenheimer? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!