Oppenheimer Biographer Calls Christopher Nolan’s Film “Stunning Artistic Achievement”

This summer, Christopher Nolan will bring the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer to the biggest movie screens around the country. The American physicist led the Manhattan Project in the creation of the atomic bomb, making him one of the most polarizing figures in modern history. Nolan’s latest film, Oppenheimer, aims to explore the scientist’s story and motivations in great detail. It seems to have done just that, based on the reaction of one of the foremost experts on J. Robert Oppenheimer, Kai Bird.

Bird co-wrote the Pulitzer prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer alongside the late Martin J. Sherwin. The 2005 book is the basis for Nolan’s upcoming film. While speaking with David Nirenberg at the Leon Levy Center for Biography in New York, Bird shared his initial reaction to Nolan’s Oppenheimer movie, which he recently screened.

“I am, at the moment, stunned and emotionally recovering from having seen it,” Bird said (per Variety). “I think it is going to be a stunning artistic achievement, and I have high hopes it will actually stimulate a national, even global conversation about the issues that Oppenheimer was desperate to speak about — about how to live in the atomic age, how to live with the bomb and about McCarthyism — what it means to be a patriot, and what is the role for a scientist in a society drenched with technology and science, to speak out about public issues.”

Oppenheimer’s Practical Effects

For the Oppenheimer movie, Christopher Nolan wanted to use practical effects as much as possible, including for the explosion of the bomb. While speaking to Empire, Nolan opened up about why he relied so heavily on practical effects.

“I mean, I’ve done a lot of explosions in a lot of films,” Nolan explained. “But there is something very unique and particular about being out in a desert in the middle of the night with a big cast, and really just doing some enormous explosions and capturing that. You couldn’t help but come back to this moment when they were doing this on the ultimate scale, that in the back of their minds they knew there was this possibility that they would set fire to the atmosphere. It was pretty amazing to engage in that kind of tension.”  

Oppenheimer Cast

Nolan’s films always rely on a ton of star power, and Oppenheimer will be no different. Cillian Murphy, who has appeared in numerous Nolan movies in supporting roles, will take on the lead this time, starring as the titular physicist. 

The cast of Oppenheimer also includes Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Olivia Thrilby, Florence Pugh, Jack Quaid, David Dastmalchian, Gary Oldman, Josh Hartnett, Rami Malek, David Krumholtz, Alden Ehrenreich, Dane DeHaan, Josh Peck, Tony Goldwyn, and Kenneth Branagh.

Oppenheimer is set to debut in theaters on July 21st. The film will be playing in IMAX theaters around the country, as well as in 70mm IMAX in select theaters.