Oppenheimer: Robert Downey Jr. Jokes Film's Success Has Been a "Terrible Tragedy" for Christopher Nolan

Robert Downey Jr. is having a ton of success this awards season thanks to his role as Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan's film Oppenheimer. Downey Jr. has been doing a lot of press for the film and has shared some fun stories about Nolan. Recently, the actor revealed his hilarious response to the director's on-set bathroom schedule. This week, Downey Jr. presented Nolan with the inaugural Trailblazer Award at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in Utah (via NME) and he made some jokes about how Oppenheimer's success has affected Nolan. Not only was Oppenheimer a hit with critics, earning a 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes, but it was also one of the most successful movies of 2023. The movie made $952,868,405 at the worldwide box office, making it the third-highest-grossing film of the year and the second-highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. 

"Confidentially, he needs his spirits lifted," Downey Jr. joked when speaking about Nolan. "He's a bit blue because a terrible tragedy has befallen him. I don't mean to bring this up, and I know it's very personal: He has become recognizable on the street. He recoils as though from a hot flame from this new and most unwelcome reality."

Christopher Nolan On Recreating The Trinity Test:

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Nolan reacted to fans thinking he took such extreme measures to get his movie made.

"It's flattering that people would think I would be capable of something as extreme as that on the one hand, but it's also a little bit scary," Nolan shared. 

"I think recreating the Trinity test without the use of computer graphics, was a huge challenge to take on," Nolan previously told Total Film. "Andrew Jackson – my visual effects supervisor, I got him on board early on – was looking at how we could do a lot of the visual elements of the film practically, from representing quantum dynamics and quantum physics to the Trinity test itself, to recreating, with my team, Los Alamos up on a mesa in New Mexico in extraordinary weather, a lot of which was needed for the film, in terms of the very harsh conditions out there – there were huge practical challenges." 

"It's a story of immense scope and scale," Nolan added. "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."

Are you rooting for Oppenheimer this awards season? Tell us in the comments!