It’s time to mark your calendars in a countdown for July 21, 2023, because Oppenheimer is set to have an explosive premiere in cinemas worldwide. Premiere dates, however, might vary depending on the region or the local cinema.
Oppenheimer is directed by Christopher Nolan, giving it a more exciting connotation among filmgoers as the director’s portfolio is prominent for featuring some certified puzzlers.
It’s also worth noting that the movie is a film adaptation of the 2005 book American Prometheus which was written by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. The book is based on true events which transpired at the tail-end of World War 2, involving the titular film protagonist, J. Robert Oppenheimer.
He’s the theoretical physicist who was widely credited with developing the first nuclear bomb or weapon, earning him the nickname, ‘father of the atomic bomb.’
Production went by rather smoothly for Oppenheimer as it began filming back in February 2022 and was finished in May. Due to Oppenheimer’s premiere date of July 21, 2023, it developed a meme culture around it for having the same release day as Barbie.
So don’t feel too confused by the memes. You needn’t have watched Barbie to understand Oppenheimer and vice versa– though nothing’s stopping you from indulging yourself.
How Faithful is Oppenheimer to History?
Christopher Nolan made sure Oppenheimer was as historically accurate as can be– in every aspect of the film. Apparently, he even recreated bomb test sequences– like the atomic bomb test footages in secluded areas without CGI though presumably with less powerful explosives. Nolan also hired scientists for advice, and filming even took place inside the original Manhattan Project buildings. This was where Oppenheimer conducted the laboratory tests for the nuclear bomb.
The team even included J. Robert Oppenheimer’s home on the set. As for how well it will commit to the recorded narratives, that really depends on how historically accurate was the source material or the aforementioned book.
Christopher Nolan Used Color Grading to Separate Fact From Fiction
In one of his interviews, Christopher Nolan claimed to have utilized a distinct and peculiar filming technique for Oppenheimer where the scenes that were objective and factual were shot in monochrome or black-and-white.
Meanwhile, the subjective scenes, or those left so speculation or assumption in the absence of ample historical records, were shot in color. There are, thus, two clashing perspectives in Oppenheimer, particularly one that wrestles with the morality and ethics of creating a weapon that could end mankind as a whole– more on that later.
This was similar to how he filmed Memento. There, we can assume how Christopher Nolan will inject his signature mind-twister of a narrative that will challenge the viewers’ thinking capacity. It won’t be your typical action-packed war movie; Oppenheimer will focus more on political drama.
What is Oppenheimer About?
As we mentioned earlier, Oppenheimer chronicles the creation and cinematic use of the nuclear bomb, as well as the titular scientist’s struggles and exploits during the process.
J. Robert Oppenheimer was tasked as one of the leads for creating the first atomic bomb; he worked closely with Leslie Groves– a military engineer who oversaw the Manhattan Project along with Oppenheimer.
Oppenheimer, along with his team of scientists, were expectedly hesitant or even reluctant about the Manhattan Project due to the scale of the destruction which the weapon could cause. Therein lies the conflict, as the Manhattan Project’s scientists (Oppenheimer included) tried to fight themselves and their better judgment to continue building the nuclear bomb.
After Manhattan Project’s success, out came official interviews with Oppenheimer with his remorse, along with his famous quote from the Bhagavad-Gita scripture, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
It’s worth noting that historically, Oppenheimer expressed regret about the weapons he made and even worked hard to stop their use. This was presumably following World War 2 when the nuclear bombs catalyzed an arms race between the US and the Soviets instead of bringing absolute peace– though it also shortened World War 2 and hastened Imperial Japan’s surrender.
During the infancy of the Cold War, in the 1950s, Oppenheimer even worked with the US Atomic Energy Commission to limit the use of nuclear weapons as he knew firsthand the destruction it could cause. His sentiments were ultimately, anti-war. This eventually cost Oppenheimer his job and his reputation in the US.
The Cast and Crew
Despite having only a production budget of $100 million, Oppenheimer spared no expense for its cast. It features one of the most stellar and star-studded castings for a film in the 2020s.
Cillian Murphy takes centerstage as J. Robert Oppenheimer himself after being a supporting character for so many Nolan films in the past. Here’s the list of notable cast members in Oppenheimer:
- Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer
- Matt Damon as Leslie Groves
- Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss
- Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock
- Emily Blunt as Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer
- Josh Hartnett as Ernest Lawrence
- Casey Affleck as Boris Pash
- Rami Malek as David Hill
- Kenneth Branagh as Niels Bohr
Oppenheimer is also the sixth film in which Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy worked together. Moreover, even A-listers such as Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, and Emily Blunt agreed to pay cuts in order to play their roles in the film.
Is Oppenheimer Banned in Certain Countries?
Surprisingly, Oppenheimer hasn’t received some scathing bans from certain countries and their cinemas.
The general assumption was that countries like Japan would ban the film due to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives back in World War 2 thanks to Oppenheimer’s inventions. However, there’s no such reception for Oppenheimer yet.
Still, Oppenheimer has no finalized release plans in Japan yet despite being close to the worldwide premiere. It’s not clear at the time of writing what Universal Studios’ plans are for a Japan release.
Oppenheimer is no doubt a complicated subject matter in Japan, and it’s also not clear how the Japanese perceive the movie.
Regardless, you can see Oppenheimer for yourself in theaters on July 21, 2023.
