Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is one of the biggest films of the year, nearing the billion-dollar mark at the global box office. In a new interview with Variety, the director opened up about the success of the film and said that he could never have 'predicted' it and that it was all about the 'timing' which went right. (Also read: Oppenheimer is set for ‘home’ release with three-hour special features, here's all you need to know)
What Nolan said
In a conversation with Variety, Christopher Nolan said, "With certain films, your timing is just right in ways that you never could have predicted. When you start making a film, you’re two or three years out from when it’s going to be released, so you’re trying to hit a moving target as far as the interest of the audience. But sometimes you catch a wave and the story you’re telling is one people are waiting for.”
Nolan on Oppenheimer criticism
The director also addressed the criticism surrounding the movie that it does not show the devastation caused to the Japanese people, and said, “The film presents Oppenheimer’s experience subjectively. It was always my intention to rigidly stick to that. Oppenheimer heard about the bombing at the same time that the rest of the world did. I wanted to show somebody who is starting to gain a clearer picture of the unintended consequences of his actions. It was as much about what I don’t show as what I show.”
About Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer released on July 21, along with Greta Gerwig's adaptation of Barbie, starring Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie. The biopic, set during World War II, follows physicist J Robert Oppenheimer, known as the Father of the Atomic Bomb. It is set during a period in history when he feared that testing the atomic bomb would ignite the atmosphere and destroy the world, yet he pushed the button anyway. J Robert Oppenheimer helped invent nuclear weapons during World War II. Actor Matt Damon essays the character of General Leslie Groves, the head of the Manhattan Project. Emily Blunt is seen as Oppenheimer's wife, Katherine Oppenheimer.
{{/usCountry}}Oppenheimer released on July 21, along with Greta Gerwig's adaptation of Barbie, starring Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie. The biopic, set during World War II, follows physicist J Robert Oppenheimer, known as the Father of the Atomic Bomb. It is set during a period in history when he feared that testing the atomic bomb would ignite the atmosphere and destroy the world, yet he pushed the button anyway. J Robert Oppenheimer helped invent nuclear weapons during World War II. Actor Matt Damon essays the character of General Leslie Groves, the head of the Manhattan Project. Emily Blunt is seen as Oppenheimer's wife, Katherine Oppenheimer.
{{/usCountry}}The Hindustan Times review of the film added, "At its core, Oppenheimer is about the messy, deeply unnerving intersection between science and politics. How selfish, self-serving leaders are awarded unbridled power. How wars and governments corrupt, contaminate, and bastardize science. Would you truly want peace if your life’s pathbreaking work has been to build a bomb? Is it all in service of your country, or is a world on the brink of war merely the ideal circumstance to enable your work? To answer these questions, Nolan examines one pathetic US government tragedy after the other."