Did Christopher Nolan actually detonate a real atomic bomb on Oppenheimer set? ‘It’s a little bit scary’

Renowned for his dedication to achieving utmost authenticity and minimising the use of computer-generated imagery, director Christopher Nolan affirmed to THR that his latest film is completely devoid of any CGI. His commitment to preserving originality and employing practical effects shines through in this project. “CG inherently is quite comfortable to look at,” Nolan said. “It’s safe, anodyne. And what I said to Andrew on Oppenheimer is, ‘This can’t be safe. It can’t be comfortable to look at it. It has to have a bite. It’s got to be beautiful and threatening in equal measure’.”

According to THR, one of the most unusual creative choices Nolan made was to write much of the script in the first person, including stage directions. According to Nolan, he did this to distinguish between two timelines: one from Oppenheimer’s point of view, shot in colour, and the other, more objective, in black and white. The script, THR reported, detailed how Nolan planned to make the conceptual physics real for an audience through the use of image and sound.

Produced by Universal Pictures, Syncopy Inc. and Atlas Entertainment, Oppenheimer tells the story of American theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer and his controversial Manhattan Project, a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the world’s first nuclear weapons.

Based on the 2005 biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin, Nolan’s biological thriller features a stellar cast including Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr, Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy in the titular role.

“Oppenheimer’s story is one of the most dramatic that I know of and there are many, many aspects to what makes it so compelling,” Nolan told Reuters recently.

According to the first reactions after the film’s world premiere on July 11, Nolan and the team have hit the bull’s eye in crafting a movie that delivers on every count: Oppenheimer is “visually immersive” and a stunning character study.

While Matt Maytum, deputy editor of Total Film, said Oppenheimer left him “stunned” and called it an “epic” historical drama, Associated Press film writer Lindsey Bahr, the film benefits heavily from “nuanced” performances across the board.