A fan-made Oppenheimer featurette imagines Christopher Nolan dropping a real nuke for the movie. The upcoming biographical film tells the story of the titular theoretical physicist who spearheaded the Manhattan Project and is credited with being the “father of the atomic bomb.” Oppenheimer is one of the most anticipated movies of 2023 due to its star-studded cast and visionary director Nolan’s tendency to do everything for real, including crashing a Boeing 747 into an airport hanger for his most recent film, Tenet.
Because of Nolan’s tendencies as a filmmaker, fans began joking about him going to the extreme of detonating an actual nuclear bomb to attain the perfect shot for Oppenheimer. Now, a fan-made featurette for the film imagines him doing just that. Shared by CINEVA, the fake Oppenheimer featurette takes viewers behind the scenes of Nolan’s quest to drop a real nuke for the perfect shot, and it’s so well-edited that it could believably appear on Oppenheimer‘s Blu-ray extras. That is, if Nolan actually attempted such an unthinkable feat. Watch the video below:
Oppenheimer’s Nuclear Explosion Recreation Explained
Of course, Nolan did not actually drop a real nuke for his upcoming film. However, for Oppenheimer, Nolan did recreate the first nuclear weapon detonation, the 1945 Trinity Test, with real explosives and without the use of CGI. The ambitious feat could prove to be Nolan’s wildest achievement yet in his illustrious career and is one of the main reasons, in addition to Oppenheimer‘s seriously impressive cast, the upcoming biopic has been topping lists of the most anticipated movies of 2023. It also could prove to be a compelling reason for audiences to see Oppenheimer in theaters rather than waiting for it to go home.
In addition to recreating the first nuclear bomb blast without CGI, Nolan shooting large portions of Oppenheimer in black-and-white is also a historical feat. The director previously utilized black-and-white on his first two films, Following and Memento, but Oppenheimer was the first time in history a large-format film was shot in monochrome. The feat required a new type of IMAX film to be developed just so Nolan could shoot portions of Oppenheimer in black-and-white.
Nolan recreating a nuclear explosion without CGI should give Oppenheimer a certain rawness and resounding impact for audiences. Like with Memento, Oppenheimer‘s use of both black-and-white and color is expected to differentiate between two separate timelines, past and present. Nolan has frequently used practical effects and black-and-white throughout his career, and he is bringing both trademarks back in full force for his upcoming film. The result should be another cinematic spectacle when Oppenheimer releases in theaters.
Source: CINEVA
