Impossible is often just a starting point on a Christopher Nolan film and , was no exception. In fact, it's often where inspiration was born.
During one especially stressful stretch, filmmakers lost their White House set five days before they had one day to shoot with Gary Oldman, who was flying in to play President Harry S. Truman. The wild scramble to find and construct a new Oval Office is detailed in a included in the newly available .
Looking back on that moment now, producer Emma Thomas can鈥檛 help feeling bad about the timing. But she marveled at what the crew accomplished. She told them at the time that if there were ever a zombie apocalypse, they were the people she鈥檇 want to be with.
鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing film crews can鈥檛 do. They will move mountains if they have to,鈥� Thomas told The Associated Press. 鈥淓very day there鈥檚 something that happens and you have to figure out a way out of it. But that鈥檚 where the magic happens.鈥�
For some, like production designer Ruth De Jong, that would involve building Los Alamos and finding Washington D.C. in New Mexico. For others, like cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema and editor Jennifer Lame, it was making an 鈥渙pera of faces and emotions鈥� compelling for three hours.
Key craft department heads spoke to the AP about the challenges and triumphs of making this film, which at the box office.
鈥淏ecause Chris holds himself to the same standards, everyone鈥檚 willing to go there with him,鈥� Thomas said.
YOU CAN鈥橳 HIDE IN IMAX
Aging 18 principal actors across multiple decades is hard enough, but as makeup lead Luisa Abel and head of hair design Jaime Leigh McIntosh quickly learned, There would be no help from CGI, either.
鈥淲e were in the elements a lot and a lot of the actors have prosthetic pieces on. Even younger actors have pieces on before they were meant to be older because I think everybody looks a lot younger now than people did in that era,鈥� Abel said.
They mapped out detailed aging diagrams for each character, which helped enormously in a non-chronological shoot. And Nolan was involved in it all 鈥� down to haircuts.
鈥淗e really pays attention to every detail for every department,鈥� McIntosh said. 鈥淎s an artist it鈥檚 incredibly helpful to have a director who is communicative and can give you feedback.鈥�
A LAST MINUTE REQUEST
For as precisely planned as 鈥淥ppenheimer鈥� was there were still some last-minute fits of inspiration. A day before they shot Oppenheimer鈥檚 post-Trinity test speech in the auditorium, Nolan asked costume designer Ellen Mirojnick to put the audience in bright colors.
Luckily, she was able to get her assistant to pull a big batch of 1940s clothes, in reds, yellows, greens and blues in Los Angeles and ship them to New Mexico within 20 hours. It wasn鈥檛 part of the plan but, Mirojnick said, it was the right note for this disorienting scene where Oppenheimer starts having horrific visions about his creation.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 imagine what it would be if it wasn鈥檛 that, because it feels like this kind of crazy dream ... and an insight into his state of mind,鈥� Thomas said. 鈥淲ho would have thought that the color of the costumes could do that? But they do.鈥�
LEANING INTO THE CLAUSTROPHOBIA OF ROOM 2022
There was old tape on one of the walls of the narrow, dingy room De Jong found in a shaving company鈥檚 old headquarters in Southern California used for Oppenheimer鈥檚 security clearance hearing. It was the perfect claustrophobic, unglamourous and period-specific setting for a humiliating ordeal designed to make Oppenheimer feel small.
鈥淒on鈥檛 clean this up,鈥� Nolan said. They didn鈥檛.
It was tight, and hot, and the only people who could fit in the room were the actors (usually at least 6 at any given time), Nolan and van Hoytema.
鈥淲e like shooting in small spaces with these cameras,鈥� van Hoytema said, recalling the small boat hulls in 鈥淒unkirk.鈥� 鈥淎ll clumped up together is our favorite modus operandi.鈥�
And those scenes ended up being some of Lame鈥檚 favorite to edit.
鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing more interesting than to watch amazing actors sitting in a room. I find it challenging but also immensely satisfying,鈥� Lame said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing what Hoyte and Chris did with room 2022. Every time you went in there, it felt like a totally different kind of scene: It had a different feeling to it, or it had slightly different lighting or the shots were more menacing on certain characters.鈥�
Someone told her that they could have watched Kitty鈥檚 testimony, a big moment for actor Emily Blunt near the end of the film, for 鈥�20 minutes.鈥� That moment also provided an opportunity for musical innovation with Ludwig G枚ransson鈥檚 score, blending blends Kitty鈥檚 theme 鈥� a piano and cello 鈥� with Oppenheimer鈥檚 鈥� a violin.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a waltz,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like they鈥檙e dancing together.鈥�
WHEN PERFECT ISN鈥橳 RIGHT
For G枚ransson, 鈥淥ppenheimer鈥� was a personal journey that鈥檚 allowed him to work alongside his wife, violinist Serena G枚ransson, and also one that challenged him in unexpected ways.
On the first recording of 鈥淐an You Hear the Music,鈥� which has 21 big tempo changes, they did it eight bars at a time. When he glued it all together, it sounded perfect 鈥� but perfect felt wrong.
鈥淲hat I wanted to capture was the energy that I鈥檇 seen in the visuals, when I sat there with Andrew Jackson and Chris Nolan in the IMAX theater and they showed me the first visual experiments 鈥� like the molecules going around and the energy of being on the brink of discovery,鈥� he said.
They went back and recorded the piece in one take.
鈥淚t was like night and day,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a there鈥檚 an energy and a flow that comes in that room of four to six string players playing together and changing tempo together.鈥�
has been streamed almost 60 million times and viewed 1.5 billion times on TikTok.
BIG EXPLOSIONS AND TINY ELECTRONS
Nolan knew that the Trinity test, the first detonation of a nuclear weapon, would have to be the showstopper for the film both visually and sonically. He even built in about 30 seconds of near-silence before the sound of the explosion hits the spectators, at three different distances.
It was a high-pressure moment for sound designer Richard King, who knows that explosions are uniquely hard to record.
鈥淵ou can rarely get them to sound as impressive as you want them to sound,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 knew it should have a unique quality to it, something you鈥檝e never heard before. It needed to be like a wall hitting you, like a cosmic door slamming.鈥�
Knowing Nolan鈥檚 preference for practical visuals and sounds recorded during production, King challenged himself to use only those derived from the real world. Visual effects lead Andrew Jackson was similarly strict with himself to stay rooted in reality even when creating the most otherworldly effects.
And the mushroom cloud isn鈥檛 even his proudest achievement.
鈥淭he huge explosions are very effective, but for me it鈥檚 the smaller things,鈥� Jackson said. 鈥淚 loved the spinning electrons. They鈥檙e simple but effective and I think they鈥檙e really beautiful.鈥�
The electrons show a glimpse into Oppenheimer鈥檚 mind 鈥� visions which would also provide thematic bookends in his journey. G枚ransson said it was only on a recent watch that he noticed how the chilling end moments of the film parallel the 鈥淐an You Hear the Music鈥� montage from earlier with Lame鈥檚 quick cuts. But instead of 鈥渋nnocent dreams about adventure and science,鈥� it鈥檚 now the end of the world. And that鈥檚 reflected in the music too.
鈥淲ith a slight change in tone, you can have music that鈥檚 so uplifting and inspiring鈥� he said. 鈥淎t the end, it鈥檚 full of dread.鈥�
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
