Christopher Nolan movies hardly need talking up. The director remains one of the few filmmakers capable of opening a film on name alone, but that hasn’t prevented the Inception auteur from revealing that early screenings of his biographical-thriller Oppenheimer have left some viewers “absolutely devastated”.
Ahead of Oppenheimer‘s July release, Nolan was speaking with Wired about the effect his latest film has had on those who’ve seen it, revealing that another filmmaker called it a “horror” movie, and that audiences had been left reeling by a film he said he was “relieved to be finished with it”.
Nolan claimed “Some people leave the movie absolutely devastated. They can’t speak. I mean, there’s an element of fear that’s there in the history and there in the underpinnings. But the love of the characters, the love of the relationships, is as strong as I’ve ever done.”
He continued to say that “It is an intense experience, because it’s an intense story. I showed it to a filmmaker recently who said it’s kind of a horror movie. I don’t disagree. It’s interesting that you used the word nihilism earlier, because I don’t think I’d quite managed to put my finger on it. But as I started to finish the film, I started to feel this colour that’s not in my other films, just darkness. It’s there. The film fights against that.”
SEE ALSO: Warner Bros. wants Christopher Nolan return
Nolan did say finish by saying that “I enjoy watching the film tremendously. I think you’ll understand when you see the film”. Is that something you’ll be doing on July 21st? Let us know by heading to our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Starring alongside Cillian Murphy’s titular scientist are Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Rami Malek, Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, Dane DeHaan, Casey Affleck, Jack Quaid, Matthew Modine, Dylan Arnold, David Krumholtz, Alden Ehrenreich, David Dastmalchian, Olli Haaskivi, Jason Clarke, James D’Arcy, Michael Angarano, Guy Burnet, Danny Deferrari, Matthias Schweighöfer, Gary Oldman, Harrison Gilbertson, Emma Dumont, Devon Bostick, Trond Fausa, Christopher Denham and Josh Zuckerman.
“The IMAX-shot epic thriller thrusts audiences into the pulse-pounding paradox of the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it.”
Oppenheimer explodes into cinemas on July 21st, 2023.
