stranger to philosophical filmmaking.
Damon joins a star-studded cast list which, alongside Cillian Murphy, includes Robert Downey Jr, Florence Pugh, and Emily Blunt. Pugh and Blunt portray two of the central women in Oppenheimer’s life – his romantic partner Jean Tatlock and his wife Kitty Oppenheimer, respectively – and Nolan’s portrayal doesn’t underestimate the influence the women in the scientist’s life had on his trajectory. Blunt, known for starring in The Girl On The Train and A Quiet Place, says Oppenheimer’s wife Kitty – a biologist turned housewife – was “unusual for the time because there was a kind of unwillingness to conform to the 1950s ideal housewife – she certainly wasn’t reading Good Housekeeping!” “She was like: ‘When can I have a martini? And when can I pass my children off to someone else?’” adds the 40-year- old actress. “I think that she was such an exhilarating person to play. She’s super-complicated, and not without her demons. But it was very true to what was real about her… there was a lot of inner struggle at having to be a housewife. “She was probably meant for vast intellectual endeavours, similar to him. But she did adore him and worship him.And so there was so much to play with, with that marriage.” For Midsommar and Little Women star Pugh, 27, playing the Communist Party member and psychiatrist Jean Tatlock meant plenty of “unique, quiet moments” as she explored the couple’s relationship with Murphy.
“It’s hard to know exactly when I first got interested in Oppenheimer’s story,” says Nolan, 52.
“As a kid growing up in England (in) the early 80s, the concern with nuclear weapons in pop culture was enormous. My friends and I, we were 12 or 13 at the time, we all discussed and believed that we would probably die in a nuclear holocaust at some point. “Sting had his song Russians out, somewhere in that period, and he referred to Oppenheimer’s deadly toys, meaning nuclear weapons. So (I had) been aware of the name for a long time. “At some point, I chanced upon this fact that Oppenheimer and his colleagues, during the Manhattan Project, had been unable to completely eliminate the possibility that the chain reaction would destroy the entire world when they triggered the first test of the atomic device – and yet, they went ahead and they pushed that button.”
“I think Oppenheimer’s story is the most dramatic I’ve ever encountered,” he adds.
And who better to take on the task of bringing this scientific, political, emotional, and ultimately human story to the big screen than Nolan? “There’s nobody working who does movies at this scale where the acting is so good, and he really understands the intimacy and the humanity of people, but also understands story and wants to ask big questions,” says Matt Damon, 52, who plays Leslie Groves, director of the Manhattan Project.
“His films are very ambitious, but they’re very human, too, and that’s why people relate to them.”
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Photo: Emily Blunt as Kitty Oppenheimer
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