An Action Movie About Scientists Talking

Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer plays out across the landscapes of Los Alamos and of Cillian Murphy's face.

- By Bilge Ebiri

Christopher Nolan remembers when he first heard the name Oppenheimer. It was via the lyrics of Sting’s 1985 antiwar hit, “Russians”: “How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer’s deadly toy?” Like many in his generation, Nolan was already obsessed with the end of the world; he recalls the early-’80s blockades in protest of the placement of cruise missiles in England and the growing campaign for nuclear disarmament. “We were convinced we were going to die in a nuclear holocaust,” he says. “Very much the way kids these days feel about climate change.”

Nolan’s new film is a biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the so-called father of the atomic bomb. “When you watch the movies, it’s very clear what’s preoccupying Chris at any given moment in time,” says Emma Thomas, Nolan’s wife and the producer of all his films. “When our kids were little, Inception reflected his preoccupation with the importance of family.” And as one’s kids get older, one becomes even more preoccupied with what their future will look like—or if they’ll get to have one. Oppenheimer might have seemed like an odd story to tackle in 2021, when Nolan started the film. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine thawed the ghosts of the Cold War, it has felt blisteringly relevant. Making it took Nolan far beyond his genre comfort zones. “Oppenheimer’s story and Oppenheimer’s spirit have hung over a lot of my work,” Nolan says. “To finally address it head-on, it’s just something that I felt ready to do now.”