Oppenheimer Used a Deadly Combination of Propane, Gasoline, Magnesium Flares, and Gunpowder as Christopher Nolan Refused Using CGI for a Nuke
In addition to the story, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which stars Iron Man and Peaky Blinders actor Robert Downey Jr. and Cillian Murphy, also managed to captivate the audience with its direction, cinematography, and exceptionally well-acted characters.
In contrast to how movies typically use CGI to enhance the appeal of the film, the filmmaker of the film, which was based on the life of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, also known as the Father of the Atomic Bomb, had disclosed this before the film’s release.
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How did Christopher Nolan recreate the Trinity Test’s atomic bomb explosion scene?
As filmmaker Christopher Nolan revealed ahead of Oppenheimer’s release, he is not a fan of CGI and had not used any CGI in the movie, which made fans wonder how the Trinity Test was recreated.
In an interview with Variety, Nolan’s DOP Hoyte van Hoytema explained that obviously, they couldn’t make an explosion the size of the actual explosion, so they used trickery. He said, “We’re suckers for this absolute depth of resolution that IMAX gives us. But when you go to VFX, you have to scan it, and the moment you do that, it loses half of its resolution.”
“We created science experiments. We built aquariums with power in it. We dropped silver particles in it. We had molded metallic balloons, which were lit up from the inside. We had things slamming and smashing into one another, such as Ping-Pong balls, or just had objects spinning. We had long shutter speeds, short shutter speeds, wide negative color, negative overexposure, and underexposure. It was like a giant playground for all of us.”
Hoytema finally said that the Trinity Test was something that came together and was cobbled from the miniatures of that science experiment under the guidance of Nolan and his. The team managed to push themselves slowly in a direction to serve specific functions in the sequences.
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Christopher Nolan created the atomic bomb using various ingredients
It was revealed in an interview that to create the iconic Trinity Test’s atomic bomb, Nolan used gasoline, propane, black powder, aluminum powder, and magnesium flares. The team didn’t want to give away too many of their tricks many so this is as the audience gets to know about the iconic scene.
In the Wired Autocomplete Interview where Nolan appeared with Robert Downey Jr. who plays Lewis Strauss in the movie, he said, “We don’t want to give away the tricks too much. We didn’t use CG, we tried to come up with methods from the visual effects and special effects department that were microscopic things that look huge, but also some giant big bangs out in the desert that were pretty spectacular to live through.”
Robert Downey Jr. praises Oppenheimer co-star Cillian Murphy
During an interview, Downey praised his co-star Cillian Murphy, stating that he has never witnessed a greater sacrifice by a lead actor in his career. He added that he was so impressed by Murphy’s commitment to the character that it comes with a lot of pressure.
He said, “He knew it was going to be a behemoth asked when Chris called him. But I think he also had the humility that is required to survive playing a role like this. We’d be like, ‘Hey, we got a three-day weekend. Maybe we’ll go antiquing in Santa Fe. What are you going to do?’ ‘Oh, I have to learn 30,000 words of Dutch. Have a nice time.’ But that’s the nature of the ask.”
Florence Pugh who plays Jean Tatlock in the movie also appreciated the actor by saying that Nolan had one of the most incredible leads in Murphy, adding that he is an actor that she had been watching for a while now and was desperate to work with and she would be mad to say no. Pugh lastly said that working on Oppenheimer with Cillian and Nolan was truly one of the best experiences of her life.
Oppenheimer is in cinemas now.
Source: Variety
