Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt: how we made Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer’s status as one of the films of 2023 is assured. Already appearing at or near the summit of many end-of-year polls, Christopher Nolan’s 12th feature also looks set for widespread awards nominations for its director, star Cillian Murphy and others, both in front of and behind the camera.

Based on the Pulitzer prize-winning non-fiction book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, Nolan’s film looks at the life and work of the physicist who led the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, New Mexico, conducting the first tests of the atomic bomb. With a performance of fierce intellectual intensity by Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the film details the race against time to develop a bomb that would change humanity. It weaves in intricate discussions of science fact alongside a nuanced portrayal of Oppenheimer’s tempestuous marriage to Kitty (a powerful, resolute performance from Emily Blunt).

Sitting down in a London hotel suite as the film heads into awards season, Murphy and Blunt joined us to look back at the making of their film, and the reaction to it. Full of laughter and enthusiasm for the film and its creator, the pair often gently tease each other and finish off each other’s sentences, not unlike a married couple – albeit one who’d been through a less turbulent relationship than the one they portray on screen.

Emily Blunt:

I went to Chris’s house in LA, and we chatted for an hour and a half. Then he very casually handed me this enormous red script. His scripts are on red paper, which I think is a privacy thing. You can’t photocopy them. We always laugh saying that there’s something hypnotic about it. Maybe that’s why everyone just says yes, because they’re just seduced by the paper. But no, it was his exhilarating script that was such a heartstopper. I read it in his library, and then we talked about it for an hour or so afterwards and it was an immediate yes. I didn’t even know that if you’re going to his house, he might offer you the part. I thought it was just that he meets with a bunch of people, but I realise he’s quite specific about that. If you’re sitting down with him and he’s letting you read the script, he wants you to do it.

Cillian, he rang and offered you the part before you’d seen the script?

Cillian Murphy:

He’s done that to me over the last 20 years since we first worked together. He doesn’t have a phone, so Emma Thomas, his wife [and producer], calls and she gives the phone to him, and it’s like the greatest feeling you can get. I always say, “Chris, whatever it is, it’s a yes.” But this one was different because I had no idea, there was no warning. But he said, “I’m making a film, it’s called Oppenheimer and I’d like you to play Oppenheimer.” And it was like…

Emily:

Goosebumpy.

Cillian:

I said yes. I was speechless, but it’s funny – and I’m sure you [Blunt] were like this as well – I immediately went from excitement and euphoria and slight terror into, “I’m starting work.” And I started to work before I read the script, and then he flew to Ireland – because it was the end of Covid and I couldn’t leave. He has an Irish passport as well. Little factoid. Nolan: Irish name. So he came and I read it in his hotel room; he went out. And I had the exact same response as Emily. I could tell it is possibly the greatest screenplay I’ve read professionally, and it was overwhelming. So always, the sweet spot for me is excitement and, “How the fuck am I going to do this?” combined.

Emily:

Yeah, same.

Emily:

The book that we all read, American Prometheus, was hugely helpful and revealing of the inner workings of these people, and that is what you search for: what are these little nuances that can unlock this person for me? There were wonderful segments about their marriage and just how complicated, tempestuous but successful it was – a couple of comets coming together. And great stuff about her and how difficult a person she was. I think that was quite far-reaching for all of us, that book.

Cillian:

Her voice. You’ve got to talk about that, because her voice is so good.

Emily:

Cillian and I both decided to hit that time period [the film is mostly set between the 1920s and 1950s]. I think she comes from a lot of money and has an affect to her that I felt would work. I thought she should speak at a great velocity so that she’s like a hurricane coming into his life and turning it upside down a bit. And she is a fiercely bright woman. She’s sharp-edged. Also, there’s a journey that they both go on. She deteriorates throughout the course of the film. There were a couple of screen gem actresses that I looked at from back in the days, starting as ingénues. And one in particular, who I’ve never really named to anyone, who then did hit a big drinking period and her voice and her whole demeanour really changed as she became this sort of brittle, difficult person; I was fascinated with her.

Do you want to name her now?

Emily:

I don’t, because it’s going to be a soundbite and I don’t want it to. And because I steal from the essences of a bunch of people. But there was one person I particularly enjoyed.

Cillian, I read something about you being inspired by David Bowie’s look in the ’70s.

Cillian:

Yeah. I went straight to work and there’s so much out there, you just have to dive in. So much to read, so much to look at and so much work that I had to do on my own. But Chris and I would send each other things, and he sent me a picture of Bowie from the Thin White Duke era, with those wonderful tailored trousers and his very slight frame. It was about the way Bowie was always self-mythologising, and Oppenheimer certainly did that.

We see it in the film when he’s in Los Alamos and he puts on a hat and the pipe, and it’s completely conscious, completely self-aware of what he was doing. That was in the look and the tailoring, and that silhouette I wanted to get because Bowie was so skinny. There’s this documentary the BBC made, called Cracked Actor (1975). He was doing Young Americans then; he’s touring around America. He was so skinny he could sit with his leg… I can’t do it now, but I was able to… [attempts to contort legs]. I can’t now. When I was really skinny, I could do it. Because I felt it was important for him to have that physical frailty and that brilliant brain, like mental strength. It was just an awful lot of work, a huge amount. Some from the inside out and some from the outside in, if you know what I mean.

You arrive on your first day on set. What does Nolan say to you?

Emily:

I love what he does. Chris, doesn’t want to heighten your already heightened nerves. He knows exactly how to neutralise the energy of the actors coming in, because I think we’re all bricking it a bit, we’re all scared. It’s day one and your nerves are vibrating at a higher level than I feel they are on day two or day three. He wants to just take all this sense of ceremony out of it. So everything’s very casual, conversational, private, intimate. It’s very understated, and it takes the edge off your panic. Then you realise you’re creating something and it’s OK, and it will take as long as it takes. He manages to cancel out all the noise and chaos from your experience. And I recognise he must’ve been holding a tempest in his brain every day, and you just saw none of it.

Cillian:

He’s the most unflappable. Exactly what you’d want in a leader, knows exactly what he needs. He’s incredibly calm and people are devoted to him. And that crew…

Emily:

You walked through fire for him.

Cillian:

They would do anything for him, yeah.

Emily:

He also hires the best people and he has the utmost belief in them, which I’m sure must feel like a lot of pressure sometimes, because everyone, not only the actors, but every crew member has the screws tightened on them by his belief that you will be able to do it. So no one wants to let him down, ever.

Cillian:

Yeah, he expects excellence without ever saying it, because he delivers excellence every single day. And everyone knows that they’re working to a different level. That’s what you have to do with Chris.

How much of the script changed during the shoot? Was there any improvisation?

Emily:

I don’t think there was any need to rewrite or improv anything. He is so precise as a writer. Precise and yet never safe. I don’t know what I could have brought, dialogue-wise, that wasn’t there. Although I will say he’s always very open to where you want to be in the scene here. I feel like, “Maybe here, can I start here or can we stand here?”

Cillian:

Yeah, he’s very free.

Emily:

The physicality of it is very freeing, but I’ve had the same experiences. Some films have been completely improvised, some you are rewriting the third act as you go. Sometimes it’s more chaotic, sometimes you’re finding it as you go, but it’s not that way with Chris.

Cillian:

No, it’s remarkable. I mean, the script is the film, which is very rare. There’s no rewriting or no cutting or no deleted scenes, no rearranging. The architecture, the whole thing, the dialogue. The only time I remember it going loose – and it was deliberate – was that big roundtable scene with me and Downey in black and white. We were allowed to improvise there, or he was encouraging us to improvise that, and everyone was talking over each other. That was very loose, and I think it energised it in a really interesting way.

Emily:

He said he was so moved by how many characters had really read that book and understood it and had that dialogue available to them.

Cillian:

Every single actor.

Emily:

He found it really moving. He said he was taken aback at how easily people could improv, because they really immersed themselves in the physics of it as well.

Cillian:

And the politics. Of course, Downey’s a genius improviser, so I love that moment. But aside from that, it is completely scripted.

How would you describe the atmosphere of the set?

Emily:

It was a very focused set, but it wasn’t severe. It was very private, and even when you shot the scenes, it was really him, the boom op, Hoyte [van Hoytema, cinematographer] and us, and that was it. There’s no video village, there’s no people lurking around, watching what they normally wouldn’t.

Cillian:

There’s no phones allowed.

Emily:

Everything is so private. I think Cillian and I work very similarly; I know Matt does and Downey. There was a lot of levity on set as well. We laughed, and Chris himself is approachable and warm and loves to have a chat between takes. I think he doesn’t want to work in a severe environment either.

Cillian:

Focused is the word you would have to use. Laser-like focused, and I mean that from everybody, from the crew and from Chris. But then around it, myself and Emily particularly had to have fun. It was essential.

Without saying “everybody was great,” is there anything you can tell me about your fellow cast members on the shoot?

Cillian:

You guys had a bit more fun. I didn’t partake in any of the cast dinners or any of that.

Emily:

No, Cillian retired to his cabin and…

Cillian:

…had a bath.

Emily:

To have a bath and learn more lines for the next day. I think Cillian’s undertaking was just magnificent and monumental, and the rest of us could drop in and out. But Matt is a very good friend of mine. We’re neighbours, we’ve known each other for years, so he and I would always grab dinner every night and have some fajitas and margaritas.

I hardly worked with anyone other than Cill and a bit with Jason Clarke at the end. I think everyone realised that they were a part of something rather life-changing. I think we all knew that. I don’t think we knew to what extent the film would take the world by storm, but I think you just know you’re a part of something rare. And so everyone was on their A game. There was no ego or hierarchy or any agenda. People just delighted to be working with Chris. You just want to breathe the same air as him and that was the vibe on set.

Cillian:

There’s no trailers. Everyone is in a little two-way, there’s no personal makeup. Everyone is there for the work. Everyone is there for Chris.

Would you say it feels democratic?

Emily:

Very.

Cillian:

Very democratic, but film sets have to – by their nature – have a leader. Do you know what I mean? And the buck stops with Chris, and it’s his movie. He’s written it, he’s directed it, he’s producing it. So it’s definitely Chris’s film and Chris’s set, but it never feels dictatorial or prescriptive or dogmatic, or any of those things.

Emily:

I think we all thought that most of Chris’s films, people want to run and experience them in a theatre. I feel we’re all still rather awestruck by the reaction to this extent. I had great hopes for it. I think when I saw it I knew that it was something really jaw-dropping. I knew that this kind of film, it’s where word of mouth spreads like quickfire because it’s like, if you don’t see it, you will be missing out on something.

Cillian:

We are still processing it all, just the phenomenal success of the film. I think Chris’s films always presuppose a level of intelligence in the audience. He never panders or patronises his audience. On paper, you would think this is a difficult, challenging film that’s going to struggle in a summertime release, and look what happened. It just shows you that old adage that nobody knows anything in Hollywood, and it’s true. Chris Nolan has confounded people over and over again in his career and continues to do so. The film is entertaining and it needs to be seen in the theatres, ideally. That’s how he’s made it and presented it.

Your director enthusiastically talks about the value of the cinematic experience over streaming. To what extent do you sympathise with his views?

Emily:

Oh, vastly. I don’t think it makes Cillian and I dusty old farts that we want to go and watch everything in the theatre. I think it’s just because you’re looking for an immersive kidnap of an experience. And I think there will always be something profound about watching a movie in that environment, in the dark with a bunch of strangers, with the perfect sound, the biggest screen you can find. And Chris really sweats bullets for that experience for you.

I think streaming has been remarkable for creating more work for up and comer directors and writers and actors, and it’s really created so many more opportunities for people to get their start, because you’re not contorting a film to an opening weekend where you need the biggest star, the biggest director, the biggest this. Certainly, some of the best material is some of the television on streaming right now. But when it comes to a big tent pole film like this, you just have to find the biggest screen possible.

Cillian:

Said it all.

Emily:

I did call you a dusty old fart, though.

Cillian:

You said something where you used the word democratic. I think cinema to me is still the most democratic art form. You just go in, pay your whatever it costs now and just watch a film. I’m very romantically attached to the theatre experience, the cinema experience.

You couldn’t go anywhere this summer without seeing a reference to Barbenheimer: Barbie and Oppenheimer coming out the same day and people watching them as a double-bill. How aware were you in the middle of all that?

Emily:

Very aware of it, and I know the guys on Barbie were equally thrilled by it, that it created this fever about both films. They’re so different and yet not pitted against each other, which I think is what we want, for things not to be so gladiatorial. You just want them to be a celebration of two great films.

Do you think it helped the film in any way, the fact that both of these things were being celebrated?

Cillian:

I think it’s a win for cinema.

Oppenheimer is available now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD and to download and keep.