J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) visits Harry Truman (played with impeccable nastiness by Gary Oldman) soon after the Nagasaki and Hiroshima attack. While the world leader wants to know more about the next installment of bombs, Oppenheimer lays out his flailing hands, saying, “I’ve got blood on my hands.” Without missing a beat, Truman tosses a white handkerchief in the shell-shocked physicist’s direction.
Thanks to the British filmmaker’s eye for detail and command over the craft of filmmaking, the film has no shortage of moments of terror following the dropping of the atomic bomb. But Nolan isn’t too precious about his art and allowed the actors to improvise on the ‘Oppenheimer’ set. Such freedom allowed one of the cast members to develop the movie’s most shocking line of dialogue.
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Improvisation Led To The Most Chilling Scene In ‘Oppenheimer’
In a critical scene, Murphy’s Oppenheimer and several officials attend a meeting with US Secretary of War Henry Stimson (James Remar.) The agenda is to identify the bombing targets in Japan. Stimson chooses to spare Kyoto as it is his honeymoon destination. Oppenheimer and other men in the room feel a shiver in their spine as the decision is made without objective facts.
In a conversation with The New York Times, Christopher Nolan recalls James Remar coming up with the brilliant, unscripted line. He told the outlet, “[Remar] kept talking to me about how he learned that Stimson and his wife had honeymooned in Kyoto. And that was one of the reasons that Stimson took Kyoto off the list to be bombed,”
The British filmmaker adds, “I had him crossing the city off the list because of its cultural significance, but I’m like, just add that. It’s a fantastically exciting moment where no one in the room knows how to react.”
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‘Oppenheimer’ Makes Around $450 Million At Global Box-Office
Thanks to its critical success, Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer‘ is here to stay. It has also become a box-office mainstay, making a $180 million mark at the domestic box office. Christopher Nolan’s latest film has grossed nearly $450 million worldwide and is heading towards earning half a billion in total gross.
Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, ‘Oppenheimer’ stars Cillian Murphy as the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. Along with Lieutenant General Leslie Groves, he led the Manhattan Project during World War II. Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., and Matt Damon also star.
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