Christopher Nolan reveals why he chose to make ‘Oppenheimer’ now

Christopher Nolan always thought that the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who oversaw creation of the atomic bomb, was an important story to tell.

The newly-released biopic, Oppenheimer, which stars Cillian Murphy in the titular role sees the events that unfolded that led to the world changing forever.

In a candid interview with New York Times, Nolan shared that there are certain stories for which one has to wait for the right time to tell. 

Recalling incidents of his younger years, Nolan revealed that he had known the story Oppenheimer when he was growing up “in the shadow of nuclear weapons in the early ’80s in the United Kingdom.”

He added that it was very “much in the pop culture.”

He explained that after he read the biography, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, he felt ‘confidence’ that this could be the ‘basis of a screenplay.’

“[This] story is one that I’ve known about since I was a kid growing up in the shadow of nuclear weapons in the early ’80s in the United Kingdom. It was very much in the pop culture,” he continued.

“It was the days of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and protests of Greenham Common and about the stationing of nuclear cruise missiles. For me, it’s always seemed one of those stories that I don’t think it’s been told in any definitive movie sense. And yet it’s one of the most important and dramatic stories there are.”

Elsewhere in the interview he also addressed his thoughts on why he believed the scientist “was the most important person who ever lived.”

“I think it’s very easy to make the case for Oppenheimer as the most important person who ever lived,” Nolan told the outlet.

“Because he is the person who facilitated and achieved atomic weapons and indeed the hydrogen bomb, because he let Teller work on it. So, he is the individual who was able to marshal the forces effectively.”

He added, “He gave the world the power to destroy itself. No one has done that before.”