Christopher Nolan talks to our microphone about the importance in his cinema of science, which is at the heart of his new film, “Oppenheimer”, to be seen from July 19 at the cinema.
Of all the elements that regularly recur in Christopher Nolan’s cinema, there is of course a pronounced taste for the detective genre and the thriller, or even themes such as time and manipulation. Without forgetting science, which is expressed in various ways.
It is, for example, difficult to miss it in Interstellar, which revolves around quantum physics and black holes, two terms that we find today in Oppenheimer, the filmmaker’s latest feature film. A film released three years after Tenet in which science also played a key role, and where the name of the creator of the atomic bomb was mentioned.
In an interview given to cinema teaser, the director suggests that it was not an easter egg on the subject of his next opus. But it was thinking back to this reply (and thanks to a book offered by Robert Pattinson) that he wanted to look into the life and work of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Still, science plays an important role in his cinema, including when it comes to making the gadgets of the Batman in his The Dark Knight trilogy realistic. And we asked him about the reasons for this fascination during his stay in Paris.
It’s the most radical way to rethink our world
“Science is very fertile from the point of view of drama – at least in the way I use it in my films, developing the relationship between scientists and society”says Christopher Nolan. “Science allows us to see our world differently. Especially when we approach quantum physics, which we obviously find in Interstellar, in a certain way in Tenet, and a lot in Oppenheimer.”
“It’s the most radical way to rethink our world. And in the case of Oppenheimer himself, it’s someone who would look at the dull matter around us and see energy in it, objects made waves of energy. It’s a very different way of looking at the world, like a magician, a wizard or a Jedi Knight would (laughs). It’s the stuff of great dramas.”
“I really enjoyed incorporating real science into this film, and seeing how these people changed the way we see the universe. There’s something very dramatic about it.” And in Oppenheimer, this element also manifests itself among the extras.
FICTION AND SCIENCE
Last May, Christopher Nolan revealed to Entertainment Weekly having entrusted the roles of extras to real scientists: “We needed that [les figurants] react and improvise, and they ended up giving us very concrete speeches in the moment. It was great fun listening to them.”
All in the service of another obsession of Christopher Nolan: realism. Which manifests itself once again in the feature film visible from July 19, and in which we find Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh or Matt Damon.
Interview by Maximilien Pierrette in Paris on July 11, 2023